Save Our Saftey Net Mayor Fenty!

In the District of Columbia, yesterday marked an important day - the release of Mayor Fenty's Fiscal Year 2011 (FY11) budget. It is a budget that we have been nervous about all year - we have a current shortfall of $500 million dollars... how many cuts will be made to our low income District of Columbia clients? Will the budget be balanced or will it only involve budget cuts? Will our clients bear the largest burden of the budget cuts?

My involvement with the Fair Budget Coalition this year has taught me the importance of advocating to the D.C. Council for a more fair budget. I have watched advocates in both the Fair Budget Coalition*and the Save Our Safety Net Campaign* come together to urge the Council to remember our clients as they form the budget.

I have just spent some time reflecting on the Gospel call to serve one another - Jesus, as an example to us, washes the feet of his disciples and calls us to do the same. Yet, as I turn to Mayor Fenty's budget, I realize our leaders often don't hear this same call. Perhaps they may not share the faith I believe. However, my experience at Bread for the City has taught me that the Gospel call I feel stretches beyond my faith - it is inscribed in the hearts of my coworkers in words that are similar or different. Regadless of faith commitment, I have seen my coworkers as well as many advocates across the city reach into their own hearts to see a common humanity between themselves and the clients we serve. Our difference is that our families have often provided the safety net. But we still have the same needs, the same aspirations, and the same desire to be loved and fulfilled. We still have the same goals of sucess, the same need for adequate shelter and food and clothing.

Perhaps we forget this message when we find ourselves isolated in our neighborhoods... when we view Bread clients as the drug addicts and homeless and people away from us.... when we think of our clients as living in unsafe and scary neighborhoods...

But - it is my belief that the moment we spent more than thirty second driving
through and actually look into the eyes of our clients, engaging them in a real
conversation - it is in this moment that our hearts begin to see a common
humanity.

We are bonded together as one humanity - it is my hope that Mayor Fenty and Council Members will find this common humanity in their hearts just as we have in ours.

** For more information on this year's budget and the importance of advocating for our low income clients, please click on the following links to learn more about the Fair Budget Coalition and the Save Our Safety Net Campaign.

Triduum Reflections

It is now Triduum in the Church. Lent is over and we begin our final journey into Easter. Triduum is my favorite time in the Church calendar each year. For years we have attended Mass each night – Holy Thursday Mass, the Good Friday service, Easter Vigil, and finally, Easter Sunday. I have always loved the way these liturgies are intertwined and sewed together – attending all of them, the picture becomes clear of what these most important days of the year are about.

I attended Holy Thursday Mass last night at my church, St. Patrick’s in downtown Washington. During the Holy Thursday Mass at my church back at home, each year, we would sing the song, We Are Called – my favorite faith song. It echoes the words of Micah, calling us to act with justice, love tenderly, serve one another, and walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8). It is a Mass about service, about Jesus washing the feet of his disciples – of leading as a servant.

Cardinal McCarrick was the celebrant and I must say I haven’t seen my days in Europe. His homily focused on this message of service and of what it means to serve one another, something that is especially relevant to the life I am living right now. Some of the words stood out to me as they made me reflect on my work at Bread for the City and what it means to truly live this life of service to one another: We should look to serve one another even if their feet aren’t dirty… whatever it takes let us be servers…

In the literal sense, the story of washing the feet is pertinent to the Gospel because the people of Jesus’ time travelled through the Middle Eastern desert from one place to another, without concrete or asphalt pavements, without cars to drive (though I’m hopeful that they had camels which is extremely exciting!). Today, especially in Washington, this story is less literal, but the Gospel value is still true. I believe that when we serve other another, we come closer to Christ, just as he served his disciples in the story.

While the nature of service is often heavy and draining, it is also life giving. As I step back and reflect on my work serving our clients at Bread for the City – helping my Social Security clients prepare for their SSI/SSDI hearings, researching tenant displacement with our housing attorney, and meeting clients who come in each day for assistance, I believe I am also getting my own feet washed. I find that I am deeply fulfilled in the work I am doing at Bread and continue to serve willingly for both my clients and myself.

Cardinal McCarrick closed his homily with the words He shows us how to serve tonight. Tomorrow he will show us how to die. In all, he shows us how to love. When I reflect on the Triduum as a whole, I see that after all, it’s all about Christ’s love for us.