Religion. Or Not.

Standing in the lobby of Grace House I watched Aretha Jones walk inside. Aretha is the Vice-President of Health Services. I asked if she was coming to give me a hug. We've been working on adding a pharmacist to the staff and I found one who is interested.

"No," she quickly replied, I am coming to get away from stinky people."

"What?" I asked.

"My lobby is full of stinky people waiting to see the doctors," she explained. "I couldn't stand it anymore so I came over here."

"Is it Inner City day?" I asked.

She laughed and said no and we went on to talk about other things.

But, the smell of poverty is mildew and rot. There are times when it can be overwhelming. Fortunately we do not see too much of this at Union Mission but there are times like yesterday when those who never come inside do show up needing help. And that is what we do. It is core to our values and it is core to our religion.

The prophet Isaiah tells us that if we meet a homeless person then we are to take them home with us. Union Mission is one of the ways that this community does what the prophet commands.

Jesus adds, "the poor will be with you always so that you may be kind to them." Union Mission is one of the ways that this community is kind to them.

Then I had lunch with my friend Mary Ann Beil. After catching her up on what has been happening in my life, she insisted that I listen to an interview with the Irish philosopher, poet, mystic John O'Donahue. He was talking about his book Anam Cara, which means soul friend. It is a Celtic Christian term that describes how our relationships transcend the physical. Mary Ann was insisting that the events that my life have taken has pushed me into defining my key relationships into soul friends.

Driving back to the office, I could not help but connect several dots in my life. The unending commitment to help those around me could never occur were it not for the sustaining love and concern of many people in my life. Soul friends.

Then back at the office I could smell the smell of human need again. Then Keller Deal made me do mundane work. We needed a new policy on how staff should interact with members of the Army of Salvation. So she and I wrote it.

Then a dear friend texted me and asked how I was doing. I told him that I am ok. He responds with "All you can do is control you. Our journey in this life is so full of pain."

"You are so Catholic!" I reply. Don't get me wrong, I love a good liturgy as much as anyone but I don't think that God endorses the pain and guilt lifestyle as much as some want us to believe.

Reflecting on the day, I realized that it had been filled with religion. The religion of the poor. The religion of Celtic Christianity. The institutional religions that exist in this community. That's a lot of religion in one day.

Now I am contemplating giving up religion for Lent.