My dear friends, it has been a WILD trip to Rome so far. I do apologize for being quiet on this platform for a bit. I hope you’ve been catching my videos on social media! Every single one has gone viral so far. WHOAH!
So, anyway, I got here, and I have to admit, jet lag has been kicking my butt far worse than it ever has before. In my younger days, it’s like it didn’t impact me at all. But boy oh boy has it grabbed me this trip.
Now… unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably have figured out already that just about the moment I got here, half my plans went out the window, or at least appeared to.
I intended to cover for you the tenth-anniversary Mass for Amoris Laetitia, Pope Francis’s teaching on love in the family. Then, just as I was getting settled here, Pope Leo announced that he needed surgery. I have been praying for him and carrying your prayers for him here in Rome.
Then I got notified that the wonderful lay Benedictine I was going to record a podcast with had had a terrible thing happen. His passport was stolen while he was watching his son’s soccer game, and he could not come to Rome for our interview.
Not to be dramatic, but I definitely had a moment of “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
Okay, to be very dramatic.
But God never forsakes those who seek Him with a sincere heart. And, as I have begun finding my way through the changes, so much has come back together.
The Mass is still on, with Cardinal Tagle presiding in Pope Leo’s place. I will still be able to bring home coverage of a message that is deeply important for us. Amoris Laetitia asks the Church to accompany people through the actual circumstances of their family lives, including the complicated ones. People whose marriages have broken down, who have remarried, or who have spent years wondering whether there is still a place for them in the Church deserve to be met with care and discernment.
So many of you know what it feels like to have your whole life reduced to the word “irregular.” You are trying to love your families, live your faith, and find your way to God. I came here because I want to bring you the good news in that conversation, and because your lives deserve to be heard in it.
I have also had an opportunity to quiet my heart and pray for you. I spent an hour with the relics of St. Catherine of Siena, and today I spent time praying with Mother Teresa. I asked them to pray for alllll the intentions you entrusted to me. Being here with those prayers has been an incredible experience.
And I just conducted an interview with one of the kindest priests I’ve ever met, which I can’t wait to share with you once it’s finished.
I know I’ve said this a thousand times, but this ministry has become one of the most rewarding experiences of my priesthood. I am so lucky to be able to share these things with you, and to carry your stories and prayers with me as I go.
Now, I have been excited to write this for you since this morning, but I absolutely must tell you something before I begin.
I can’t stand it when people go on mission trips or volunteer for a few hours and start posting like they are Mother Teresa.
Which, coincidentally, is whose sisters I volunteered with this morning and what I am about to tell you about.
I don’t volunteer nearly as much as I want to, and my few hours of service were probably more a hindrance to the sisters than a help. So, as a shepherd, consider this reflection me gently nudging you with my crook in the right direction. I needed the nudge myself.
Father gets put to work
In the wee hours of this morning, I showed up at Mother Teresa’s convent to help the sisters set up for the day.
I have volunteered with Mother Teresa’s sisters before, the Missionaries of Charity, and every single time it is a spiritual apex. God is so present in the sisters and in the poor whom they serve that I find myself wanting to stay.
They gave me a warm welcome, and immediately we went to work.
What did I do, you ask?
First, I cleaned the bathroom floors. Then I swept and mopped the floors of the residences where Rome’s poor live. Then I did laundry by hand!
They joked, “Padre, I bet you’ve never done this before.”
I confess, I had not.
But I found it so fun, because, as I mention quite often, I’m not quite right in the head, and I’m fastidious about my laundry. Scrubbing, rinsing, rinsing again, wringing, and hanging it out to dry was right up my alley.
While we washed bed linens together, we prayed the Rosary from memory, without beads. I’m glad the sisters led, because I was so fixated on doing the laundry right that I could not have counted to ten.
We worked, and we prayed. Then Sister and I sat down and folded paper towels into napkins.
Sounds funny, right? Washed a couple of floors, did some laundry, folded napkins.
Had I had my steam mop and washer and dryer from home, and run to the grocery store for napkins, I could have been done in, I dunno, half an hour.
But I would have missed so much of what I enjoyed about being there.
The sisters understand something essential that gets lost when we spend our lives trying to get everything done as quickly as possible. Work can be prayer. The work of our hands means something. Working together is important.
The world puts so much pressure on us to be productive. Nobody is spared. The exhausted mother, the person living with a disability, the retiree who thought life might finally slow down a little, all of us can feel that we ought to be accomplishing more. Even when we finish something, there is always another thing waiting.
And we can become so accustomed to hurrying that we lose the blessings to be found in slowing down and using our hands. I was having fun getting the laundry right, praying alongside the sisters, and being teased about my lack of experience. I could have stayed all day.
Jesus speaks to people who know the weight of having too much to carry:
“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
Matthew 11:28, RSV2CE
He goes on to ask us to take His yoke and learn from Him. There is work in the life He offers us, too. But this morning I was working, and I was finding rest. My hands were occupied, the sisters were leading the prayer, and for a while I was able to give myself to what was right in front of me.
The joy of the sisters
In such a short time, I developed so much affection for these ladies and the work they do. And something I have witnessed every time I am with them, over many years, is how much fun they are.
They are playful, a little mischievous, curious, charming, and full of joy. They tease the visiting priest while teaching him how to wash the linens. And when you are with them, you cannot help but be happy too.
The Kingdom is the world turned on its head.
We live in a world where efficiency and profit are so often allowed to decide whose needs get attention. The poor can be pushed out of sight, their lives treated as an inconvenience or an expense. When the bottom line governs everything, a person who cannot contribute to it becomes very easy to disregard.
The sisters, in their white and blue saris, stand in direct defiance of that. They devote their lives to people whom the world so often passes by, and they find the greatest wealth among the poorest of the poor.
Jesus gives us a startling reason to pay attention to those people. In Matthew’s Gospel, the King identifies Himself with those who have needed food, welcome, clothing, and care:
“…as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”
Matthew 25:40, RSV2CE
Imagine taking Him seriously while you wash somebody’s bed linens. A person is going to sleep in that bed. They deserve clean sheets and a clean room. They deserve someone who takes care with the work, even if nobody is going to see who did it.
The sisters do that work every day. I got to join them for a few hours, and found myself enjoying the very chores I so often want to get out of the way.
So please, I don’t want you walking away from this essay saying, “Oh, how holy Father is. He volunteered on his trip.” This experience was a tremendous gift to me. These sisters have something to teach me about how far afield I get sometimes.
I love this ministry. I want it to grow, and I want to do the work well. But I can get so caught up in what needs to be written, recorded, edited, or finished next that I hurry through the day. This morning, I was happy washing sheets beside a sister and trying to keep up with the Rosary. I would like to remember that when I get home.
The Kingdom of God is here, my friends.
Just follow the tiny sisters in the white and blue saris.
A prayer
Lord Jesus,
Thank You for the sisters who welcomed me this morning, and for the people whose lives they care for. Bless their work and give them the strength and help they need.
When we hurry through our days, help us notice the person whose comfort depends on the task in front of us. Teach us to bring our hands and our attention to that work, and to receive the companionship You offer along the way.
We entrust Pope Leo to Your care, and all the intentions this community has asked me to carry to Rome. Stay close to those who are frightened, ill, or alone. Help us recognize You when they need us.
Amen.
Saint Mother Teresa, Pray for us.
And Now It’s Your Turn
Have you ever found prayer, companionship, or unexpected joy in an ordinary task? I would love to hear what you were doing, and who was with you.
If someone you love feels constantly pressured to accomplish more, please share this reflection with them. They might enjoy meeting the sisters through this morning’s story.
My dear friends, I hope these dispatches have helped you feel that you are here in Rome with me. I love being able to bring you into these encounters, and I want to keep offering you thoughtful Scripture teaching, honest conversations about faith, and the kind of care that takes your actual life seriously. Your supporting subscriptions fund the time and work that make this ministry possible, here and when I get home. They also help keep its core teaching and reflections open to people who cannot afford to pay.
If Message From the Margins has become part of your spiritual life, and you have room in your budget, please become a supporting subscriber today. An annual subscription is especially helpful because it gives me resources to plan and fund the work ahead; monthly support is welcome too. I want this ministry to keep growing and serving you for years to come, and I need your help to do that. If money is tight, please keep reading without guilt. I am grateful for your company, prayers, comments, and the people you bring into this community.