By Fr. Glenn Jones:

9/11.

Even now, after 22 years, the memory of it sparks horror…sorrow…anger…regret. Few now younger than 30 will remember watching so much of it “live and in color”, and know the shock that was felt not only in our nation, but around the world. Scanning the skies. The grounded planes. “Let’s roll”.

“What regret?! We were attacked!!” Yes, but why? The regret for human disunity which led to that and similar tragedies. Greed, jealousy, prejudice, religious hatred, unbridled self-interest even when faced with those impoverished through no fault of their own. Hardness of heart.

“Oh, priest; there’s no way we can help everyone who needs it!” Well, obviously not; but we might be reminded of the story of a boy ridiculed as he raced back and forth from the sea to hundreds of beached starfish, one-by-one placing them back into the sea: “But for each one I save, I make all the difference in the world.”

There are always lights in the darkness.

For example, we Catholics remember St. Peter Claver, whose annual memorial is September 9. A Spanish Jesuit Missionary, he and his companions dedicated themselves to the enslaved taken to Columbia in the early 1600s. We read from a letter of his:

“… numerous blacks, brought from the rivers of Africa, disembarked … Carrying two baskets of oranges, lemons, sweet biscuits, and I know not what else, we hurried toward them…We had to force our way through the crowd until we reached the sick. Large numbers of the sick were lying on the wet ground or rather in puddles of mud. To prevent excessive dampness, someone had thought of building up a mound with a mixture of tiles and broken pieces of bricks. This, then, was their couch, a very uncomfortable one … especially because they were naked, without any clothing to protect them.

… There were two … nearer death than life, already cold, whose pulse could scarcely be detected … we pulled some live coals together and … Into this fire we tossed aromatics. … Then, using our own cloaks … to ask the owners for others would have been a waste of words … they seemed to recover their warmth and the breath of life. The joy in their eyes as they looked at us was something to see.

… Then we sat, or rather knelt, beside them and bathed their faces and bodies with wine. We made every effort to encourage them with friendly gestures and displayed in their presence the emotions which somehow naturally tend to hearten the sick.”

Ensconced in our first-world comforts, we can scarcely imagine the misery in which the Africans were brought to the New World—packed like sardines, chained lying in their own waste, meagre bits of food and sips of water. No doubt those missionaries suffered much disdain from their fellow Europeans by providing such succor, and yet they did so for decades. But Fr. Claver’s words elicit within us much empathy for the tragic circumstances of those persons bound in slavery–in the New World and the Old, present even now in many places around the world. Now we hear of “blood diamonds”, children slaving in cobalt mines, and the tragedy of sex trafficking even in our own nation. Exploitation and Man’s inhumanity to Man is as old as Mankind itself.

But it is not enough for us to simply lament evil; the good and the righteous work against it. And though individually the policeman cannot stop all crime in a city or a single fireman save every person from every fire, like our young lad aforementioned in the parable: “ … for each one I save, I make all the difference in the world.” And while the rich and famous may be able to do larger things, each of us can effect change even through smaller day-to-day things with those who are in financial and/or spiritual need—the latter being more prevalent, for we all feel spiritually and motivationally bereft at one time or another. To simply ignore deprivation and sorrow would place us in the category of the rich man of Jesus’ parable of Luke 16—stepping over poor Lazarus at the gate, eventually to the rich man’s eternal sorrow.

Tobit gives his son Tobias sound paternal advice prior to Tobias’ journey, emphasizing the responsibility to charity: “Do not turn your face away from any poor man, and the face of God will not be turned away from you. If you have many possessions, make your gift from them in proportion; if few, do not be afraid to give according to the little you have … For charity delivers from death and keeps you from entering the darkness; and for all who practice it charity is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High.”

“Beware, my son, of all immorality … Watch yourself, my son, in everything you do, and be disciplined in all your conduct. And what you hate, do not do to anyone … Give of your bread to the hungry, and of your clothing to the naked. Give all your surplus to charity, and do not let your eye begrudge the gift when you made it …” (Tobit 4:7-19)

And, begging the reader’s patience, a final quote: “The point is this: he who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully … God loves a cheerful giver. And … is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that you may always have enough of everything and may provide in abundance for every good work. As it is written, ‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness endures forever.’” (2 Corinthians 9:6-9)

Kindness leads to friendship, which leads to unity. Need we know aught else?

Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.