Recently I conducted a review of the thousands of distributions the National Catholic Community Foundation has made on behalf of our donors since our inception twenty-five years ago. It comes as no surprise that the majority of the organizations – both domestically and internationally – who have received these grants are ones engaged in some way in activities traditionally called the corporal works of mercy: to feed the hungry, to give drink to the thirsty, to clothe the naked, to visit the imprisoned, to shelter the homeless, to visit the sick, and to bury the dead.
For thoughtful people in today’s globalized world, it is not difficult to see that these succinctly stated imperatives encompass broad and comprehensive needs. The first two are more than delivering soup and soda to eager palates. They require us to address the social and economic structures that create the hunger and thirst in the first place. To clothe the naked includes the challenge of improving the lives of those stripped of human dignity. Visiting the imprisoned is more than spending time with the incarcerated, as worthy as that is. It is being with anyone trapped in the confines of addiction or oppression, or of debilitating age or loneliness. The sick we are called on to visit are not just the physically ill, but the emotionally and spiritually impaired as well. And, burying the dead includes helping the dying die with dignity and supporting their bereaved loved ones.
It is heartening, of course, to witness the compassion of so many donors and their support for such a wide array of organizations ‘working in the vineyard’. One can only admire such charity; but what or who prompts it?
While I was reviewing the record of these distributions, I recalled a business colleague whose acquaintance I enjoyed years ago. She was a highly committed individual who did more than her share to address the needs of others. Surely, she stood high in the eyes of God. Our friendship was sufficiently close that we were comfortable exchanging our thoughts on life’s eternal mysteries.
My friend was an atheist. Rather, she was an atheist who had a strong belief in a higher power. However, the higher power whose existence she credited was an impersonal one: universal energy which, if properly harnessed, would yield inviolable harmony and serenity. Peace, tranquility, and wholistic wellbeing were sustained when human beings allowed this super-human force to have its way. When they wittingly or otherwise frustrated it violence, discord, and sickness ensued. My friend respected my belief – weak as it is -in a God who in addition to being omnipotent energy is all knowing and all loving. However, this last attribute she could not accept. I thought and still think how much more fulfilling it would have been for her had she understood her good work to be in response to an embrace by a personal God rather than to the force of an impersonal energy field.
God is a personal Being. As such he is approachable, as one person is approachable by another. Because we, like him in whose image we are created, are persons, it is our astounding privilege to have a relationship with him and – wonderfully – with each other. Willingly we respond to our encounter with him, and in supporting others we please him.
Having experienced this personal embrace our donors advance the Kingdom.