Community: Responding to Need

How do we respond to need? One of the principles of Catholic Social Teaching that we discuss during the spiel on Monday challenges us to respond radically—Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable. That’s a big fancy title for something that I like to summarize another way: we must meet others’ needs before filling our own wants.

I think that point is important enough to restate: we must meet others’ needs before filling our own wants. This is naturally a frightening point. Does this mean that we can’t go to the movies because some people don’t have enough to eat? And why do they get preferential option, if all people are equal in dignity? Let me tell two stories that demonstrate this principle more clearly.

The first story is about a man and his two daughters. The older daughter was about to have a birthday, and so all three of them were planning to celebrate by going ice skating. They planned their outing and excitedly awaited the festivities. Finally the older daughter’s birthday arrived, but when the younger daughter woke up she was sick with a fever. All three of them had to stay home so that the younger daughter could be cared for. Even though they were disappointed that they couldn’t go ice skating, there was a greater need in the younger daughter, and so she received the preferential option so that she could recover.

The second story takes place in a soup kitchen for the homeless. The staff was busy preparing lunch, with each person making a different part of the meal. The woman heading up the preparation called to one of her co-workers and, mentioning that they were short on some ingredients, asked him to run to the store to pick up a pound of butter. He went to the refrigerator and pointed out that they had a couple pounds of margarine that they could use. The woman turned and firmly replied, “Butter!” The man didn’t understand that we should not simply use our excess to fill people’s needs, but that preferential option calls us to give of our substance, that which reinforces dignity.

Of course, we are aware that poverty takes on many forms. When we are sensitive to various forms of poverty, it is easy to identify them and respond accordingly. Observing situations of vulnerability is not as easy, however. People are vulnerable when they are in a situation in which they can easily be ignored, marginalized, or offended, all of which harm human dignity. Those people could be the homeless in the last story, or they could be more familiar to us, such as new students or teachers at our school. Preferential Option for the Poor and Vulnerable calls us not just to acknowledge equal dignity, but to respond to needs when they are present even if it inconveniences us.

-by Adam Austin

Simplicity: The aspect of Sacrifice

Friday night of this past group week a few of us we having our discussion about how to take this experience home and extend it beyond Nazareth Farm the place. One of the chaperones brought up a very interesting point about sacrifice.

Oftentimes we think about coming to Nazareth Farm and having to "sacrifice" so much - we have technology taken away from us, we are limited how many showers we take (some are even outside), we do our best to not have waste on our worksites, we compost, etc. And to many that is a form of sacrifice, especially those who don't live that sort of lifestyle or who may be visiting the Farm for the first time. However, to a certain extent, that form of simplicity is what calls us to a better understanding of sacrifice and the world around us.

What we may not realize is that the blessings of technology, a seemingly endless water supply, and others often call us to sacrifice other factors or life. How often do we spend too much time checking our email, goofing around on facebook, playing video games, taking showers that are too long instead of spending time with someone or doing something nice for someone else? Whether we realize it or not, in those situations we become so engrossed in our blessings that we sacrifice other things in our lives. This is clearly an example of a negative sacrifice.

Don't be fooled though - if we use these blessings properly while still focusing on what's important to us in life and what God is calling us to then we don't necessarily have to completely remove those blessings. Things like facebook and video games can be used to build community. The challenge those is to make sure we aren't too engrossed in these things that make life less simple, those things that distract us from dedicating ourselves to God and God's calling in our lives.

So this week - ask yourself, where can I live a simpler life so that I am not sacrificing what is important to me? Am I too engrossed in my blessings? What is God calling me to at this point in my life? How can I further live out the cornerstones of simplicity, prayer, community and service?

Simplicity: The Principle of Solidarity

It wasn't until recently that I began to understand Catholic Social Teaching's principle of solidarity. Sure we encourage volunteers to conserve water and electricity by taking bucket showers as an act of solidarity with those who do not have running water, but what does that really mean? Clearly we are blessed with clean running water, aren't we supposed to use our blessings to our best ability while avoiding the temptation to indulge and abuse those blessings? So why give up the indoor shower so that we can live our lives similar to those who are not as fortunate?

So that we can build bridges, not walls. Solidarity encourages us to learn about others and to find the beauty (and hardships) in their way of life. This principle encourages us to simplify our lives so that we can embrace global community and stand beside the less fortunate. It calls us to focus on what we have in common, so that we can break down barriers and better understand one another. It calls upon a concern for world peace, global development, environment and international human rights while illuminating the fact that our decisions make us responsible to everyone, across all types of physical, social, and economic boundaries.

When I reflect upon solidarity, fasting comes to mind (when people abstain from food for a prolonged period of time as an intentional act). How is it that fasting would put me in a place that allows me to reflect and grow? Its because it allows us to simplify our minds, to open ourselves to others point of view and way of life. That simplicity and openness drives us to grow and to further live our lives as models of Christ.

So the challenge this week is to ask yourself, what are some acts of solidarity that you can do to better understand the lives of those in our global community? What are some barriers (or stereotypes) that you may have with others? How can you grow to overcome those barriers? How might this particular act of solidarity help with that?

Here's some more resources on solidarity for further reflection:
The United States Bishops call to global solidarity
Some notes on Solidarity from USCCB and papal documents

F.Y.I.

Just two F.Y.I.'s:

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Another is that if you add yourself as a follower it not only shows us that people are keeping up with this but it also is more convenient for you - each update that is made to the blog will be sent to you via email.

Just thought those features could help... (use them, please, hint hint!)

Service: Learning and Giving

Its just the simple reality that there are not many youth in West Virginia. Sure we have grade schools, high schools and universities, but once people finish their education they tend to move out of West Virginia and not come back. That leaves us with a dominantly older population, as well as a much underutilized state.

Its also the reality that Appalachia is a region rich in resources as well as wide-open space and opportunity to pursue personal dreams and to use our gifts creatively and effectively. In an effort to encourage youth to stay (or come back) to West Virginia, organizations have been set up to help youth follow their dreams and to use their gifts and talents while also building the economy and job field in West Virginia. Check out some of our resource links for some more information on those.

Whether we are in West Virginia or not, we are called to explore what our personal gifts are. What are the things that you do very well? What are the activities that are life giving for you? And on the flip side, what are the things that you are not as skilled to do? Maybe you love cleaning but hate cooking. Maybe you're really good at drawing but not very good at building things. We can always try and grow in both those things that we excel in and those we struggle in, but it also very important that we use those talents to the best of our ability, to help others and to extend this cornerstone of service. Obviously at the farm our most tangible form of service is our home repair, but in some way it is also a form of service that we build relationships with each other. It is in those relationships that we form, in that service, that we use our talents, we grow in our talents, and that we seek the talents of others to fulfill our projects and our dreams.

There are obviously regions of the United States, and the world, that need talented individuals to give of themselves more than other regions, but wherever you are ask yourself how you can use your gifts and talents more wisely. How can you serve you family, your friends, your neighbors and your greater community? It may not be as difficult or as tangible as you think, but it definitely entails you to learn about yourself and then give of yourself. Pray about it, reflect about it, and act on it.

Prayer: Sustaining Our Passion

Every Sunday night, we tell our new group of volunteers about the cornerstones. “We pray a lot here at the Farm,” we say. And the list of prayer times really is…extended, I suppose you could say: When we wake up. Before breakfast. Before we leave for the worksite. When we arrive at the worksite. Before lunch. Before we leave the worksite. Before dinner. In the evenings. There are eight formal prayer times every single day.

But our cornerstone of prayer is about more than just saying a lot of words. We incorporate these prayer times into our schedule in order to remind us that our lives are to be a constant prayer. We are to find God in all things, to see God’s presence all around us and to make that recognition a prayer. We are to listen as well as talk, to create a relationship with Christ that sustains our service.

Most people come to Nazareth Farm in order to do service. The other cornerstones are either pleasant surprises or abstract distractions. But often, the service might be difficult, or even unfulfilling. The day is long, or cold, or hot. Perhaps we mess something up and have to start over, or we just don’t make as much progress as we had hoped. Or we have a great day, but it’s exhausting, leaving us sapped of energy.

Service cannot be sustained without prayer. That’s what gives us the motivation to go out every day, to overcome difficult conditions or rough days. As Mother Teresa says,
“The fruit of prayer is faith, The fruit of faith is love, The fruit of love is service, The fruit of service is peace.”

We are all called to be holy. It’s not just a vocation for the saints – all of us can aspire to live a sanctified life. This week, let us commit ourselves to prayer and the pursuit of holiness. To seeing God all around us. To talk with God. To listen to God. And to make all of our actions prayerful and loving.

-by Jessica Mayo

Community: Extending the Table

I was musing on what it would be like to meet every person on earth.

Imagine that you could meet one person per second until you had met all of the (roughly) 6.7 billion people on the planet. From the very first hello to the final goodbye, you would spend somewhere around 212 (and a half) years, which is, as it happens, a good deal longer than you will likely live. And yet as our economies and technologies globalize, we keep hearing buzz words like “global community” and “shrinking planet”. Global community? How can we identify with a community of billions of people, the majority of which we clearly will never meet?

These questions began swarming in my brain earlier today when I came across some of the several hundred photographs I took of last year’s lunar eclipse on February 20. This eclipse stands out for a couple reasons: first, I was so captivated by its beauty that I stood outside in zero degree weather for at least an hour and a half taking pictures, and when I finally went inside I realized that my camera lens had literally frozen over. And if you know me, you know that I had to be really interested to voluntarily remain in the cold for that long. Second, and more to the point, I specifically recall mentioning the event during that week’s shared prayer. Lunar eclipses so fascinate me because of those moments before and after totality when the edge of the earth is projected onto the moon’s surface. For a few minutes we glimpse a shadow of God’s vantage point. In the perfect stillness of our holler I could see the outline of our planet (albeit cloaked in penumbral darkness) and I could envision all the beauty that our world contains. For a few minutes I could look at our shadow on the moon and see our global community.

All these romanticized notions might merely remain a collection of warm fuzzies were it not for our firm grounding in the understanding of community. While community certainly speaks about all the people in our lives whom we know and with whom we interact—family, friends, teachers, co-workers—the true challenge of community is to think beyond our immediate surroundings. Some community-derived jargon we throw around at the Farm comes from the principles of Catholic Social Teaching. One of my favorite principles, but one that is difficult to grasp, is solidarity. I like to describe solidarity as prayerfully seeking to understand another’s trials through a commitment to a certain sacrifice or through an intentional action that spiritually connects us to that person. One of our most concrete examples of solidarity at the Farm is bucket showers, which scale back the amount of water we use to place us in solidarity with those who have limited access to clean, safe water. By living in solidarity, we begin to authentically investigate our global community. Who must live with limited access to safe water? What historical, geographical, economic, political, and environmental factors create this limited access? How is the community responding to this form of poverty, and what more needs to be accomplished? As a member of the global community, in what way can I respond, either through direct action or through actions of solidarity?

Of course, we cannot meet every person on earth. But we can begin to meet our global community through our intentional efforts to seek justice.

-by Adam Austin

(Our apologies for our tardiness this week... check back on Sunday for another update).