COMPASSIONTO THE POOR A LA TERESA OF CALCUTTA STYLE

At Santo Domingo Church, we have a lot of poor people. The poor go to Santo Domingo bcause there they can find someone who can help them in their needs; who can provide them a badly needed medicine of their sick father, a kilo of rice that can fill the stomach of their children that had been empty for days, That poor people go to Santo Domingo because they have nowhere to go; other secular “charitable” institutions have rejected them, another filthy rich guy shun them away from their “informal settlements; a strong typhoon had blown away or flooded their make shift houses, no one would dare hold their dirty and sun-burned body.. The poor go to Santo Domingo because they have nowhere to go, and no else to welcome them. Thus, we in Santo Domingo are expected to welcome them; to feed them, to shelter them; to embrace their cold bodies.

But how do we treat the poor in our midst?

We abhor them. If we know that there are beggars and indigent along the route we frequent, we immediately make a detour and prefer a route free from the poor people asking our help. We do not like their foul smell. We do not like the site of people clothed in tattered and soiled clothes. We are done with their usual stories of a sick family member, death grandparent, starving for days, etc. The poor approaches us, but often we shun them away.

But there is a woman who dedicated her life for the poor.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta loved the poor so much, that she practical spent her life caring for the sick, dying, and those in miserable life. To the poor, she became a provider. To the sick, she became a healer. To the dying, she became a comforting companion. She loved them so much that she did not wait for them to come to their communities. She reach out for, searched the streets of Calcutta, Rome, New York for those poor people who may need something, more so someone to accompany them out of their misery.

If we look into the life of Mother Teresa, one would wonder how this little lady was able to accomplish so much; how was she able to love so much?!? One can readily say, it is God’s grace. Yes. But grace builds on nature. Thus, one can imagine how much Mother Teresa opened herself to God’s grace in order to love the poor so much. Mother Teresa, in her writings and counsels to her fellow sisters, often utter an anecdote about the poor: The poor is Jesus Christ in a distressing disguise. She saw Jesus in the sick person asking for a bottle of medicine. She felt Jesus longing for a companion in the last moments of a dying person. She held Jesus through the thin bodies she fed. Truly, it is written; Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters you do it unto me.

Mother Teresa was able to love the poor for she saw Jesus Christ in them. But I would like to believe that she was able to love because she knew the feeling of being unloved. She loved the poor because she too was once poor; was rather poor throughout her life. She was poor throughout her life because she kept herself always in the presence of God, in disguise among the poor. Who can be rich in front of God, who created heaven and earth and all they contain?!? Who can brag about the properties he owns, in front of the Creator of all? Who can boast of his awards and achievement in this life in front of Him whom no human praise can add to his greatness and glory? Truth be told, we are all poor in the face of God. We go to the Church for the same reason that beggars and squatters go to the Church; we too are poor, in many respect. But despite of our poverty, God loves us, simply yet mysteriously. We are poor yet a generous God loves us.  Until we realize that we are loved despite of our poverty, we will not be able to love the poor the way God love us. Until we begin to see God in the poor, we will not be able to love them, the way Mother Teresa did; the way Jesus did unto us.        

The poor comes to the Church; to us begging for help; what do you think of yourself? Rich?

THE VENERABLE BEDE

Introduction

The lives of saints often reflect how they had glorified God through their lives. The saints glorified God in many ways such as ardent devotion to the Eucharist, in helping the underprivileged, founding a religious order, taking care of the children, preaching the truth, etc. Venerable Bede or St. Bede gave praise to God in a distinct way; through study and writing. A historian and doctor of the Church, he was a multi-faceted saint who had written voluminous works on various fields of knowledge. He was famous for writing the Ecclesiastical History of the English People. It was through studying and writing history that Venerable Bede found his means of holiness; his means of glorifying God.   

His Life

It is not certain when was the Venerable born and died. Scholars approximate that he had lived between 673 and 735 AD. Little is known about the saint, saved from the details about him that he himself revealed in the last part of his opus magnum, the Ecclesiastical History of the English People.  In the conclusion of the said work, he stated: 

Thus much concerning the ecclesiastical history of Britain, and especially of the race of the English, I, Baeda, a servant of Christ and a priest of the monastery of the blessed apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, which is at Wearmouth and at Jarrow (in Northumberland), have with the Lord's help composed so far as I could gather it either from ancient documents or from the traditions of the elders, or from my own knowledge.

I was born in the territory of the said monastery, and at the age of seven I was, by the care of my relations, given to the most reverend Abbot Benedict [St. Benedict Biscop], and afterwards to Ceolfrid, to be educated. From that time I have spent the whole of my life within that monastery, devoting all my pains to the study of the Scriptures, and amid the observance of monastic discipline and the daily charge of singing in the Church, it has been ever my delight to learn or teach or write.

In my nineteenth year I was admitted to the diaconate, in my thirtieth to the priesthood, both by the hands of the most reverend Bishop John [St. John of Beverley], and at the bidding of Abbot Ceolfrid. From the time of my admission to the priesthood to my present fifty-ninth year, I have endeavored for my own use and that of my brethren, to make brief notes upon the Holy Scripture, either out of the works of the venerable Fathers or in conformity with their meaning and interpretation…

And I pray thee, loving Jesus, that as Thou hast graciously given me to drink in with delight the words of Thy knowledge, so Thou wouldst mercifully grant me to attain one day to Thee, the fountain of all wisdom and to appear forever before Thy face.

From this concluding part of the Ecclesiastical History of the English People it can be grasped that the Venerable had spend his whole life in the monastery in praying, studying, writing and teaching. He was so dedicated in glorifying God through his study and writing that even on the very day of his death, under condition of a lingering and failing health, he was still dictating a translation of the Gospel according to John to his student-secretary. After such piece, he so requested from his student-secretary to take my head in thy hands for it much delights me to sit opposite any holy place where I used to pray, that so sitting I may call upon my Father. Sitting on the floor of his cell, he sung the Glory be, and breathed his last. 

In 1859, Cardinal Wiseman and the English Bishops petitioned the Holy See to declare Venerable Bede as a Doctor of the Church. The petition was granted on November 13, 1899 when Leo XIII was declared a Doctor Ecclesiae with the celebration of his feast every 27^th of May. 

His Contributions

Saint Bede is not prefixed with the word Venerable without a due reason for reverence and admiration.  Legend has it, that a monk was at a loss on what word to place to complete the epitaph of Saint Bede: Hac sunt in fossa Bedae . . . . ossa (Here are buried the bones of the… Bede). The next morning, it is believed, that an angel place the word venerabilis (venerable) to fill the gap, thus the Venerable Bede. But such title, it can claimed, is without a basis, for several learned men continued to use such title even a century after his death, such as Alcuin, Amalarius and seemingly Paul the Deacon, and the important Council of Aachen in 835, which identified Bede as venerabilis et modernis temporibus doctor admirabilis Beda.

One noticeable trait of the Venerable was his observance of what can be called today as intellectual property rights. He was rigid in acknowledging the sources and references of his writings, a practice that is not common at that time.

Though he may had written volumes of books on history and theology, the venerable would humbly submit himself to the authority of the Holy Scriptures and would admit that such is the greatest of all books for it is Divine. He remarked:

Holy Scripture is above all other books not only by its authority because it is Divine, or by its utility because it leads to eternal life, but also by its antiquity and its literary form (positione dicendi).

In his entire life, the Venerable would produced numerous works in various field. Some of these works are as follow: his opus magnum Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Anglorum, Letter to Egbert, History of the Abbots (of the twin monasteries of Wearmouth and Jarrow), the metrical and prose lives of St. Cuthbert, a chronological treatises De temporibus liber and De temporum ratione (a general history of the world from the Creation to 725 and 703), topographical work De locis sanctis (a description of Jerusalem and the holy places based upon Adamnan and Arculfus), Commentaries on Pentateuch, Kings, Ezra, Tobias, the Canticles, on the gospels of St. Mark, St. Luke, and of John, the Acts of the Apostles, the Canonical Epistles, and the Apocalypse. His works also included other sciences than religious and theological in nature, such as grammatical treatises De arte metrica and De orthographia, works on scientific investigations De natura rerum, De temporibus, De temporium ratione, and on music Musica theoretica and De arte Metrica. 

Conclusion

The paths to holiness and sainthood are varied in every person. These paths, however, are not too foreign to man. They are already given to him by God before he even needed them.  One person may glorify God through singing, another may be through painting, and consequently, finds his way towards a holy life. The path to holiness can be the very talents God has given to us. The life of the Venerable Bede is a testament to a person’s utilization of the gifts, talents he had received from God in order to give glory to God. By using his inclinations in researching, and writing on history and on other fields, Venerable Bede was able to glorify God and found holiness in his life. He lived his life fully, in accord with God’s will for him, through his studies and writings dedicated to the God and His Church. Indeed, God can be glorified through the unique talents He had gifted man with.    

Bibliography

Cannon, John. "Bede, St." The Oxford Companion to British History. 2002. Retrieved March 15, 2016 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O110-BedeSt.html

The Venerable Bede. Retrieved February 10, 2016 from https://www.durhamworldheritagesite.com/history/bede

The Venerable Bede (673 AD - 735 AD). Retrieved February 10, 2016 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bede_st.shtml

Thurston, H. (1907). The Venerable Bede. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 12, 2016 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02384a.htm

Thurston, H., and Donald Attwater, eds. Butler’s Lives of the Saints, vol. II. Maryland: Christian Classics, 1990.

ACCOMPANIMENT

Each of us has his own Emmaus experience. These are the moments of doubts, confusion, and fear; times when we were in a dilemma; we run away from our responsibilities or from the reality of our life. And the Lord comes to us, to accompany us in our search for explanation and understanding in life.

These were same the experiences of the two disciples of Jesus as they took the road to Emmaus away from Jerusalem, after His crucifixion and death.  Perhaps they were seeking for understanding, as they were talking and debating among themselves. And Jesus joined them as they grappled for the truth of what had happened in those days. Jesus accompanied them, until they arrived to the truth they sought; until their hearts were set on fire.

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In 2014, I was able to join the PSI program facilitated by the Emmaus Center. I was with my batchmates, and other seminarians and religious. For almost three weeks, we underwent intensive psychological exercises and activities geared towards self-understanding and the likes. We had each other as companions, as we faced the deepest realities of our lives. I would like to believe that Jesus too was there with us, accompanying us in our respective Emmaus experience. Jesus accompaniment came through an advice of a counselor, words of encouragement from a brother, a message of perseverance from a sister, or simply through the presence of a friend. Jesus accompanies us in moments of doubts, fears and confusion. He accompanies us in our Emmaus experience through real persons and concrete ways. If only we open our eyes to Jesus’ abiding presence in our life’s journey, our hearts will be set on fire, like those of the two disciples in their road to Emmaus, we shall recognize Him in our midst, in our life.

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One of the most painful experiences of a human existence is loneliness; being alone especially in crucial points in one’s life. In times like this, it is good to know that we are a community. We can always find someone to accompany us in our trying moments. We can also find Jesus among our brothers, ready to accompany us along our road to Emmaus. 

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Stay with us Lord, in the dark and confused moments of journey. Be our light until, Truth may dawn upon us. Amen.