Trust in Me

How many times have you been in a conversation with someone and one of you said to the other "Trust me"? Or better yet, "What - don't you trust me?" I have vivid memories of when I was a boy and the Disney film "The Jungle Book" came out. There's that scene when the evil snake Kaa sings "Trust in me, just in me" simultaneously seductive and sinister. And like that snake singing oh so sweetly every day our trust is tested. Ads on television tout the latest fad diet or some exciting new product that will make our lives easier and last a lifetime. We drive in automobiles we trust will keep us safe if we're in an accident. We use products daily that we trust will work and more importantly not harm us. We put our lives' savings in banks and into investment opportunities based on trust and hope that our money - and perhaps a bit more - will be there when we most need it. We are asked to trust our government officials and church leaders and teachers and co-workers. And we place our trust in friends and family, knowing that a breach of that trust can be devastating. And most importantly, we are asked to trust in our God.

As I look around it seems as though trust - and truth - gets stretched, beat on and abused more and more with each passing day. In the news we are constantly bombarded with stories of people that have embezzled money from unsuspecting investors, ministers that have taken advantage of those they have been called to serve, elected officials abusing their position and the trust placed in them by those that elected them. We rarely hear stories of people that placed their trust and were rewarded. And someone who placed their trust in the lottery ticket they bought and won does not count. When was the last time you heard tell of someone who placed their trust in another and had that trust respected and nurtured?

It's frustrating and demoralizing when we are constantly barraged by so much negative information that leads some to believe they shouldn't trust anyone. And that's understandable. Placing your trust - especially in someone close to you - is an intimate and soul-baring act. It is a surrender, it is making ourselves completely vulnerable to another. I know when my dog completely trusts me or another person or even another dog. He'll lie on his back exposing his underbelly - the most vulnerable part of his body - in a display of total trust. When we place our trust in one another we are exposing to each other the most vulnerable aspect of who we are as people.

Perhaps those positive stories of trust are the ones we just don't hear about too often. And that makes sense as well. Trust - when it's respected - is a quiet thing, a humble thing. And yet we can read about stories of trust and hear about them any time we want. All we have to do is open our Bible. From God's first instructions to Adam to the closing words of the Book of Revelation scripture is all about trust. Again and again scripture relates great stories of those that trusted - Noah, Abraham, Moses, Daniel, Peter, Paul - the list goes on and on. There are those that placed their trust in the wrong people, such as Samson. Those that placed their trust in family members - such as Joseph with his brothers - and were rewarded with enslavement or worse. The entire book of Job is about trust, trust against all odds and all adversity. The Psalms again and again sing of trust - trust in the face of the enemy, trust in the face of evil, trust in the face of death. Trust through all things in God and the salvation He has promised to each one of us.

And of course, two great stories of trust - Mary and Joseph. Mary trusted in God in effect giving up her life to serve God and bear His Son. We celebrate and are inspired by her trust and devotion. And Joseph. Scripture tells us when Joseph learned of Mary's pregnancy he was prepared to divorce her quietly and move on with his life. But the angel of the Lord came to Joseph and in essence said "trust." Trust in God. Despite everything in your life and your learning and your understanding that screams otherwise you must trust in God. Trust that God will not lead you astray. Trust in the promises God makes to you.

There are rewards for those that trust. Salvation has been promised to us all if we trust. As people of God we must follow the examples of Mary and Joseph as models of trust and carry that spirit of trust throughout the world. Trust can be a burden. When someone places their trust in us it is an incredible responsibility, because we hold the essence of their vulnerability in our hands. We have to respect the trust that is placed in us, and be willing to share our trust with others. And most particularly, always trust in God as Mary and Joseph did and His promises for all of us.

The Work of Human Hands

Recently I was having a conversation with a friend about someone we both knew that had some kind of appointment scheduled for a Sunday. And my friend remarked that it seemed ‘weird’ because it just wasn’t the kind of thing you heard of being scheduled on a Sunday. Which was true. And I said it was because as a culture we had lost what it meant to observe Sundays as holy days of rest. Certainly, many of us retain that sense of Sunday being a day set aside for communing with God and taking a break. An opportunity, if you will to recharge our batteries for the week ahead. An opportunity to gather with family and friends to celebrate our bonds and our faith. An opportunity to do the things we love – whether it’s gardening, hiking, watching a football game, puttering around the house. An opportunity to tend to our soul rather than have our labor tend to the workings of the world. And I know often many of us have to work on Sundays. It can’t be avoided due to the nature of our careers. And many of us that do work on Sundays do the things that help others enjoy the sabbath. Whether it’s police officers or the newspaperman on the corner or television workers or store merchants all our lives are made simpler, safer, and more enjoyable by the work of others.

Because of our cultural shift away from the concept of a sabbath day of rest it may be difficult for many of us to grasp why Jesus incurred such wrath from the Pharisees when he healed the man with the withered hand. On the sabbath. In the synagogue, no less. In that culture in that time the sabbath was strictly observed in conformity with Mosaic law. As a faithful Jew you did nothing that could be construed as defiance – no matter how unintentional – of the law. And Jesus was a faithful Jew. And yet despite everything that said “no” Christ healed. It wasn’t reckless disregard and it wasn’t a way to thumb his nose at the Pharisees and embarrass them in their synagogue. Christ demonstrated that there is a moral imperative to do good that transcends law.

You may have seen stories in the news recently about St. Vincent de Paul parish in downtown Baltimore and their conflict with city officials because they were allowing homeless people to squat on their property. And I would guess that if the homeless people were hidden away there would have been little if any resistance. But these poor were living on a piece of property not only in full view but at an extremely busy city intersection. Not easily ignored. A place where many commuters and workers every day were confronted with the reality of homelessness in Baltimore. And it made people uncomfortable. It upset them. They began looking for ways to use the law against the pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Church. And I know the pastor, Fr. Dick Lawrence. And I know for him this is a moral imperative. To be like Christ, serving the needs of the poor transcends the law. Serving the homeless – to heal – is more important than concern about whether or not a commuter feels compelled to look away from something they don’t want to see or acknowledge exists. A compromise was reached, which surprised me to some extent because Fr. Dick is not the type of person to compromise when it comes to serving the least among us. And the compromise? The homeless must vacate the property every day between the hours of 7am and 9am. Presumably so that the structures they use to protect themselves from the weather do not become permanent. Interestingly, between 7am and 9am – morning commuter rush hour – when the greatest number of people would be reminded and confronted with our moral obligation to serve the needy.

Christ’s action in the synagogue is not about justifying work on the sabbath. And while it can be assumed that it was part of the plan that set in motion events that led to Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, I don’t believe that is the lesson we should come away with. The lesson of the healing of the man with the withered hand is that the moral imperative to do good and serve the needs of the least among us transcends law. And I’m not advocating that we all go out and start breaking the laws of the land to do good. But there are laws, dictates, conventional wisdom that is unjust. This nation was founded by people seeking relief from unjust persecution of their faith. This is a nation of people that has risen and stood against injustice here and in our world. Whether it’s been on the beaches of Normandy or the jungles of Asia or the streets of Mississippi Americans have stood up against evils both great and veiled for justice in our world. In the late 19th century when the industrial revolution was in full swing the Catholic Church stood up for the rights of the working class. In his wonderful encyclical Rerum Novarum Pope Leo XIII laid the foundation for what has become more than a century of Catholic thought on social justice in our world. Social teachings most recently addressed by Pope Benedict just a couple months ago in his encyclical Caritas in Veritate or Charity in Truth. In that encyclical Pope Benedict reminds us "While the poor of the world continue knocking on the doors of the rich, the world of affluence runs the risk of no longer hearing those knocks, on account of a conscience that can no longer distinguish what is human."

We have a moral imperative to do as Jesus did. To listen, to serve, to heal. To reach out to those in need. To rise above our discomfort and stand against injustice in our world.

Trading Our Sorrows

Some years ago a book was released titled “In the Belly of the Beast.” It consisted of letters written by a man in prison, and detailed his own time in hell in the prison system. The book was quite popular when released, and it gave new meaning to many about what it meant to be in the belly of the beast.

In Matthew’s gospel Christ alludes to his own descent into hell and draws a connection to Jonah’s own time spent in the belly of the beast. (Matthew 12:38-42) Yet Christ wasn’t just preparing himself for a three-day trip to hell – he was preparing himself for taking on the weight of the world’s sins. Sins that you and I and all humanity helped lay upon his shoulders.

I guess that is why when I was growing up most images of Christ that I saw were that of the suffering Christ, the somber Christ, a Christ that was joyless. There was a rather well-known painting of Christ by Warner Sallman, which was painted in dark hues and pictured him looking off sadly in the distance. And there were films like “King of Kings” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” films that seemed to demonstrate that Christ walked about quietly and somberly, forceful yet morose. The weight of the world’s sins were surely great. But where was the joy?

Last week I was with a program sponsored by the Archdiocese of Baltimore called Justice Action Week. It’s what we call an “immersion” program, designed to gather young people from all over the diocese and introduce them to Baltimore – it’s people, it’s poor and suffering, and the agencies and organizations that serve “the least among us.” It’s a prayerful experience – rooted in Catholic social teaching – that I’m sure for some opens the door for a peak into the personal hell suffered by many in our midst every day.

And yet, again and again I saw joy. Our participants had the opportunity to be present to those suffering from AIDS at the Don Miller House or serve the homeless and hungry at Our Daily Bread. We heard of the horrors of human trafficking at YANA House and the struggles of refugees to find new homes through the International Rescue Committee. And at each one of these and many other places our Justice Action Week participants not only demonstrated great compassion for suffering, they brought their joy in God along in great abundance.

A number of times throughout the week the youth sang, and one of the most popular songs was titled “Trading My Sorrows.” The verse went like this:

I'm trading my sorrow, I'm trading my shame
I'm trading my sickness, I'm trading my pain
I'm laying it down for the joy of the Lord
I'm pressed but not crushed, persecuted not abandoned
Struck down but not destroyed
I'm blessed beyond the curse for his promise will endure
And his joy's gonna be my strength
Though the sorrow may last for the night
His joy comes with the morning
And we say “Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, Amen!”

I sang this song along with a group of youth at the Missionaries of Charity House of Hope in East Baltimore. We prayed the rosary with a group of men suffering and dying with HIV/AIDS and then sang with them. And in the midst of hopelessness I saw these men come up out of their own personal hell if just for a few moments and brought to the light through these young people to see again the joy of our Lord. Even Monroe – ailing, losing his sight, in the last days of his earthly life – smiled with happiness at the exuberance, joyfulness and love of God shared with him by the young people. And in those moments I saw the young people also transformed as that love of God reflected back to them.


Christ suffered greatly for us, and there is great suffering in the world today. But I cannot imagine that Christ didn’t also feel the joy of God and shared that joy with those around him. And if we are to be like Christ we are also called at times to journey to the belly of the beast and share our joy with those that feel cut off from the world. And cut off from God. The poor, the homeless, the refugees, the hungry, the suffering and the dying. These are the people that Christ himself would have reached out to. These are the people Christ would have taken the time to be present with. These are the people that more than anything need us to help them to come to the light, come out of the belly of the beast, come to see the joy of the Lord. Yes, Lord, yes, Lord, Amen!

Two Pillars

When I first entered college I was in the midst of a period of faith searching. I had stopped going to church because at the time I felt it didn’t have anything to say to me, or at least, what I was hearing at Sunday services didn’t move me. Not that I stopped believing. I continued to read my Bible and sought a relationship with God in places other than church – usually in nature. I would spend many hours hiking in the Gunpowder State Park, meditating and communing with God. And I grew to love early morning walks on the beach at Ocean City, where I would stop as the sun began to crest the horizon, sit on the sand, and just enjoy the awesome nature of God as the day began. For me, these were significant moments of commune with God, and I still find great solace and inspiration during forest and beach walks.

As wonderful as these times were for me, I still needed to search out where my faith life was heading. And at college I soon became friends with a sort of ragtag group of Christians. I still wonder how we ‘found’ one another, but I suppose like believers from the earliest days of Christianity God finds a way to bring together those of common belief. We weren’t brought together by a common theology of belief – there were Baptists and Catholics and Methodists and Lutherans. I had one friend that belonged to the Salvation Army Church and another that described himself as a ‘Jew for Jesus,’ someone that practiced messianic Judaism, accepting Christ as the Messiah. We often gathered during any free time we had – especially for lunch – and occasionally attended services at each other’s churches. These times with this group of friends did a great deal to help me find my faith and understand what it meant to be a Christian in today’s world.

I recall one day at lunch we discussed who we thought was the first Christian. This was the sort of theological question we often discussed while munching sandwiches in the student union. There were a variety of opinions, as you might expect with such a diverse group (despite our common belief in Jesus Christ). Some suggested Mary, because she was the one who said that great “Yes” to God when asked to bear His Son. Some favored John the Baptist, for his pronouncement of Christ as the Lamb of God. Others suggested Andrew and John because they were the first called to follow Jesus. I favored Simon Peter, because as we hear in Matthew’s Gospel he was the first to stand up and proclaim, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (Matthew 16:16) I don’t know that we solved this little puzzle to our satisfaction that day, but I’ve never stopped thinking about Peter and his place as a believer and why he was chosen by Christ to be the foundation of the church.

If one could make the case for Peter as the first Christian, you could also make the case for Paul as Christianity’s greatest convert. His influence on the Christian faith is inestimable – I know non-Catholics that have suggested Paul’s letters are of greater significance than even the Gospels for our understanding of what it means to be a Christian. And while I myself will always go back to Christ in the Gospels as my own foundation, I cannot diminish the importance or great influence of Paul on our faith.

On the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul we celebrate two great pillars of our faith. Two men that despite a variety of obvious shortcomings were chosen by Christ to lead his church, not just in their own time but two thousand years later and beyond. Christ chose Peter that day to be the rock upon which his church would be built, a rock that not even the gates of the netherworld could overcome. Talk about great responsibility. And Christ chose Paul on the road to Damascus, despite his persecution of believers. Chosen to preach, chosen to share the Word of God throughout the world.

Both men certainly had moments of doubt and shame. We all have. And that’s one of the reasons they are great models of faith for us. Because like us they were all-too-human. They stumbled and struggled and yet they persisted. They were both great missionaries for Christ, taking the Good News everywhere they went and bringing new believers to Christ. There were plenty of times when they each could have given up and turned away from Christ completely, but they did not. Even in the face of certain death. They both learned from their mistakes and setbacks – as we all should – and grew stronger in their belief for it.

I will always remember with great fondness that time of searching for my faith. Searching for something I could grasp hold of, say it’s mine. Take ownership of what I believed. And those people that surrounded me and helped me find my way. And to this day the people that continue to help me find my way. To stay rooted, to stay strong, to keep the faith. And as disciples, we all have that ability to help others find their way. Because despite all that Peter and Paul were and the fact they were each chosen personally by Christ they still weren’t able to do it alone. They had to have help. They needed the support and strength and love of other believers to help sustain them. We all do. Like Peter and Paul, Christ has extended a personal invitation to each one of us. An invitation to believe, an invitation to serve, an invitation to go out as missionaries in the world and proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ to all nations. That is the model of these two great pillars of our faith. They are the model of what Christ expects of each one of us.

BASE Camp 2009 - Reflection

This past week our young people participated in our annual BASE Camp experience. When Kate Kleintank and myself first starting forming plans for a joint project for youth from St. Mark and St. William of York parish I don't think we quite envisioned what BASE Camp has become. Originally it was to be a workcamp, an opportunity for a group of young people from the two parishes to come together and get to know each other better while putting their faith into action through community service. Certainly a laudable goal in and of itself. However, BASE Camp has evolved into something much more than that, with much of the credit going to Mercy Sr. Katherine Nueslein, or "Sr. Kitty" as we affectionately call her. And that transition began when we stopped calling this a "workcamp" and began calling it BASE Camp, the letters "B," "A," "S" and "E" standing for Baltimore - Act, Serve, Evangelize.

Through many conversations between Sr. Kitty and myself and trying new things we've come to the conclusion that as important as the work is, it is just as important (if not more so) for our young people to experience something that goes well beyond doing a "good deed for the day." We want our young people to feel the pulse of the city, to form relationships with its residents, to hear their stories and understand that reaching out and helping is much more than cutting grass or cleaning up trash. We want our young people to see that there is much healing that needs to happen in our city, and that they have the power to make that healing happen as disciples of Christ. Today, BASE Camp is less about the service and more about the EXPERIENCE. It's about putting your faith into action not just in a physical way but in a way that encourages advocacy for peace and justice. And through that advocacy we can be healers.


Each day of our BASE Camp experience featured a different theme. Day One was "Solidarity," and we prayed on that theme throughout the day as we discovered what it truly means to stand in solidarity with our less fortunate sisters and brothers. The theme of Day Two was "Care of God's Creation," and much of our time was spent working on a park that serves as a small oasis of peace in one of Baltimore's poorest neighborhoods. Day Three was "Witness," and we witnessed to our faith through our actions, and were amazed and gratified by the large number of people that pitched in to help or merely stopped by to say 'Thank You' for all we were doing to try and restore pride in community in the southwest district. Our Day Four theme was "Discipleship," and we heard profound testimony all week of what it means to be a disciple from the clients at Hezekiah House, who told us that through the darkest hours of our lives we had to continue to seek God's light. And we heard from the residents of Jonah House, who explored with us the pervasive and suffocating violence that permeates our world. And finally, our Day Five theme was "Go Forth," with the idea being that our last day of BASE Camp is not an ending but a continuation of what it means to go forth and shout to all nations the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Each day of our BASE Camp experience our youth prayed together in our Mary garden before we left for the worksite, and in the evening assessed each day with reflection, prayer, meditation and the writing of our prayer intentions on our BASE Camp prayer cloth. And our prayer intentions went well beyond just praying for the people of Baltimore and those we met through our work. We prayed for the grandmother of one of our youth that passed away this past week. For the mother of another participant that was hospitalized during our week. For Vincent Woodward from Resurrection parish in Ellicott City - where Kate Kleintank now works - who was tragically killed in an automobile accident. For our families that were missing us and for our friends and acquaintances in pain and suffering. For Sr. Kitty and each person we met during BASE Camp. And of course, for one another. For strength, for safety, for continued blessings on the work of our hands and for peace and justice to come to the city of Baltimore, and throughout the world.


It was particularly gratifying for me to see not only the way our young people work and reach out to southwest Baltimore, but to see how they reach out and support and comfort one another. Our new participants were welcomed with open arms and quickly became part of our BASE Camp family. And a group of our older participants stepped into the role of "Young Adult Leader" with maturity and grace.

In many readings from the Gospels the theme is healing. Christ demonstrated to his disciples the power of healing and that all who believe in him will be healed. This week at BASE Camp, despite a different theme each day, it was all about one thing - healing. We healed through our work and we healed through our prayers. We healed by being the answer to someone else's prayer… the person too sick to clean up their own property; the person caught up in addiction; the poor and the hungry and those just struggling each day to get by. And of course, the prayers of each other. Solidarity, care, witness, discipleship and mission. They all add up to one thing: healing. Jesus said "…as you have believed, let it be done for you." (Matthew 8:13) Our young people are believers, our young people are disciples. Our young people stand ready to go forth and be healers in our world.

BASE Camp - Day Five+

Oh, the best-laid plans of mice and men...

Day Five+ of our 2009 BASE Camp experience began with a bang - literally. As we arrived to drop off a crew at the community service center we heard a loud 'BANG' followed by a slow hiss... Sr. Kitty had a flat. She seemed completely unperturbed, however. "Oh, this happens all the time" was her response. Despite the seeming setback our ever-enthusiastic BASE Camp crew eagerly took on the task of changing the tire (even though none of them had any experience in this area). Although it looked like the beginnings of a bad joke ("How many BASE Camp participants does it take to change a flat tire?") they met their first challenge of the day head-on and with success.

Our large project for this last day of BASE Camp was at the Traci Atkins Park. Traci Atkins was a young girl who was killed when she was hit by a truck as she played in the water of an opened fire hydrant on a hot summer day. The park was created as a place for children to be able to play safely without the worry of traffic. Our task was to dig a relief trench for water that was backing up onto the wading pool deck. Even though it was hot, sweaty work our team dove in (no pun intended) and dug the trench, using the dirt they removed to fill in other holes around the park property. The team also cleaned up trash around the park, and even managed to find some time to play basketball with some young people from the neighborhood. It was a great project on all kinds of levels for our BASE Camp participants - not just for the opportunity to make the park a little nicer for the youngsters that visit there, but also to spend time building relationships with their peers in the neighborhood.

We made a financial donation to the Hezekiah Movement, and there were food donations to sort in the morning as well. Much from one of our St. William of York parishioners, and also food from BASE Camp that we knew we would not need. The crew divided the food donations into bags to be presented to needy families in the area. Another crew spent part of the day cleaning out a storage garage at the community service center, and we ended our time with a group walk to Hollins Market where we sampled a wide variety of treats.

We had a final assessment with Sr. Kitty and focused on our theme for the day, "Go Forth." The youth talked much of their experiences of the past week, and also talked of their dreams for continuing the work we've done. It was particularly gratifying for me to hear how profoundly our young people experienced their faith in action over the last few days.

It's nearly 11pm and a group of about a dozen of the youth have gone over to the church to pray and write prayer intentions on our BASE Camp prayer cloth. Tomorrow is our cleanup day at St. Will's. I know it will be a day of tears and sad farewells. But the 2009 BASE Camp crew is ready to "Go Forth!"