Fourth Sunday of Lent

As many of you know, every Friday night we offer food and hospitality to our neighbors and guests at our Br. Andre Cafe. There are many folks who help prepare for the weekly event—our own parishioners, as well as folks from Holy Redeemer, Ascension, and Christ the King parishes, and members of the Portland Notre Dame Alumni Club. There are sandwich makers and soup chefs. While the cafe is open, we have our coffee server, runner, and kitchen crew who faithfully serve every week. We have folks who serve soup and those who are doing “sidewalk ministry” visiting our guests. We have our regular guests who join us every week for soup and social time. The cafe offers a blending of ministry and social engagement, of serving food and hospitality, of community and one-on-one interactions, of faith and works.

Every Friday I am reminded why we do this. Above the chairs we set up for the cafe, lining the wall along our building, is our plaque with the inscription from the gospel of Matthew, “For when I was hungry you fed me, when I was thirsty you gave me a drink, a stranger and you welcomed me.” We strive to put these words of Jesus into action for they remind us of Christ's presence in others, especially the poor.

Yet, I believe there are other reasons we do this. These are reasons of the heart. We are moved by a spirit of compassion for people. We have learned compassion because our own lives have been exposed and vulnerable to God's love and mercy. We have been humbled and changed in our encounter with God, the God made flesh in Jesus. We take this experience of the divine and recreate it again and again in our words and actions, doing as Jesus taught, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Ours is a faith shown by our compassion. At the cafe, we see similarities instead of differences, we show acceptance rather than make judgments, we serve others from a place of humility rather from a place of strength.

Today's gospel reveals in story and image the truth of the human condition and of God's grace--of the deeper hunger of the soul that never seems to go away, and of the compassion of God that has no limit. As I reflect on this familiar parable, and its meaning in the context of this season of Lent, I think about the son's hunger and the father's compassion. In the son we see our own hunger—not only for food, but for love, understanding, healing, strength, and peace as well. Like the son, we place our hunger before the one who shows us compassion. The parable offers us an image of our own selves as we stand before God. During Lent we seek God's forgiveness for our sins, for God's help in time of need, for God's love to fill us. But the parable also teaches us to show compassion. Our encounter with God has brought us comfort and peace. Likewise, we offer compassion to others who seek the same things we do, who have the same hunger as ours, who long to know they are loved as we are loved.

I think of our Br. Andre cafe and believe the meaning and message from today's parable seem to be embodied in each bowl of soup served, each cup of coffee offered, every pot scrubbed, every conversation shared on Friday nights—the hunger to be shown compassion and the desire to offer it.