PRESENTING OR OFFERING (#5)?

A young man wheels his chair into the elevator. Is he stranger or guest? A salt and pepper haired man approaches your car at a red light with a Burger King cup and a scribbled sign: Cash for Meals. Stranger or guest? A woman with three kids stops you outside Star Market and asks you for a ride home. Stranger or guest? A newly arrived teenager waits on you at Friendlys and neither you nor she can understand one another's accent. Do you tip her? How much? Stranger or guest?

Some people are dirt poor. Others are disabled. Still others are unwashed and smelly. Stranger or guest? The immigrant and the unlettered. The computer illiterate, the emotionally ill, the deformed. Stranger or guest?

Society skillfully segregates us. Gated communities guarantee planned protection from "those people." But sometimes we rub elbows: we actually see each other. Strangers or guests?

Christians in the churches before Constantine faced this question. How is the christian community to deal with the newcomer and with those bereft of public support: the indigent, the widow, the orphan, the sojourner. Strangers or guests?

In the Apology Saint Justin indicates that, when the Assembly gathered on Sunday, food for the poor was brought forth. After hearing the liturgy of the word, food and donations were presented at the table. Later they were distributed to the needy. Eventually deacons and deaconesses are social ministers.

Abundant examples from the Gospels, e.g. the unforgettable Luke 16:19-31, teach the rich to give to the poor. No guilt trip. Rich and poor are guests admitted to the Lord's table. They share baptismal bath, a laver leveling class distinction and lavishing christian households with new status: sisters and brothers. Whoever eats the one bread and drinks the one cup are friends, not foes. Guests, not strangers. This goes for other food and drink, too!

Poor people are neither banished nor punished. Their faces reflect the face of Christ. Caring for a poor sister or brother is caring for Christ. Harshness toward someone who is poor is harshness to Christ. Giving to a poor fellow Christian assures salvation because the recipients cannot repay, can give nothing in return save their prayers for another's well being now and in eternity.

Who are the poor today in our neighborhood? Stranger or guest? Visible or invisible? How do our lives intersect? Are others patronized or engaged, avoided or embraced, unwanted or wanted, pitiable inferior or potential friend, undeserving or deserving? What attitude prevails? Is it: after all, there's just not enough to go around for everyone? We got to make choices. Some just get left out. (Really!?: so much for Matthew 25!)

We've grown comfortable with institutional philanthropy: United Way, Cardinals' Appeal, Catholic Charities, Campaign for Human Development. All have made a great difference! Catholics are often magnanimous.

Still, each Assembly faces important questions: who are poor persons among us? How does this church meet and serve our poor? Does our local church speak out for justice for poorer peoples in our neighborhood, nations, world? Do we join our gifted voices with the chorus of poorer sister and brothers still pitching a fitting tune? Guest or stranger?