Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Harvest of Justice Winter 2015: From The St. Francis Catholic Worker
Harvest of Justice Winter 2015: From The St. Francis Catholic Worker
Harvest of Justice Winter 2015: From The St. Francis Catholic Worker
By Elly Lang
Scattered clumps of grass. A wobbly wooden
archway. Mosquitoes. Old hutches, formerly with rabbit
tenants. Wood. A buried toilet. Sneaky Catalpa saplings. A
pet cemetery. Some bush honeysuckle invaders. A
clothesline. Moss. Patterns of bricks and rocks, covered
over time by soil. Vines. Rocks and gravel from an old
driveway. Ferns. Much shade. Overgrowth.
Such has been the state of the backyard at Lois
Bryant House, at least since Ive been around the
community. Id never seen the desolate space be used for
much at all, save for running out to hang clothes on the line
and for the dogs to romp. Though it did have a great deal
of potential, I thought. So toward the end of my time taking
classes, I began to observe the backyard more
intentionally, ask some questions, and formulate some
thoughts on what the space might be.
Enter Maranatha Prenger. The St. Francis House
Community knows the family well; we spend time with them
at the house, at Thursday church sometimes, and
Maranathas brothers have completed Eagle Scout projects
at our houses building porches and fixing stairs. Thank
little baby Jesus Maranatha chose us for her Gold Award
project. When we met initially to talk about the project, she
described a vision focused on sustainability and a healing
space. I was sold, extremely grateful for her interest and
the help, and could not wait to begin working with her.
By Jeff Krall
Big events call for advance planning. Preparation is
necessary from a logistical standpoint: we want to invite
specific people to join us for an activity at a specific place
and time, and we need particular items in place. A wedding,
for example, has many people (wedding party, guests,
celebrant, photographer, ) and items (rings, flowers,
clothing, food for reception, ) to coordinate, and many
decisions must be made about them (who to invite, choice
of wedding party members, choice of wedding clothing, ).
But our focus on this type of external preparation for
the event can mean that we miss the opportunity for inner,
personal, preparation for the event, the type of preparation
that can change us and that lasts beyond the event. As a
result we could miss the most important life-changing
aspects of the event. A wedding is one high point, one
moment of publicly-spoken commitment, in a relationship
journey between two people. The relationship lives and
breathes, not just on the day of the wedding, but in the
days leading up to and following the wedding.
Likewise, for many people, Christmas is a day that
requires lots of advance preparation: decorating the house,
baking seasonal treats, buying gifts, planning parties. But in
additional to this external preparation, what inner
preparation can we make now so that when Christmas
arrives we are ready to more fully celebrate it, and our
celebration and our inner transformation lasts beyond that
one day?
The Catholic Churchs answer to that question is to
observe a season of preparation in the four weeks leading
up to the day of Christmas, and to celebrate Christmas as
an entire season, with Christmas Day being the first day of
the season. The preparatory season, called Advent,
focuses on more than just December 25, 2015. It considers
the many times that God enters our lives: in the past (the
birth and life of Jesus), today (God present within us and
the ways in which we bring God into our world through our
lives), and the future (our future world, which is the result of
how we live today, and the end times). The
Gospel
readings on the Sundays of Advent have some distinct
themes that can help us with our inner preparation. Here
are some of the themes and thoughts on applying them to
our lives:
Be vigilant at all times. Jesus warns the disciples
and usnot to become drowsy fromthe anxieties of
daily life. The turmoil and tribulations that we see and
experience in our world can make us paralyzed with fear.
This fear can cause us to turn inward and to withdraw from
the world around us, seeking only self-comfort and self-
HOUSE NEEDS
Money for utility bills, coffee, tea, sugar, milk, cleaning
supplies, socks, gloves, hats, pillow cases, sturdy blankets
to give to urban campers, and as always, your Prayers.
IN MEMORIAM
Please remember our friends and former guests who
have passed away, especially Tommy Lee Talbert,
By Ruth ONeill
Encountering Community
By Calvin Maginel
Hello to the greater Saint Francis House community! I
am Calvin Maginel, a recent graduate of the Mizzou
forestry program and one of the new community members
at SFH.
I was born in Centerville MO, the county seat of
Reynolds County. My parents were fresh out of the back-tothe-land movement and chose to homestead there.
Evidently one of my folks' especially motherly goats used to
carry me around the yard by my cloth diaper, although it
may have just been trying to eat it. That goat would have
been in for quite the surprise!
My folks moved to Cape Girardeau to be closer to family
when I was six. After high school, I went to College of the
Ozarks down near Branson MO for a couple of years. While
free for all students, I never really connected with the
strong religious side of that institution, so I transferred to
Berea College in KY. Berea is also a full work-study
college, and diversity and academics are its strong points
(two things I felt were lacking at College of the Ozarks).
Picking up Strays
By Dahne Yeager
I graduated in 2005 with a degree in Field Biology, and
promptly moved to Washington state to snorkel and count
salmon. I next worked with an endangered bird in the
Texas hill country for two field seasons, after which I moved
to Vermont to work for the Nature Conservancy as a
volunteer coordinator.