Love That Guy?
Advice from a couple mighty wise women
Some years ago, on an assignment from San DIego's Reader, I spent several days at Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity seminary in Tijuana. If you can afford the time in this often hectic season, you might want to read the article that came out of that experience.
At the seminary, I became friends with Brother Dean McFalls, a remarkably congenial and wise young man. Of all the enlightening things he told me, here's the one I most often reflect upon. He said, "Mother tells us we aren't serving people, we are serving Christ in his distressing disguise."
In case some Biblical context could help explain that saint's wild claim, it's here:
The Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-40)
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
A couple days ago, in Plough Magazine I came across a quote from Dorothy Day. She isn't as famous as Mother Teresa nor has she yet been officially sanctified, but the Catholic Church would be wise to get busy correcting that oversight, whether or not she would approve.
If All Were Holy, Dorothy Day
"If everyone were holy and handsome, with “another Christ” shining in neon from them, it would be easy to see Christ in everyone. If Mary had appeared in Bethlehem clothed, as Saint John says, with the sun, a crown of twelve stars on her head, and the moon under her feet, then people would have fought to make room for her. But that was not God’s way for her, nor is it Christ’s way for himself, now when he is disguised under every type of humanity that treads the earth."
I am not always a nice person. When I'm feeling cantankerous for any reason, I tend to regard people in a less than generous manner. And since Christ calls us to love everyone -- which in context means, at the very least, to act generously and to look upon them with respect -- I try to remember that though someone may appearugly, mean, greedy, drunk, or in any way distasteful or annoying, she, he, or they may be Christ in one of his distressing disguises.
That sometimes helps me be a little nicer.
Happy Christmas and forever,