November 16 & 17, 2013+ JMJ +
33rd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C
The Need to Serve
I remember a book I read as a child about a mother hen preparing bread. At each stage she asked: “Who will help me?” “Who will help me plant the wheat? Who will help me cut the wheat? Who will help me grind the flour or bake the dough?” Each time the other animals said “not me.” But when she asked “Who will help me eat the bread?” all the animals said “I will!” “Oh no!” she said. “You did not help me grow the wheat, cut the wheat, grind the flour, kneed the dough or bake the bread.” In the end, only mother hen and her chicks who helped her eat the bread.
That is the gist of St. Paul’s message. If you do not work, you do not eat. This is the opposite of most social service programs in the Western World. We hear all the time that those who are unable to work are the ones that deserve help. As a result, we have seen the list of those who are not working rise and rise.
Is St. Paul really telling the Thessalonians not to practice charity? Elsewhere he talks about giving help to widows, but only if they have no family to care for them. Even then, they are to serve the community by living a life of prayer for others and being examples of self-control (1 Tim 5:3-10). St. Paul was adamant that nobody should receive recompense for doing nothing. Instead, we are all functioning parts of the body of Christ with some role to perform.
This attitude of St. Paul brings dignity to every person. Blessed Pope John Paul II echoed this sentiment in his encyclical “On the Dignity of Human Labor.” He made that point that working in whatever fashion is not simply a punishment for sin, as we hear in the book of Genesis. As humans we have need to be creators. We have the need to accomplish goals, and we have the responsibility to improve the world and assist others. St. Josemaria Escriva made the point that “all Christians in fact—have to be an example for their colleagues at work” “so as not to give scandal or to provoke even the faintest suspicion that the children of God are soft and useless” (Friends of God, 70). Work becomes a great tool to evangelize when we labor for the Lord.
I hear a sad statistic in the news that unemployment among Italy’s youth has reached 40%. Spain and other countries are in similar crisis. When interviewed, the youth lament that they have no future. They are without hope because they cannot contribute to society. They cannot add their unique contribution to the world, even though they long to do so. In their hearts they know the words of St. Paul are true: if you do not work, you do not eat. They may have physical food, but their souls are not being fed.
St. Paul’s desire for all of us could really be summed up as this: everyone must serve. We all must contribute in some fashion. Even if the private or public sector offer no jobs for us, we can always find ways to serve the Christian community and our neighbors. Cleaning up the neighborhood, visiting people who are lonely or sick, volunteering locally—these are all needed areas of service. Most important, we can set aside a good chunk of time each day to pray and intercede for the needs of the parish and community.
For many reasons, we have people of working age in our nation and around the world who are not engaged in labor or service. Let us spread this message of St. Paul so they can recover their human dignity and fulfill the need to serve, that all parts of the Body of Christ can work together for the flourishing of all.
Rev. Eric Culler