Friends Of God: Marvelous Models For Difficult Times

By ANTOINETTE BOSCO, CNS

Published: September 11, 2003

This week’s issue describes some “friends in Christ” who live among us here in the Archdiocese of Atlanta. Those receiving papal honors—Alex Smith, Fred and Virginia Hedges, and Olga Goizueta—are all examples of ordinary Catholics who have chosen the extraordinary path and contributed greatly to the growth of the Catholic church here in Georgia. We are blessed to have such friends in our midst and proud that Archbishop Donoghue chose a public way to recognize their work. Many of us can probably name a few more such friends in our home parishes. Perhaps their example will encourage us all to accept the same call to holiness from God.
—Mary Anne Castranio

Time and again, I have prayed for guidance, wanting to know what I could do in the present American climate to help get our Christian message, so clearly expressed in Matthew 25, taken seriously again.

Didn’t Jesus say we must feed the hungry, visit the prisoners, give drink to the thirsty? And isn’t this a blueprint that would include medical care for the sick, a place to live for the homeless, loving care for the old and poor, an education for children -- all of them, even the penniless -- and job opportunities for all, regardless of ethnic heritage or race?

I find myself weary of hearing how great we are, how we are the world’s superpower, responsible only to ourselves. I’m ashamed of the talking heads on television who justify tax breaks for the wealthy while coldly denigrating social programs urgently needed by the poor.

Then, like a precise answer to prayer, I came across a book showing me again that Jesus does not ever abandon us. He comes here when he is needed, and while his name is different, it is still him. With the truthful title of “Christ in the Margins” (Orbis Books), Edwina Gateley has retold stories of incredible people who loved Christ and “danced on the margins of the world” with him. And we see them, too, with their spirits shining through, in beautiful icons painted by artist Robert Lentz.

All of them were “friends of God,” as the author says, and she shows us why, selecting not only the well-known, like Francis of Assisi, Vincent de Paul, Katharine Drexel and Therese of Lisieux, but so many others -- Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago, Stephen Biko of South Africa, Cesar Chavez of the farm workers, Franciscan Father Mychal Judge of the firefighters and J.R.R. Tolkien, the Catholic writer of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.

“It is time for all of us who follow Christ to recognize him and to proclaim him,” she says. “It is time to be prophetic about the Christ we know is present in the folks who are pushed aside, dismissed, left out, undermined, underfed, unhoused or simply unseen and unheard. It is time for the people of God to stop marching along with the status quo in search of security, power and control, but to stumble instead toward the margins where we will encounter a magic and a mystery that will plunge us trembling but rejoicing into the realm of God. This is what this book is all about.”

In a number of very human, very powerful “reflections,” Gateley points out that none of these people started out as anything but ordinary. “They became extraordinary when they aligned themselves with justice in a very real and life-changing way -- when they reached a point where they refused to settle for less than human dignity and did it to such a degree that their lives were put on the line.”

Some of these people were broken, outcasts, considered “holy fools.” Some were crusaders, visionaries, artists. What all had in common was that they were different from what the world expects, as Christ was different.

They radically chose to say yes to his invitation, “Follow me,” and found themselves “in the margins.” But from there, they made the part of the world they touched holy ground. These are the people we need to meet again. They can give us hope as we flounder in this broken world of ours.