Angels Abound

Do you believe in angels? The author of today’s psalm not only believes in angels, but promises their presence when we need them the most. The psalmist proclaims that the angels have been commanded by God to guard us and guide us even if we should step on a venomous snake or battle a lion.

When Jesus went into the desert, angels ministered to him, according to Matthew and Mark’s account of this story. Angels guarded and guided Jesus and protected him even in an encounter with Satan. We hear this story of Jesus going into the desert because it is a paradigm for the season of Lent. To enter into Lent is to give up more than a bar of chocolate; it is to go into the wilderness of a desert, to risk our deepest fears and to trust God’s angels to be at our side. Being in a desert is hard. It means leaving behind everything we know to be safe and secure. It means facing the unknown. The desert can be lonely, empty, dry and devoid of structure and certainty, which is why most of us avoid it. Yet, the desert is often where angels reveal themselves.

I am in Italy teaching English in local schools for a few months. Italy is not a desert, but being in a different country with strangers who speak a different language is a desert-like experience. It can be lonely and empty, bereft of the familiar and filled with uncertainty. Yet, in the past five weeks, angels have revealed themselves in every disguise.

Two weeks ago, I lost a substantial amount of money in a coin-operated machine at a self-service laundromat. I was the only person in the place at the time and there was little to no Wi-Fi. I called the phone number listed on the machine and I tried to explain to the man on the other end of the phone what happened in my broken Italian but had no luck. I felt sad and frustrated. There were five minutes left until my clothes were finished when a woman walked into the laundromat and cordially said, “Buongiorno.” I explained my situation to her and on her own phone she called the man back and spoke to his wife, then she handed the phone to me and the woman promised she would refund my money the next day and she did. I told the woman at the laundromat that she was my angel, and she smiled from ear to ear.

Three weeks ago, my tour partner’s computer, an Apple MacBook, died. Fixing a computer can be a challenge in the United States, let alone in a foreign country, and Apple computers come with rules—you can’t have an Apple computer opened by someone other than an official Apple Repair technician. We were in Lodi, a small town about 22 miles outside of Milan. My tour partner Skye was broke at the time and was not able to access funds that had been put into her account. Needless to say, Skye was devastated. We were sitting in a café when I tried to help access her funds through my phone, but in order to do that I had to change sim cards and I needed a very small pin. That led me across the street to a computer store where I noticed the Apple logo on the window—it was an official Apple repair shop! We brought her computer to the young man at the store and a day later he diagnosed the problem as a display backlight issue. He told her that he was unable to fix it but said that the computer might be eligible for a free repair. (As it turns out, Apple discovered many of their MacBook Pros sold between 2016 and 2018 were affected by the same issue.) We picked the computer up from the young man, who not only was honest about the repair, but took the time to clean the computer—all at no

cost. We brought the computer to an official Apple retail store near Milan and three days later, Skye had her computer back—and fixed free of charge. The young man at the computer shop in Lodi could have made hundreds of dollars in an attempt to repair the computer but chose to be honest. He was an angel when Skye needed one the most.

A month ago I was in Barcelona on a Saturday and wanted to visit La Sagrada Familia, a Basilica built by the Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. I walked up to the ticket office but there were no tickets available for Saturday or Sunday and I was leaving Monday morning. At that moment, a couple walked up and asked if I needed a ticket because they had extra and they refused to take any money for it. Thanks to those angels, I was able to tour the famous temple and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site for free.

Days after I arrived in Italy, a cousin in New York with whom I was close passed away. I was overcome with grief and guilt at not being able to be present for his funeral. A young man I barely knew reached out to me with compassion and consolation. He was my angel during this time of grieving. Believe it or not, his name is Gabriel.

These are the stories of only a few of the angels I have encountered thus far in this desert experience. While the desert can be lonely and empty, it can also be a place of surprise and encounter. God calls us to such a place this Lent—where predictability yields to possibility, where safety gives way to risk, where fear resolves to trust.

Church Social Teaching

My friend Trevor employs Rosa, a woman from El Salvador, to clean his apartment. Each time she comes to clean Trevor’s place, he goes out to get lunch for Rosa and for himself. Though she hates to take a break, Trevor encourages Rosa to sit and eat with him before continuing on with her tasks. As a result, Trevor and Rosa have gotten to know each other in a way that may not have happened if he didn’t buy lunch and if they didn’t eat together. By performing these simple acts and without knowing it, Trevor is practicing Catholic social teaching. By paying Rosa a just wage, he recognizes the dignity of her work. By buying her lunch and by inviting her to eat with him he shows that he respects her and is in solidarity with her. All of these elements, showing respect for human beings, honoring the dignity of work, and being in solidarity have long been part of Catholic social doctrine, which some call the Church’s best-kept secret.

What is the Church’s social teaching?

The social teaching of the Church instructs the faithful on how to live the teachings of Christ amidst the challenges of a changing society. Rooted in Scripture, these teachings have been shaped by Popes, Bishops and Church Councils to correspond to the needs of the time.

The seeds of Catholic social teaching were planted by Pope Leo XIII in his 1891 encyclical, Rerum Novarum, which means new things. Rerum Novarum addressed social and economic issues at a time when the industrial revolution and sweeping political changes created a widening gap between the wealthy and the working poor. Rerum Novarum affirmed the dignity of the poor, and a worker’s right to just wages, the right to form trade unions, and the right to own property. The Pope offered a new structure to guide relationships between workers and employers, governments and citizens, saying the primary purpose of the state was to provide for the common good.

Several themes in Rerum Novarum helped form today’s social teaching.

Life and Dignity of the Human Person

God created man and woman in his image. Genesis 1:26-31

The foundation of all Church social teaching is the understanding that every human being is made in the image and likeness of God and is therefore sacred. This fundamental belief, the Church says, is the basis for a moral society:

“Human personhood must be respected with a reverence that is religious. When we deal with each other, we should do so with the sense of awe that arises in the presence of something holy and sacred.”(United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Economic Justice for All, no. 28)

Anything that insults human dignity—from abortion to capital punishment to social and economic disparities--is contrary to Catholic social teaching and to the Gospel.

Call to Family, Community and Participation

What you own belongs to the Lord and is given for the good of all. Leviticus 25:23-42

Humans are social beings who depend on one another in good times and in bad times. The human community has a right and a duty to participate in society, seeking together the common good and the well-being of all. At the heart of the community is the family.

“Efficiency and competition in the marketplace must be moderated by greater concern for the way work schedules and compensation support or threaten the bonds between spouses and between parents and children.” (USCCB, Economic Justice for All, no. 93)

The family, the domestic church, is a sign of unity and gives witness to the Gospel by participating in human institutions for the betterment of society.

Rights and Responsibilities

Just as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me. Matthew 25:31-46

Because every human life has value, all persons, regardless of status, are entitled to basic human rights, including the right to life, the right to health, the right to work, the right to food, the right to shelter, the right to family, and the right to participate in society. Along with those rights comes the responsibility to ensure that others are afforded those same human rights.

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

True worship is to work for justice and care for the poor and oppressed. Isaiah 58:5-7.

The Church’s love and concern for the most vulnerable is rooted in Jesus’ compassion for the poor. The commitment to the poor is not simply for the sake of charity, it is to help the poor become active participants in society so that they might contribute to the common good.

“The ‘option for the poor,’ therefore, is not an adversarial slogan that pits one group or class against another. Rather it states that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community. The extent of their suffering is a measure of how far we are from being a true community of persons. These wounds will be healed only by greater solidarity with the poor and among the poor themselves.” (USCCB, Economic Justice for All, no. 88)

The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers

All workers should be paid a just and living wage. Matthew 20:1-16

According to Catholic social teaching, having a job is more than simply making a living; it is a participation in God’s work. Therefore, the worker must be protected by rights such as the right to productive work, the right to decent wages and benefits, the right to organize, the right to own property and the right to economic initiative.

Solidarity

If one member of Christ’s body suffers, all suffer. If one member is honored, all rejoice. 1 Corinthians 12:12-26

Despite our ethnic, economic, and political differences, we are one human family. In a world that is becoming more and more global it is critical to focus on what we have in common rather than what makes us different. As the pandemic has taught us, we depend on one another in

ways never before imagined. At the heart of solidarity is the desire for and pursuit of peace and justice, not only for ourselves but for the entire human community.

Care for Creation

Humans are commanded to care for God’s creation. Genesis 2:15

Care for the environment is not just a popular trend or a political stance; it is a mandate of our faith. Human beings have been entrusted as the stewards of all creation. We are called to do our part to protect and preserve our common home, to temper consumption with moral considerations for the poor, for humanity as a whole and for future generations.

What is known as the Church’s best-kept secret, Catholic social teaching, has now been told once again in brief. For some this teaching brings comfort, for others, challenge. Reflect on which of the teachings noted above challenge your beliefs and which affirm your beliefs. Read documents such as Rerum Novarum, the Second Vatican Council document, Gaudium et Spes, the U.S. Bishops’ document, Economic Justice for All, Pope Francis’ Evangelii Gaudium, Amoris Laetitia, and Laudato Si’. Discern how you might be called to act so that the Church’s social teaching is no longer a secret but a new way of being for the whole human race.

Advent

This Advent, unlike any other in our lifetime, we find ourselves betwixt and between.

We are betwixt and between Iife as we knew it pre-COVID-19, and life as we hope to know it post vaccine. We are betwixt and between living with the cautions that advise us to not move about, to not travel, and to not gather, and living with the freedom to move about, to travel, and to gather.

For most of us this period of being betwixt and between has proven to be painful. It has meant waiting in the midst of days that are chaotic, disordered and unpredictable. We are, after all, creatures of habit and of comfort. We order our daily agendas in ways that protect us from the unknown. We program our GPS in order to avoid the risks of wandering off the beaten path. We surround ourselves with people who make us feel safe. We create for ourselves the illusion of being in control, of ordering our lives to be predictable. But nothing amazing or wonderful generally emerges from business as usual.

Waiting, while painful, can also bring newness-new perspectives, new ideas, and new ways of being. Consider the new perspectives we’ve gained about ourselves, about each other, and about society over the past year. Consider the new ideas that have been born in medicine, in science, and in technology. Consider the new ways of being students, teachers, workers, advocates, neighbors, community and church that have taken place since the pandemic began.

Waiting and the newness that comes as a result is what Advent is all about. In Advent, we are betwixt and between the coming of Christ in history and the coming of Christ at the end of time. In Advent, we are betwixt and between the season of Ordinary Time and the season of Christmas. While much of society would prefer to rush into Christmas, the Church encourages us to embrace the waiting so that we can experience newness-new perspectives, new ideas, and new ways of being. We are called to wait this Advent and to endure the pandemic as people of hope, to trust that all times and seasons are in the hands of a God who loves us more than we can imagine.

Giving Thanks for Music and Musicians

Today the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Christ the King. This date, November 22, is also the feast of St. Cecilia, a Roman martyr and the patron saint of musicians. Legend has it that Saint Cecilia heard and sang music from heaven as she was being forced to marry the pagan Valerian. She is often portrayed with a harp, organ or other musical instruments.

Saint Cecilia knew music’s power to heal and transform. Music soothed her, comforted her and gave her hope in a dire situation. Our ancestors in faith also knew the power of music. When the Israelites passed through the Red Sea and were saved from Pharaoh’s army, they sang a song of victory. David sang to the Lord after being delivered from the hands of his enemies and from the hands of Saul. Jesus and the disciples sang a hymn before their journey to the Mount of Olives. St. Paul instructed the followers of Christ to encourage one another with songs, hymns and spiritual songs.

Throughout history, we too have experienced the power of music. Consider what are known as freedom songs such as “We Shall Overcome” and “This Little Light of Mine.” These anthems became synonymous with the civil rights movement because they embodied the determination, unity and the mission of the movement.

During the current pandemic, music has soothed us, comforted us, and given us hope in many and various ways. Virtual choirs have flourished, Broadway stars have belted nightly tributes to medical personnel, opera singers have serenaded neighbors from their balconies and neighbors have made music in their backyards.

Liturgical music in particular has helped us to cope with the pandemic. Singing familiar and predictable songs at church, whether in our hearts or behind a mask, has soothed, comforted and given us hope amid a situation that is anything but predictable.

Many liturgical and secular concerts and festivals are held on this day throughout the world to honor St. Cecilia as the patron of musicians. So today is a good day to give thanks to God for the gift of music, for the gift of musicians and for the times music has soothed us, comforted us and given us hope.

Mask Ministry during COVID-19

Parishioners at St. Thomas Aquinas are fighting the coronavirus pandemic one stitch at a time. Dianna Malta is one of several in our community who have been making cloth masks. She first saw the need for the masks on a social media post from the wife of the doctor who is in charge of the ICU Unit at WellStar North Fulton Hospital. Hospital employees have been in desperate need of cloth masks to wear over their N95 Masks. The N95 Masks are considered disposable but health professionals are reusing them because they are unable to get more. The cloth masks provide added protection. Soon after Dianna read that post, she did some research, created her own pattern and went to work.

Dianna and another parishioner, Joellen O’Neil, became part of a group who call themselves “The North Fulton Masketeers.” This group, now with almost fifty members, has made hundreds of cloth masks for the hospital’s employees. They are one of several Atlanta area sewing groups that have formed to create thousands of masks for employees of Grady Hospital, Children’s Hospital of Atlanta, and the Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Georgia, among others.

The Masketeers have created two different types of masks, an N95 Mask cover for healthcare workers and a pleated mask (which resembles a surgical mask) for the general population. Each mask requires fabric that is 100% cotton, as well as elastic or some kind of tie. The N95 Mask also requires a wire that helps it to rest on one’s nose. The fabric for every mask is washed before being sewn and then again before the first use. It takes an estimated 30 minutes to make a mask from start to finish.

When the North Fulton Masketeers fulfilled the request for WellStar North Fulton Hospital, they began making masks for the Military Police Corps at Dobbins Air Force Base, for the Milton Fire Department, for senior care facilities and for children with autoimmune diseases. Some members of the group have even been giving masks to neighborhood grocery store workers.

While many in the group sew the masks, others donate fabric, ties, Ziploc bags and other notions. Still others drop off and pick up donations and completed masks.

Always eager to help, Dianna said, “I started to think that there must be people at St. Thomas Aquinas who need to be in public and who need masks.” So the group’s next step is to make masks for family and friends and that prompted her to consider her parish family.

Up to 25% of those infected with the coronavirus may be asymptomatic, which is why the Centers for Disease Control recommends that everyone wear a mask when going to public places.

If you would like to participate in a ministry to make masks, if you need a mask, or if you would like more information, please send an email to stareply@sta.org

We thank Dianna, Joellen and the numerous other “Masketeers” who have generously offered their time and talents for those who have needed it the most.