Saturday of the First Week of Advent

Readings of the Day 

As my time volunteering with The Society of St. Vincent de Paul grows, so has my understanding of today’s gospel.

When I began visiting people in need, I found myself intimidated by the most difficult cases: the woman in an extended stay hotel who could not find work because of a manslaughter conviction in high school; the evicted family living in an office park because the rent was cheaper than an apartment.

These were situations that challenged my inexperience. In truth, I was often temped to hide behind the blame game of “why did you get yourself in this situation in the first place?"

I’ve never met anybody whose childhood ambition was to be poor. There are many who made the best decisions possible, at the time. But then something interrupted their plans.

As I’ve gained experience dealing with people in need, I have grown in empathy as well as a knowledge of the resources I can enlist to help people in financial turmoil.

Then, there are the sheep who aren’t “lost.” They never had much of a chance to join the flock to begin with.

A recent article in an Atlanta business publication had the headline: “Young, Gifted, and Black Isn’t Enough.” Focus that thought on our work, and it is clear that faithful dedication and charity aren’t enough. If we are to “drive out demons” as Jesus instructs in today’s reading, we must seek justice for those who have been systemically excluded in our economy. In my view, racism is one of the unclean spirits that Jesus instructs us to cure.

Dealing with systemic racism requires much more than paying rent or a utility bill. And, like all of us when we first began our faith-driven service work, we won’t always know the answer. But we have to take a step closer every day.

Jack Murphy is a volunteer with The Society of St. Vincent de Paul. He is president of the St. Thomas Aquinas conference in Alpharetta, GA and is national chair of Systemic Change and Advocacy for The Society. He also chairs the North Fulton Improvement Network (ourinvisibleneighbors.org), a group of business, faith, community, and nonprofit leaders working to help more people reach financial stability in an affluent, and expensive, suburb.

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