One of the most powerful passages in St. Paul’s epistles is from the second chapter of the letter to the Philippians: “Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus. Who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God something to be grasped. Rather He emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (2:5-6).
During the Middle Ages, a religious order was formed that took this Scripture passage not just to heart but into their lives. This was a time when war between Muslims and Christians in the Mediterranean was common, and captives would often become slaves rowing on the warships of the day. The men of this order would trade themselves for the captives so that they could go home to their families, and these religious would take their place as slaves.
It seems almost inconceivable that anyone would do this – trade freedom for slavery – but their love of God and their neighbor empowered them to follow Christ even in the giving of their lives for others.
Perhaps deep in their hearts they heard the same words that Jesus heard at His baptism in the Jordan River: “You are my beloved Son; with You I am well pleased.”
Jesus stood in the waters and was baptized by John for the forgiveness of sins. Though sinless, Jesus stands with us sinners, not ashamed to be called our brother. Through Jesus and His taking of our sins to the cross, our sins will be forgiven and He will offer us the way to eternal life.
As Paul says in his letter to Titus, Jesus Christ “gave Himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and cleanse for Himself a people as His own, eager to do what is good” (2:14). He did this “not because of any righteous deeds we have done but because of His mercy. He saved us through the bath of rebirth (baptism) and renewal by the Holy Spirit … so that we might be justified by His grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life” (3:5, 7).
Though that group of religious has long ago passed away, there are still many who place their lives at the service of others. Certainly, this is true of the Missionaries of Charity, the group of sisters and brothers who serve the poorest of the poor in so many places around the world.
But it is not only men and women religious who have done this. There are those lay persons who have followed Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin in living a life of voluntary poverty and service to the poor in a Catholic Worker Community.
My favorite Catholic Worker Community for some years has been the Houston Catholic Worker. Some 40 years ago Mark and Louise Zwick returned from El Salvador and, recognizing the poverty and hardships faced by immigrants from Mexico and Central America in Texas, founded the Houston Catholic Worker, also known as Casa Juan Diego. Over the years it has grown from a single house to a number of houses in Houston that provide shelter to men, women and children, and also house two clinics and a food distribution center. There is also a refugee center in Matamoros, Mexico.
There are no salaries given to those who give their lives at a Catholic Worker House. “All funds go to the service of the poor.”
There in Houston over the years, thousands have been housed, millions of meals have been given to the hungry without a lot of questions, thousands of prescriptions have been given to the sick poor by the doctors and dentists who volunteer, and assistance has been given to refugees to visit their families. (See the Houston Catholic Worker, Oct.-Nov. 2020.)
In a recent Christmas issue of the Houston Catholic Worker, Louise Zwick wrote: “Christmas asks much of us. Caryll Houselander described what the event of Christ’s birth in Bethlehem asks of His followers even today: ‘To surrender all that we are, as we are, to the spirit of love in order that our lives may bear Christ into the world – that is what we shall be asked.’”
Christ gave Himself to us first. What will we give in return?
Jesuit Father John Michalowski is the parochial vicar of St. Peter Church in Charlotte.