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Images and Icons

Contrasts between

media technologyand Church icons.

Page 3

A Word from St. Cl

Chapel

Mary and Martha

among Good

Samaritans at the

Eucharist

Page 9

Durham Catholic Worker

All Saints 2014 1116 Iredell Street, Durham, NC 27705 http://cfw.dioncThe Little Way

Whose Arrogance? Which Humility?Tyler HambleyCatholic Worker, CFW, Durham

In view of All Saints Day, I have an odd confession to make: I like arrogant people!I especially like my more arrogant friends. In fact, my life wouldnt be the same without them. Such fondness m

sound heretical given todays cultural climate. Its one thing to tolerate a prima donna athlete or politician on TV

quite another to abide some high and mighty co-worker, classmate, or housemate amongst ones well-chosen circl

friends. Repulsion, not attraction, is the appropriate stance toward the overly presumptuous.

Granted, my friends are probably not so well chosen. In fact, I doubt Isoughtfriendship with any of them. Still,

ones Ive found most interesting and influential in my life have at one time or another been charged with arrogan

insensitivity, or just plain obnoxiousness. So why do I like them? Moreover, doesnt my association with s

rabble suggest something about menamely that I am arrogant? Certainly I am, but Ill let the reader decide if

for that reason. As for these friends, let me suggest that they are not arrogant at alljust the opposite!

Filling out the picture, my arrogant friends are the ones that hold strong convictions (to put it lightly). Rarely do t

keep such assurances to themselves. On the contrary, these friends let everyone know LOUD AND CLEAR wh

they stand and why, if not by what they say, then by what they do. Blunt, public shaming is their default mod

relating. Perhaps, you know the kind of person of which I speak? Lets call him or her, Loudmouth Blowhard.

Now, because the strong convictions of Mr. or Ms. Loudmouth usually entail specifics regarding the Good Life, h

she necessarilyrejects specifics about what that life is not. And it is the substance andlived-out critical process

two cant be so easily separated) of this posture that gets him or her in trouble. For such embodied convictions seemContinued on p.2

The Communion of Saints

Whats the difference

between communion andcommunity?

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o call for far too over-the-top constraints on our current

age of blas liberal tolerance. Consequently, any firm

pronouncement by Loudmouth will generally get

dismissed under epistemic arrogance, gross

ntolerance, or sectarian retreat. Still, there seems to

be more than meets the eye in these reactions, for the

charge of arrogance against Loudmouth tends to

dissimulate what is really the case for most of us (to

dissimulate means to pretend not to have what one in

fact has). In other words, charging arrogance to such

persons covers over a deeper truth, namely that the

performance of that classic vice, pride, occurs on a

much more pervasive socio-political level than we are

ypically willing to admit. This, I believe, is exactly

what Loudmouth humbly exposes, but at the cost of

being greatly misperceived. She is read as picking on

others self-righteously, when perhaps her tactless

emperament actually looks out for the least of these

over against what the rest of us arent prepared to face:pride-written-into-our-very-social-existence.

n his sophisticated workAssholes: A TheoryAaron

James lays out his definition of anum, lets stick with

arrogant person: In interpersonal or cooperative

elations, the [arrogant person]: 1) allows himself to

enjoy special advantages and does so systematically; 2)

does this out of an entrenched sense of entitlement; and

3) is immunized by his sense of entitlement against the

complaints of other people (Doubleday: 2012. p. 5).So, for example, someone who cuts others off in traffic

or leaves trash all over the house is an [arrogant

person], according to James. Yet, he distinguishes this

ype from one who is merely oblivious or insensitive by

claiming that the wayhe acts stems from an internal

ense of feelingspecial. With this, James is on to some

helpful clarity regarding how ones internal self-

perception dissimulates the truth of prideful external

acts. Still, what if James picture of pride were applied

o the whole of society? Is it possible most of us live ina largely arrogantworldsecured by systematically held,

but largely opaque, special advantages? Is the

arrogant (but actually humble) Loudmouth in our

midst merely the one whose life speaks up against the

all too special social arrangements upon which the rest

of us feel immunized against critique?

n his book,Did Somebody Say Totalitarianism?, Slavoj

Zizek argues that liberal academias unwritten rule that

all ethical claims be contextualized or historicized

order to avoid privileging any one group behin

supposed neutral horizonis necessary, but fur

obscures the fact that most of todays social instituti

a l r e a d y o p e r a t e o n t h e p l a n e o f r

abstraction (Verso: 2001). This abstractedn

according to Zizek, is due to the over-circulation

capital and technology that actively ignores spec

conditions and cannot be rooted in the

Consequently, Western society has no grounded sens

place, time, or embodiment from the get-go. Wh

does one stand to begin contextualizing or historicizi

Attempting to do so, while good, requires awkwa

dissimulating the very social dynamics that privilege

scholar in the first place. Thus, is it possible that

not-so-mundane forms-of-life continually bury

tacitly approved special advantages woven into

modern institutions of education, healthcare, f

production, etc? Perhaps the reason a Loudmouth labeled arrogant by automatic fiat is simply beca

our social arrangements are not transparent to thos

us whose form-of-life takes them for granted.

As a more favorable view of Loudmouth, I think

picture of Christ in Philippians 2:5-11 presents hum

not as an internal dissimulationi.e. Jesus think

low of himself, or pretending not to be God

rather as the concrete bodily obedience to the Fa

even unto death. This view of Christs humdemands a particular form-of-life consonant with

cruciform activity. Here, the Saints, the Poor, and e

some Loudmouths I know have been pivot

instructive. Like Christ, their humility is written

their very bodies: they are what they say and do. T

are humble becausepoor. They give generously, beg

mercy, and speak without flattery. In my view,

world could use more of these, even ifsometimes l

and obnoxious. Unfortunately, they too often

misperceived. For perhaps the reason we have so saints today is not because we dont actually have th

but because an abstracted, techno-capitalized societ

too incredulous to hear them. Given such conditions

me commend spending time with some more arrog

friends. They just might help you seeand liv

Christs humility.+

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There is no shortage of cultural commentary today about

he emergence of a new sort of age, sometimes called a

visual age, dominated by screens of all kinds, from the

one I am currently watching myself type onto, and

specially, those thousands and millions of little screenshat folks carry around with them in their pockets. These

creens enable constant connection with others by means

of something called we call social media. We all know

hat this allows folks to be constantly connected.

How to evaluate the existence and use of such machines

s a matter of disagreement. I have good Christian

r i e n d s w h o t h i n k t h i s

phenomenon a great boon,

others that see it as simplywhere the world is now neither

o be lauded nor condemned. Yet

here are others who suspect that

hese machines are tools of the

ntichrist. There seems little

doubt that American society as a

whole gravitates towards the

ormer view. And this is true

cross classes: I often see

homeless people typing away onheir smartphones.

What should Christians think

bout this?

We should begin by recognizing

hat the Church has been

hinking about images for a long

ime. It did so when it considered something close to the

heart of its own worship icons. The Seventh

Ecumenical Council (A.D. 787) took up and gave a

esounding yes to the question of whether Christians

ought to offer devotion to the Lord by means of visual

mages of Jesus, His Mother, and His Saints. The great

heologian of sight, and of images, is St. John of

Damascus, who grounded his pivotal discussion of

mages directly in previous teaching of the Councils

bout the Incarnation. His teaching is worth quoting at

ength:

God, as both incorporeal and inconceivable, can in

way be imaged. But now that God has been seen in

flesh, living among mortals, I can make an image of

visible part of GodFor if the Body of God is G

because of the hypostatic union, that unchanganointing, he remains what he is by nature. That bod

Gods flesh, as it were, with its own soul and mind, w

a beginning, and is not uncreated. So I will venerate

created stuff (Greek: hyle), through which

salvation was wrought, as being filled with dread di

power and grace. After all, what was that blessed

favored wood of the cross but material stuff? Or the h

and blessed hill the Plac

the Scull, but stuff? Or the

giving and generative rock, holy grave, the fount of

resurrection if not stuff?

isnt the ink and the all-h

books of the Gospels stuff?

what of the life-giving Table

the Bread of Life, or before

things the Body and Blood

Our Lord? Stuff!...For

reason, we put His im

aesthetically everywhere, anthis way we sanctify the firs

the senses. For the first of

senses is sight. Just like hea

is with words, an icon i

visible aid to the memory

book aids memory with let

the icon without letters. Fo

the word is to hearing, so is

icon to sight. For we are united to an icon with

mindIts clear that we dont worship them, but we

led through them to the memory of great sights, and

offer adoration to the wonder-working God. For jus

someone is united to fire not by his nature but by

union itself indeed by the burning and he, as it w

becomes fire by participation, thus also, I say, happ

with the flesh of the enfleshed Son of God. That fl

by its hypostatic participation with the Divine Natur

unchangeably God. For that flesh is not anointed with

Images and Icons (or, Phones Part II)Fr. Colin Miller

!"#$%#&'( "# *

Not Colin Millerhttp://volneyfaustini.wordpress.com

T H E L I T T L E W A Y

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By Kelly Steel

T H E L I T T L E W A Y

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Icons, cont.Gods power, as were each of the prophets, for example, but with the presence of the entirety of God ( Oration

Images, PG 94, AT).

The argument is simple, and its application relatively straightforward: in the Incarnation God takes a human body

himself, and therefore opens up the possibility that our sight, the first of our senses, might be sanctified. T

hypostatic union means that the flesh of the God-Man, and those closest to him, his Mother and His other Saints, br

to our memory the events they stand for.

This, John implies, means that our senses are not mere tools. They are not morally indifferent, useful machin

Rather, they can be holy, and they can be unholy. They can be good, and they can be bad. They are not machines

our souls, but what they see and how they see it, is, as it were, part of the nature of our souls. This is why it is good

look at icons of the Lord and the Saints. Such gazing trains our senses by offering adoration to the thing we see

image of, and therefore trains our eyes, our memories, our souls. Our physical senses, of which sight is the first,

be in better or worse shape, depending on the kind of thing they habitually see and seek. John argues that it is good

look at icons, because they train our sight and so rightly order that most important sense. (To deny this, notice

actually to deny that stuff, material, is good. As with all Gnosticisms, this always proceeds from a denial of the

import of the Incarnation as John is constantly aware.)

To what end is our sight ordered? To the vision of the Lord. This is, to be sure, an internal, non-physical sight, but t

only points out that our bodily sight is made to be an aid to the inward sight the ability to see well with our bod

eyes (indeed, for John the holy habit of seeing the Lord in icons) is intimately connected with our ability to see

Lord with the eyes of our heart. Here we recall that the height of Christian perfection is contemplationof the Trin

St. Thomass articles on contemplation are a locus classicus of this claim, helpful not least simply because

citations of other texts illumine the breadth and depth of this assumption. Take simply one example:

Augustine says (De Trin. i, 8) that "the contemplation of God is promised us as being the goal of all

actions and the everlasting perfection of our joys." This contemplation will be perfect in the life to come, w

we shall see God face to face, wherefore it will make us perfectly happy: whereas now the contemplation

the divine truth is competent to us imperfectly, namely "through a glass" and "in a dark manner" (1 Corinthi

13:12). Hence it bestows on us a certain inchoate beatitude, which begins now and will be continued in the

to come. (S.T. II.I.180.4)

All Christian devotion, indeed, all of life, is ordered to contemplation. It follows that what we do with our eyes sho

aid us in seeing the Lord. Of course, it is the uniquely Christian claim that the Lord has become visible not only to

eyes of our hearts but also to the eyes of our flesh. Hence the widespread use of icons of all types in Christian spac

and especially in places of worship.

Central characteristics of the contemplation of the Trinity are of course praise, adoration, love, but also as the

fulfilling all our desires - peace, rest, quiet, contentment, concentration, focus. St. Augustines famous claim t

inquietum est cor nostrum, donec requiescat in te is completed only at the very end of the Confession as he prays:

O Lord God, grant your peace unto us, for you have supplied us with all thingsthe peace of rest, the peace

the Sabbath, which has no eveningBut the seventh day is without any evening, nor has it any setti

because You have sanctified it to an everlasting continuanceresting on the seventh day, although in unbro

rest You made them that the voice of your book may speak beforehand unto us, that we also after our wo

may repose in you also in the Sabbath of eternal life. For even then shall you so rest in us, as now you work

us; and thus shall that be your rest through us, as these are your works through us. (Icons cont. on p.

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Taking all this together, then, it seems reasonable to claim

hat icons are the paradigmatic way that Christians train

heir sight towards the adoring peace and rest essential to

he contemplation of the Lord, which is our last end and

final and eternal happiness.

t is also a reasonable claim, it seems to me, that many of

he various devices, much of the time, about which we

peak when we name ours a visual culture, or when weuse social media, or when we surf the internet, we might

ustly call anti-icons. We will want to be nuanced about

his in detail, but the outlines are clear enough. Media

echnology distracts, stimulates and trains incompatible

desires, habituates us into the constant search for novelty,

emps us to seek knowledge simply for the sake of

knowledge - or worse - to possess or control or consume.

You dont have to look very far in the relatively vast

iterature emerging on the psychological effects of our

visual world to see that, whatever else it is doing, it is

producing vast amounts of anxiety (an interesting

neologism itself, by the way). It seems right to me, at any

ate, that the sorts of souls continual attention to screens

produce are in many ways at odds with the habits

necessary for contemplation of the LORD: adoration, joy,

peace, rest, quiet, contentment, concentration, attention,

focus.

Perhaps, therefore, the vice of a visual age, is curiositas. It

s not much noted as a vice these days, but that was notalways so. Augustine identifies it with St. Johns lust of

he eyes: How wide is the scope of curiosity! This it is

hat works in spectacles, theaters, in sacraments of the

devil, in magical arts, and in dealings with darkness: none

other than curiosity! Spectacle and theater - such

harmless entertainment - packaged, purchased and

consumed - is near the heart of our visual world.

Finally, I cannot help but note the erie similarity between

his technology and the Psalmists description of an idol.

All these characteristics, it seems, fit the smartphone:

The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of

human hands. They have mouths but they cannot speak;

eyes have they, but they cannot see. They have ears, but

hey cannot hear; neither is there any breath in their

mouth. Those who make them are like them, and so are all

who put their trust in them (Psalm 115//135).

If these anti-icons then do properly fall under

description of idols (and there is much to say at just

point that cannot be said here) the works of our o

hands designed to serve us but to which we end

tethered slaves - the Church does not remain with

recourse. As always, to every idol we juxtapose

worship of the true God who is the Trinity, and as alw

this worship is mediated and facilitated by the Chu

the pillar and bulwark of the truth. There is no be

time to return to the sense-sanctifying material cultur

the Church, and especially its sight-sanctifying icon

the Lord, His Mother, and the Saints. Through th

sacred images our sight is taken up into the quietus of

contemplation and adoration of the enfleshed face

Christ. Icons mediate to us the glorified materiality of

sight of the one mediator between God and man,

image of the invisible God, the exact imprint of

very being sitting as he is at the right hand of the Fath

Peter Maurin, with no phone.

justpeace.org

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The Communion of SaintsFr. Stephen Crawford

Curate, Trinity Church, Baton Rouge

Community. This is a word that rings sweetly in the American ear. Community seems to be the thing

everyone is longing for, and this has not gone unnoticed by the Church. It appears that people are desperately lon

and the local parish now frequently aspires to put an end to this epidemic through its lofty goal of being a commufor people. This is understandably attractive. However, the Church is not the only organization to pick up on peop

desperate desire for community. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, upon joining Starbucks in the early 80s, brought

vision to the then fledgling coffee shop: A place for conversation and a sense of community. If youre unabl

actually make it to your nearest Starbucks, you can participate in the mutual belonging of their Online Commun

through the Starbucks website. Fr. Gregory Tipton first pointed out to me this slippery use of the word commun

can we really be talking about the same thing?

All Saints Day casts some much-needed light on this confusion. In a sense, All Saints Day is a catch

making sure no saint goes uncelebrated, but its not only that. It salutes the whole society of saints together,

communion proclaimed at every baptism in the Apostles Creed. This principal feast is based on the premise

Almighty God has knit together his elect in one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of his Son, ChristLord (BCP, 194). The saints arent saints in isolation, as if they simply tried harder than the rest of usthough t

probably did that too. They are necessarily members of a body. There is a corporate reality that preempts and gives

to the individual saint. There is a communion that is greater than the sum of its parts.

At this point eyebrows might shoot up: We came expecting community! Whats this communion busine

Community and Communion sound awfully similar, but exactly what they have to do with one another migh

unclear. Lets begin with community, which is a natural good of this world. To be in a community, for almost a

human history, has simply been a fact of life. Communities are inseparable from our economies, our work,

homemaking, our sexuality, and our friendships (notice that theres a lot more to community than just friendshi

The relatively recent American shortage of this natural good follows from an economy that is reduced to exploitat

work that is reduced to meaninglessness, homemaking that is reduced to consumerism, sexuality that is reducegratification of desire, and friendships that are reduced to convenience. Technology may be the main culprit, thou

since the external pressure of necessity is what has always made communities. (Read Wendell Berry for more on

natural good of community.) However, the Church was not irrelevant during almost all of its history.

Communities are natural goods, but then like all natural goods they were not meant to stand on their o

Rather, they await the perfection of grace. They look forward to being crowned by grace, to being swept up into

divine life, and to being transfigured by glory. The Communion of Saints is the deep reality anticipated by natu

communities, like an oak tree to an acorn. This should help us define the relationship. Communion overlaps w

community in just the way that Holy Eucharist overlaps with breakfast or Holy Baptism with taking a shower.

Its also just as different, just as someone might find who stumbles into a Church one Sunday out of phys

hunger, only to receive a piece of stale bread and a sip of bad wine. But then, man does not live by bread alone. In the difference between communion and community is even starker. The holy meal of the Eucharist might lead on

fast. The cleansing repentance of baptism might bring the Church to smear ashes on her forehead. So commun

might produce a hermit; communities do not typically do this. Even life in the Church might bring unexpec

oneliness.

As with these other sacraments, though, the natural good of community is not pointlessly chastened by gr

It is crucified; it dies with Jesus, and so is resurrected with him as the Communion of Saints. This must happen to e

the best, healthiest, and most vibrant of communities. On All Saints Day we gather to celebrate people with whom

have never played golf, grabbed a beer, gone shopping, or even put in a hard days work. It may be that the only th

we have in common with these people is that we enjoy the risen flesh of Christ together. (Continued on p.8)

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Communion, cont.)

ut keep coming back and something happens. Over time golf, beer, shopping, and even common work do not seem

e the social glue they once were. The reality that came about through our baptism becomes increasingly visible.

e bound one to another in a way that is deeper than every other attachment. This is a bond that was fixed in

eavens. It is as unshakable as Jesuss resurrected body.

There is an understandable reason for churches talking about community. It seems like good advertising. Pe

e hungry for community, and we seem as well suited as any corporation to satisfy this demand. This is de

isguided, though. The first reason this is misguided, as Ive suggested above, is that the Church is notthatpreparetisfy this desire in people. People will be in for disappointment when they discover that the essence of the Churc

ore than just thick local community. People might feel scammed when their standard ways of envisioning t

tachments are deeply undermined.

The second reason is that by catering to desires people already have in spades we are undermining the possibi

f transformation: our desires are exactly what need to be fixed! This is much like the predicament facing marri

here marriages flounder because people go into them in search of happiness and fulfillment. The goal of marriag

oliness, not happiness; it is only in learning to sacrifice and to serve that one really begins to enjoy the goods

arriage. The template is death and resurrection, just like life in the Church. Churches are surprisingly needy

emanding. This can only be drudgery, rather than joy, until the Christian discovers that the sacrifices required

othing other than a sharing in Jesuss death. This may be why our celebration of the saints is most timely. They s

a way of life that will both thwart our earthly desires and yet induct us into a satisfaction we have never dreamed

hey display not what we want, but what we need: holiness. The holiness that comes from Jesus (that is exhibite

evotion to Jesus) is what will overcome this plague of alienation. Of course, this might not make for very g

dvertising. Truth be told, it is a lot easier to just go buy a cup of coffee.+

Panhandling You By Fr. ColinYou got any change? Well take larger bills and checks too of course. Just a short sketch of where

re financially, since it is stewardship season in the church after all.

The CFW currently has two full time Catholic Workers, Joe and Tyler (both M.Divs), wntentionally have no other job in the world than to be around the houses, pray the Offices, preach, c

meals, be my altar guild, clean houses, get panhandled, show hospitality, manage crises, and generally m

fe easier for the rest of us (especially me). Joe and Ty are paid nothing. They donate 40 hours a week. T

ve, with their pregnant wives, in small bedrooms in the Maurin House. Their wives make money and, al

with about five other rent-payers, make up the difference in donation for room and board each month

bout 17 people, and float most of the groceries for four weekly meals, each of which probably attend 6

dditional friends from the street. We get an average of about $1200 in pledges each month. So far in 2014

f the 16 residents have paid $35k of the $55k it costs for rent and utilities for the houses. That does

nclude thousands of dollars they spend on groceries. I donate about 35 unpaid hours each week, on to

erving my parish in Raleigh. Most folks in the houses contribute little or nothing. The other portion eahe wages, gives them, and lives in voluntary poverty for the sake of the common good. Only two of us h

ull-time paying employment. Everyone in the CFW lives in poverty, voluntary or involuntary.

I am very proud of this my flock, but I want to ease the burden on them if I can. To be sure, this is

overty we talk about here at the CFW, and you can be sure that we are living it. Sometimes we

trapped, and at the same time know that this is part of what is good for us. At the same time, the monations, and pledges are even better, we can get, the more we can apply ourselves to the teaching of

postles, the breaking of bread, the prayers, and the works of mercy. So, please give. For the love of G

ou got any change?+

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A Word from St. Clare ChapelJoe SrokaCatholic Worker, CFW, Durham

A homily preached on Luke 10:38-42 for the

Tuesday of the XXVII Week in Ordinary Time

(07 Oct 2014).

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and

worried about many things. There is need of

only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part

and it will not be taken from her. One could

read todays gospel as an isolated story that can

lead to interpretations of exalting Mary as

attentive to Jesus and condemning her sister,

Martha, as busybody. However, when we shrink

our focus to Mary and Martha and their

behavior, they become the central figures in thisgospel rather than Jesus. In this same mode ofinterpretation, one could easily read oneself as

the Good Samaritan from yesterdays gospel.

Jesus is left out of the story when I am the Good

Samaritan. Rather, as Fr. Colin preached

yesterday, we should understand Jesus as the

Good Samaritan. We are the ones beaten,

stripped, and left for dead. Jesus reaches out for

us. It is necessary in our interpretation of both ofthese stories, the Good Samaritan and Mary and

Martha, that we make Jesus the center rather

than humans and their action.If we understand ourselves as the Good

Samaritan, we pour the oil on the wound and

bandage it. We care for the victim, bringing him

to the inn, and pay for his extended care. Thus,

we are the neighbor who shows mercy and

hospitality. This reading will not suffice for long

and should shake us when we read Mary andMartha. For it is Martha, burdened with much

serving, who seemingly takes up the role of the

Good Samaritan and Jesus reprimands her for it.

A professor of ours taught us that a good readerof Scripture reads forwards and backwards. I

suggest we read Mary and Martha backwards

through the story of the Good Samaritan and

forwards through the institution of the

Eucharist.

To begin, let us give close attention to

Jesus words. He says to Martha, Mary has

chosen the better part. This implies Marthaspart is included in the whole that her and Mary

share in. Mary has a part, and Martha has a part.

This idea of parts within a whole recalls a

section from Lee Hoinackis Stumbling Towards

Justice: Stories of Place. He reminds us that the

tradition of the church has long depended on

enclaves of silence and prayer. That is, those

vowed in communities in monasteries and

convents are a treasure of and for the church.

These religious and their places are apartof thebroader community of faith. Hoinacki alsomentions the more ancient Hebrew tradition

that God withholds destruction of a wicked

society for the sake of a few just individuals.

These just ones are a part of society. These two

examples serve Hoinackis broader point that no

society can exist unless someone works to grow

food. We depend on a part to be farmers and

stewards of the land. In this framework of partand whole, let us proceed. What are Mary and

Martha a part of? What is the whole that both

share in?At a basic level, Mary and Martha are

part of a meal. This is not unlike The

Community of the Franciscan Way where

everything, it seems, is based on a meal a meal

that is either communal breakfasts or suppers

with friends and strangers or in the heavenly

banquet we partake of each weekday morning atSt. Clare Chapel. We cook, we eat, we converse,

and we clean the dishes. Our meals are very

ordinary. But, as most things are when it comes

to Jesus, what was ordinary is now strange.Water is ordinary. Baptismal water is, through

Jesus, made strange. The waters of baptism

unite us to his death and resurrection, wash

away our sins, and initiate us into the Church.

(continued on p. 10)

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Community Newsby Fr Colin

WORD, continued from p. 9)

Consider also Jesus last meal. It started as ordinary until his strange words over the ordinary bread, Taeat, this is my body, which is given for you, and over the ordinary wine, Drink ye all of this; for this is

Blood of the New Testament, which is shed for you, and for many, for the remission of sins. We should

orget that we are people who have no reason to be together were it not for this bread and this cup

acrament of his one oblation of himself once offered, a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, a

atisfaction, for the sins of the whole world.In this meal, we see that everypartmatters. Martha will serve. Others prepare the eucharistic ves

and linens. Others offer gifts in the offertory. Even the bread and wine requires part of us to grow wh

harvest it, and bake bread or to grow grapes, press, and ferment them. Even the priest, a part of

ommunity of faith, is set aside to preside over the table. Mary will sit at Jesus feet. We, too, will knee

beg for mercy and kneel to receive His Body and Blood. Indeed, eachpart matters.

In the Eucharist, we acknowledge that in giving hospitality, we must first receive. In the story

Mary and Martha, we learn that attentiveness to Jesus words is a prerequisite for Christian service a

hospitality. Mary and Martha are partsattending to Jesus attentiveness to Jesus words and serving h

annot be separated. Likewise, to become like the Good Samaritan, we must first be fed by the One sen

bandage us, lift us up, and heal us. In receiving this holy mystery, we are members, or parts, incorporat

he mystical body of thy Son, the blessed company of all faithful people. Amen.+

The days are getting shorter and this morning at 6:10am when I headed out the door of my apartment to

walk the two blocks to the Maurin House to say Mass, I was very glad I had put on my jacket. This is clos

to my favorite time of year, especially the crisp cool sunrises and promises of college basketball (each key

parts of Creation). People often ask me how the community is doing, and I usually say something like, ia constant state of change and often on the verge of chaos. Thats usually right, more or less, but how

boring would it be otherwise?

Renovations continue at Maurin House, meaning four or five folks sleeping on the floor of the dining roo

each night. Babies continue to grow in the wombs of the Maurin House wives, Michelle and Crystal (they

get to sleep in beds). Weve learned that Luke, Natalie and Frances will be leaving the Elizabeth House inDecember to head to Thomasville, Georgia, where Luke will work as a Christian Ed director and continu

discernment for the Priesthood. We meet new people, usually from the streets or poor parts of Durham,

nearly every week, and some stay for a while, and some move on. Last week we met a man with a pet

pigeon in a box (my dog Sammie was particularly interested).

But in spite of the constant change, Mass and Morning and Evening Prayer anchors us to the heart of theChurch. We were delighted several Fridays this Semester to have the Very Fr. Timothy Kimborough, and

dear friend in town for class at Duke, as our guest celebrant in St. Clare Chapel. Breakfast at St. Joes plod

along with grits and hardboiled eggs each morning, and usually about 10-20 folks, some regulars, some

newcomers. A handful of these folks, mostly from across town, have started joining us for house dinners

well. Please drop in and see us if youre in town. There are some new faces, but things are mostly as they

have been.+

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EditorsFr. Justin Fletcher Michelle Sroka

Dr. Crystal Hambley

Dcn. Mac Stewa

Tyler Hambley

Fr. Blake TiptonFr. Colin Miller Dallas Tipton

Leigh Miller Luke Wetzel

Molly Short Natalie Wetzel

Joe Sroka

Contact Us

The best way to get involved in the commu

or to contact us is to come to the Daily Offi

St. Josephs Episcopal Church: Monday

through Friday at 7:30 am and 5:30 pm. You

can also call Fr. Colin at 919.286.2446.

Weekly Schedule

At St. Joseph!s Episcopal Church

(1902 W. Main St., Durham)

Morning Prayer: 7:30am Mon-Fri

Breakfast: 8:00am Mon-Fri

Evening Prayer: 5:30pm Mon-Fri

At St. Clare Chapel, Maurin House

(1116 Iredell St., Durham)

Holy Eucharist 6:25am Mon-Fri

Evensong: 6:00pm Sun

Supper: 6:30pm Fri, Sun

At St. Elizabeth House

(302 Powe St., Durham)

Supper: 6:30pm Wed

All are welcome anytime.

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Community of the Franciscan Way

The Little Wayis a pamphlet of the Community of the Franciscan Way, a Mission of the Episcopal DiocesNorth Carolina. We seek a life of prayer, study, simplicity, and fellowship with the poor. We stand in theradition of the Catholic Worker Movement, founded in 1933 by Peter Maurin and Dorothy Day. Peter

Maurin House of Hospitality offers shelter and food to the homeless. Rent, food and utilities for the house apaid entirely on donations. Funds are always used directly for the performance of the Works of Mercy, andne in the community draws any salary or other benefits.

1116 Iredell Street

Durham, NC 27705

The Corporal Works of Mercy

To feed the hungryTo give drink to the thirsty

To clothe the nakedTo harbor the harborless

To visit the sickTo ransom the captive

To bury the dead

The Spiritual Works of MercyTo instruct the uninformed

To counsel the doubtfulTo admonish sinners

To bear wrongs patientlyTo forgive offenses willingly

To comfort the afflictedTo pray for the living and the dead

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