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Giving second chances is at heart of being Catholic |
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By Father John Estrem
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Wednesday, 08 October 2008 |
The warm, summerlike days tucked between blasts of comparably cold air arguably rank as one of my favorite times of year.
They give us another chance — a second chance — to enjoy the warmth of the fading sun, to remember that despite the cold lurking in the coming months, summer will come again.
Serving Others
Father John Estrem
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The same holds true in life, with our relationships with God, each other and the work we do at Catholic Charities. Giving second or third and, frankly, countless chances is what it means to be Catholic. It’s what it means to serve those most in need, to do this work we call social justice.
We must not only give each other another chance but give ourselves another chance to receive God’s grace.
A poignant reminder
A recent letter and donation from a man in the eastern metro area
reminded me of our obligation to accept those second chances as God’s
gracious gifts. The donation, the letter states, was toward his tithing
of wages.
In the last 12 years, this man’s gotten to know Father Greg Skrypek,
who serves as chaplain at the Stillwater State Prison and Oak Park
Heights Prison.
I don’t know, nor does it matter ultimately, why this man is serving
time. What matters is that he desires to do good, that despite being in
prison, he wants to make a positive contribution to society by helping
those who are most in need.
God’s grace does remarkable things.
The Gospels challenge us repeatedly, especially in the fall, to
recognize that grace in our own lives and in the lives of others,
especially those whom it is difficult to love:
People such as those whose poor choices adversely affected their families, perhaps even costing them their homes.
People whose drug or alcohol addiction has left them living in poverty or homeless.
People who committed a crime.
People such as the man who sent the letter.
We may not — and we don’t have to — like the decisions people have
made. But we must recognize and honor their innate dignity, the fact
that they are made in the image and likeness of God.
Hard lesson to learn
Christ instructs us to treat those who wrong us as we would treat tax
collectors or a Gentile. On the surface, it appears that we can dismiss
them, treat them as if they don’t exist. But then we remember that
Christ dined at the table of the chief tax collector, that he blessed
the Canaanite woman seeking a cure for her daughter.
It’s the parable of the laborers who work in the field for a full day,
half day or an hour and all receive the same wage from the master. No
matter when we turn to God, we will be welcome equally into the kingdom
of heaven. It’s one of the hardest lessons for us because it is not the
justice we know.
As we enjoy the last, few warm fall days, seize the gift of a second
chance, and the reminder of summer. And seize the daily opportunities —
our ultimate second chances — to receive God’s gift of grace.
Father John Estrem is CEO of Catholic Charities of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
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