July 19, 2015
Good morning, thank you for this lovely opportunity to share in spiritual teaching.
This time it will be about the idea of sharing our spiritual and material blessings. But before that, I want to point out that today is an important date for the Lutheran church that I’ve grown up in. In El Salvador and Nicaragua, July 19th is the Day of the Youth.
I’d like us to stand for a moment of silence:
- For the young people who have died for a better El Salvador.
- For those that have had to grow up too soon.
- For the young people in our families and communities here in the United States.
- For those struggling to find their place in the world as adults, we pray that our society can provide what they need to find their calling and the courage to seek it.
- For the young immigrant dreamers and their parents that walk a difficult path.
- For youth without a home and those that must live in many homes.
- Let us be happy also, for the young people in 8th Day that, like birds, leave the nest and come back a little older. Such as Benjamin that has been coordinating youth teachings each second Sunday, Eugene who is a bright star helping with Sunday services, and Javier who has been working to help people with technology, and many others. May God help them keep helping us.
No matter where you are there is always work to do and needs to meet in the community; but Jesus knows we need time apart and a peaceful place to eat, rest, and reflect (Mark 6:36-44); but sometimes circumstances don’t permit this, and we must work with what we have to make ends meet.
But let us look at our circumstances here in Washington DC and how to do the mathematics of faith and love.
With our material needs we don’t need multiplication, what we need is to do division.
- Take for example the way that fresh food, high quality food is sold in grocery stores, and from there the old food, before it spoils, this food needs to be given to foodbanks and other nonprofits to be shared.
- There are soup kitchens and other food distributors like the one at Pigeon Park, at Irving St and Columbia Rd. You can see sometimes the van that parks there and the people in need that line up. And they are helped by volunteers, some of them students doing community service hours.
- Low-income families receive support from our government with food programs, financial assistance, cell phone service, and other basic needs. Those without much hope are undocumented immigrants that leave so much behind to be here and then have to live in the shadows or are tagged with GPS devices to be treated like modern-day slaves.
With the education reform we have had in our city and at the national level that started between 2001 and 2003:
- We have in our schools free breakfast meals, and reduced-cost or free lunches for families that need it. It makes me very happy to receive our Pre-K students with a delicious breakfast that changes each day. It always connects me with my younger son Oliver, who thanks to God has also been receiving his breakfast, like Javier did when he was little.
I grew up in a family of eleven brothers and sisters, and one adopted niece. Eating a chicken, the drumsticks and breast were for the family members who worked hard under the sun or in the carpentry shop. The wings, neck, and feet went to everyone else; my piece was one foot, or half a wing, cooked in tomato sauce and delicious with tortillas. And we always had two or three extra plates of food to share with the grandparents, neighbors, or someone sick.
Today in our family we have always had food. I go to the supermarket and buy twelve chicken legs or chicken breasts, plenty for everyone in the family and for using the leftovers to make tamales. I make a habit of sharing a plate of food with neighbors and friends that would accept it.
You see, it’s not a sin to receive a lot if this lets us help each other in other ways when there is real need. Nor is it a sin to get rich off of good work; it becomes a sin when these riches are obtained by exploiting the working class or any other form of dirty money.
It is a blessing to have rich people that as Christians freely share their money with the needy, who are filled with a lasting positive energy. Spiritual gifts come to them in the form of faith, hope, and happiness. But this does not happen easily, otherwise we wouldn’t have so many wars in this world.