ADROP 10th Anniversary Mass
It is good for us to come together as community and pause to reflect on God’s goodness
to us, His friends, for indeed he no longer calls us slaves! “I have called you friends because I
have told you everything I have heard from my Father.” (John’s gospel) Today we offer a
Eucharist of Thanksgiving to God for all the blessings He has bestowed on ADROP and on the
many who have given their time, talent and treasure in service to their needy brothers and sisters.
We celebrate this anniversary at the beginning of Lent, a time when we meditate on
transforming or changing our lives. We realize that Lent is a time of freeing ourselves of our
prisons of thought, habit and ways of acting that keep us from knowing true love.
Father Rick Malloy, a Jesuit campus minister at Scranton University tells this story:
“There was an elderly Amish woman who went, with her family, to a large mall for the 1st time.
The whole family was mesmerized by the 100+ stores, bright lights and, of course, the food
court. Then for the first time in her life, the Amish women saw an elevator. She watched an
elderly man approach the elevator-doors open-he steps in-doors shut. A few minutes later, the
doors open and out steps a man looking like George Clooney. She sees another old man
approach the elevator, doors open-he steps in-doors close. A few minutes later the doors open
again and out steps a Matt Damon look alike. The woman is flabbergasted. A third old man
approaches the elevator, doors open-he steps in-doors close. A few minutes later the doors open
and a Ryan Gosling type dude steps out. The woman calls to her daughter, “Quick, go get your
father!”
In our journey back to God, would that there was such a magic transforming elevator. But
true transformation is freedom from all those things that would hold us back from submitting
completely to God’s will for us.
Over the past ten years, the Augustinians and hundreds of lay men and women have not
only transformed themselves by following Paul’s admonition to “put on…heartfelt compassion,
kindness, humility, gentleness and patience…” but they have also reached out to their need
brothers and sisters by fulfilling ADROP’s mission of matching identified needs with known
resources.
In the early years of ADROP, much was said about a “Preferential option for the Poor”,
All agreed in theory, but there was much confusion over the application. Pope Francis, speaking
to the new Cardinals in February, said “We will not find the Lord unless we truly accept the
marginalized.” Truly the Gospel of the marginalized is where our credibility is at stake, is found
and is revealed. Basically it comes down to doing works of mercy. Saint Leo the Great (Sermon
40) says this:
“Let works of mercy be our delight, and let them be the food that fills us for eternity. Let us
rejoice in the satisfaction of the poor when we give from our bounty. Let us delight in the
clothing of those whose nakedness we have covered. Let our compassion and generosity touch
the sick in their illness and infirmities, the exiles in their hardships, the orphans in their
destitution, and the widows in their sadness…No one’s income is small, whose heart is big; and
the measure of one’s mercy and goodness does not depend on the size of one’s means. Wealth of
goodwill is never lacking, even in a slender purse….”
Over these 10 years it was, perhaps, the “wealth of good will” that anchored us in the
“preferential option for the poor”, strengthen our dedication to advocacy for and in collaboration
with the poor and powerless in our society; and gave us a clear voice to challenge the practice
that perpetuate the cycle of poverty and to influence systematic change leading to the alleviation
of poverty in all of its forms.
In John’s gospel today, I was struck by this passage:
“It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, that
will remain, so that, whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you. This I command
you: love one another.”
When you have been around as long as I have, there are many moments when you are
tempted to ask “Why me, Lord?” The Lord is saying, “Get it straight, Jack, I’m doing the
choosing, I’m giving the grace, I’m producing the fruit and on top of it all, if you need anything,
ask the Father in my name. What more do you want?” So, once I and you have got that straight,
we should humbly carry on.
With the grace of God, in our brokenness and want, we stumble on, doing the works of
mercy, working for justice that there may be peace, making “hatred turn into affection and
enmity turn to peace; wrath can be quenched by meekness and wrongs forgiven by gentleness.”
(Leo the Great, Sermon 40)
Today, as we celebrate the 10th Anniversary of our efforts to make the world a better
place through the ministries of ADROP, we give thanks to our loving God, to His people who
have embraced the ministries of ADROP and to all our brothers and sisters who have been the
recipients of those ministries and we pledge that we will, with our hearts and minds,
enthusiastically and without exception, carry out His command to love one another.
Again, quoting Pope Francis, “In a word, Charity (love) cannot be neutral, indifferent,
lukewarm or impartial. Charity (love) is always unmerited, unconditional and gratuitous.”
As we continue to minister in love to our needy brothers and sisters through the
ministries of ADROP, let us make sure that our love is all of these things and that we can extend
the warmth of our love to those in need without losing our inner fire in the process.
For all of God’s blessings, Thanks be to God!