Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Year C
Luke 4:21-30

The Global Community!

 
Upon Reflection:  Occasionally I tell people about students I once worked with who raised funds to build an additional sleeping facility at an orphanage for disabled children run by the Diocese of Mbale in Uganda, and how the students went there to help in its construction.  Some asked, “Why do you go across an ocean to help people when there is so much need closer to America?”  Other times, I tell people about Campus Ministries' International Service Program, how we form groups of volunteers who raise money and travel to Central and South American Countries to serve and to form solidarity with the poor there, but some ask, “Why do you go all the way to Central & South America when there is so much need here in the U.S.?”  Then, from time to time, I tell people about the work that some of us do on our domestic service trips, how students go to impoverished parts of our country to serve those in need.  Still some question, “Why do you go all the way to other states when there is so much need right here in our own state?”  So I tell all those people about our work in local food pantries and soup kitchens and nursing homes and other local agencies, how we write letters to our politicians who represent us asking them to support bills that help alleviate hunger and homelessness; yet even after I tell them all that, some ask, “Why don’t you do more for your own community?”  It seems that like in today’s Gospel, there will always be people from your own community who want to throw you off a cliff because your vision of communion is much broader than a specific geographical area. When this happens, may we always be able to “pass through the midst of them” so that we can continue our ministry to ALL.


 -Fred T. Mercadante
Campus Minister