Dispatches from Fr. Charitas
Monday, May 21, 2018
I am closest to Christ, in deepest conversation and communion with Christ, when I am doing the chores of humble servanthood. As I ladle soup into bowls for the homeless or when I wash the dishes, I find Christ there with me shoulder to shoulder. And as I so often find when souls work side by side, the Lord and I grow all the closer for we share shared a few moments or hours in doing the Servant-Work. A certain collegiality, a certain kind of bond, forms in working side-by-side. In some ways, it is different from the kind of bonds formed when meeting face-to-face. It is somehow different, this side-by-side conversation. And I thinking it has to do … with sharing the Moment.
A number of times in my counseling work, I have suggested that couples who are having difficulty in communicating with one another, that they spend a few weeks washing and drying dishes to together, the old-fashioned way. The first few days not progress will be noticed, but after a week or so of this intentional exercise involving a simple daily chore … usually something emerges between them. There in that common space doing that common work … where there is no threat merely a cooperative effort … a new manner of sharing begins to arise, a casual, non-threatening, unpressured conversation. Many times … this prescription proved helpful.
I believe it is a most vital spiritual practice … this menial Servant-Work that draws one closer to the Lord and others.
Always in His Service,
Fr. Charitas de la Cruz
