Today we have a guest blogger (saving me from a tight schedule today.) Mr. Ryan Mann is a seminarian for the Diocese of Cleveland. I hope you enjoy his thoughts and that it spurs some thinking in your part of the cyberworld.

Over
the next few weeks I shared this story with other friends in the area. Each one
responded with a similar awe. This
priest’s response was so obvious and simple, and yet not one of us ever thought
of it that way. After sitting with this for a while, I came to realize that my
priest friend’s response was the right
response (the point I am making here is not the
cause of homelessness, but the nature of friendship revealed in my friend's
comment).

This
“other world” is none other than the Kingdom of God. This priest’s radical
vision was Jesus’ vision. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus like Aristotle never
does anything on his own. He is constantly referring to the most basic element
of His existence, his relationship with the Father. Jesus says things like: “…the Son can
do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing.” (Jn 5:19). On the Cross -
a situation much worse than being homeless - Jesus sighed, “Father into your
hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46). He was not even going to die of his own
accord. These pronouncements disclose that Jesus was not a modern American
whose trust resides in himself. Jesus’ trust was in his Father and it was this
relationship that made him so radical 2,000 years ago and continues to make him
radical today.

It’s
something of this mysterious way of being in the world that my priest friend
knew and revealed to me. He knew friends
are there to laugh with and challenge you to grow, but in a revolutionary way
he also knew that in those painful and tough times friends are there to help
you. When we are most vulnerable and in need of help we don’t need to do it
alone. I never thought I’d be homeless, but now, because of a friend, I know
why.
3 comments:
Ryan is most sensitive, and his priest friend offers good advice. Friends are invaluable . . . thank God for friends.
rmk
Nicely written Ryan. You've given me food for thought. Thanks for sharing.
Please bear with me, Ryan, I'm a stranger to this blog, but I don't think this post can be approved with a simple "Nicely written." This post raises questions that you'd better think about and pray about - hard - before you're entrusted with the care of souls.
There are just too many people who cannot say what your priest friend said. Some have friendships that depend heavily on economic equity, and destitution can strain those friendships to the breaking point. As Jimmy Cox wrote, "Nobody knows you when you're down and out ... but if I ever get on my feet again, then I'll meet my long-lost friends."
And some are not even that well-supplied with friends - they're friendless. Go to the Friendship Blog and you'll find heartbreaking stories of those who have no friends and have given up hope of ever having any. A Lutheran pastor I know says that he's known others similarly in despair.
When some such person pours out his despairing heart to you - someone who is serious about following Christ and becoming a better person - what are you going to say to him? That he can forget about amending his life, or acquiring virtue, that if he only had the right attitude, he could go out and make a friend? To say that would be cruel would be an understatement.
If you don't know how to address such a predicament, think about it, talk about it, ask God for wisdom. Whatever you do, don't be a minister of despair.
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