Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Readings of the Day

“Repairer of the breach,” they shall call you, “Restorer of ruined homesteads.”

This passage took on profound meaning for me after the 2004 Memorial Day flood.  The flooding put 13-39 inches of water and an inch of muddy sludge in every room of our house.  Repaiting our home took years of work; help from family, friends and strangers; and double the money we originally paid for the place.  But the help we received during that trying time which meant the most to me was left anonymously on our front porch: two paper bags that held neatly cut T-shirt rags for cleaning and Epsom salts to soak our aching bodies.

Both before and since the 2004 flood, I have been privileged to distribute CCUSA disaster funds to persons afflicted by floods and a tornado in Eastern Kentucky.  Often I have felt overwhelmed and that our help was insignificant because there were many damaged homes and most would need repairs costing more than the entire amount of the $10,000 CCUSA grant.  Yet, each time our agency was able to use the grant with locally raised funds to help 20-25 families meet needs that did not qualify for government or insurance assistance. While our aid was always a very humble and humbling effort, the responses of the disaster victims indicated our help was restorative, not just materially, but emotionally and spiritually, much like the rags and salts were for me in 2004.

As Catholic Charities workers, we have many opportunities to “follow” Jesus per today’s gospel into the homes and lives of “the sick,” whether they are hungry, afflicted, poor, flooded, or “tax collectors and sinners.”  We can easily be overcome by “darkness” and “gloom” – figuratively “flooded.”

Isaiah promises us that the Lord will “give you plenty” and “renew your strength” so “you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring whose water never fails.”  But the promise is conditional. He tells us to delight in the Sabbath, the Lord’s holy day, and to honor it by not following our ways, seeking our own interests or speaking with malice.

Today is Saturday!  Our celebration of the Sabbath begins this evening and extends through tomorrow.  Let’s rest from our many pursuits and worship with delight this Sunday, in accordance with these Scripture passages. Let’s allow the Lord to repair our breaches, so we can be restorers of ruined homesteads in our own families and agencies, as well as in the lives of our clients.

Gwen Hall, MSW, LCSW is a licensed clinical social worker and a counselor for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Lexington in Prestonsburg, KY.

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