The path through heaven
lies through heaven,
and all the way to heaven is heaven.
--St. Catherine of Siena
In O’Brien Hall, over the holy water font, there is a wood cut (by R. F. McGovern) of Dorothy Day bringing bowls of soup to men in a soup kitchen. Dorothy Day was an incredible woman who dedicated her life to the service of others; she felt that any service done to anyone was a grace. She was the Mother Teresa of the United States. The title of the wood cut is illustrates her core belief: All the way to heaven is heaven.
Every kindness, every generous act, every compassion, every mercy, every forgiveness that you or I act upon, reveals heaven. Heaven is what we hope for, but heaven is revealed all along the way. Heaven is revealed in everything we do at the commission of the one who is the ruler of heaven and earth.
How can we be disciples going out to proclaim the good news that the kingdom of God is at hand if the kingdom doesn’t rule our hearts? Yes, as Paul says, we are still working out salvation, one good deed after another.
But Dorothy Day had the right of it. All the way to heaven is heaven. Bring heaven to bear upon our broken earth, and see it bloom. Bring kindness to bear on people’s lives and see them lighten up. Bring mercy and forgiveness to bear in people’s lives, and see them shine. See how the world is transformed by heaven. Each of us has the capacity to do this. For we have been baptized into the Body of Christ Jesus, into his death and rising. We have heaven in our fingertips. All we have to do is reach out and touch our world.
--Fr. Patrick Michaels, Homily,
Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley,
July 23, 2023
Image source: All the Way to Heaven is Heaven, which depicts Dorothy Day serving in a soup kitchen. This image is hanging in O'Brien Hall, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Mill Valley. http://mountcarmelmv.blogspot.com/2023/10/compassion-as-covenant-fr-greg-boyle.html
Quotation source 1
Quotation source 2
No comments:
Post a Comment