Father Richard Rohr is one of my mentors. He doesn't know that because he mentors millions of people. In his 56 years as a Priest, he's written more than 30 books.
As a beautiful gift to posterity, the wise folks at the Center for Action and Contemplation, which Father Richard founded in Albuquerque, started a podcast, inviting interesting people to join Father Richard for a chat.
About a year ago, Father Greg Boyle came on. I listened to it yesterday.
Meet Father Greg
From 1986 to 1992, Father Greg served as pastor of the poorest Catholic parish in Los Angeles, in an area with the highest concentration of gang activity in the city.
The community was devastated during the so-called “decade of death” which began in the late 1980s and peaked at 1,000 gang-related killings in 1992.
In 1988, Father Greg started an outreach called Homeboy Industries, with the motto, "nothing stops a bullet like a job." It started with a bakery that created jobs for former gang members, then grew into more bakeries, diners, silkscreening, merch sales, even farmers markets.
Father Greg says this about Homeboy.
“We work with the population that nobody desires to work with, and it’s a principle of this place that we stand with them."
Cherishing.
On the podcast, Fathers Greg and Richard were talking about how some people struggle to believe that love never fails — mainly because the people who were supposed to love them didn't, or couldn't.
But by actively cherishing the "Homies," who may be unfamiliar with the experience, the staff at Homeboy treats them like beloved children of God, not as hopeless gang members.
Father Greg calls it microdosing love.
Today, Homeboy is the largest gang-intervention, rehabilitation, and re-entry program in the world, serving 10,000 people a year; wrapping them in a "community of kinship" and supporting them with all manner of services.
On the podcast, Father Greg mentioned that when one of the Homies relapses or winds up back in jail, he used to pray they would come back.
Now, he knows they'll come back. So he just prays for when they do.
When someone has the experience of being cherished somewhere, he explains, they will always come back to that place. He added that he couldn't think of an exception to this rule at Homeboy.
There is so much noise around Christianity right now.
What Christianity is or is not. Who is one, who isn't. Who gets to claim it or weaponize it. So it's easy to be skeptical and avoidant of the things of Jesus.
However, Jesus himself designed a simple litmus test to determine who was actually following him.
Check the fruit growing on their tree.
"For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit; for each tree is known by its own fruit." -Jesus. Luke 6:43
Certainly, Fathers Greg and Richard have grown incredible fruit, but there are countless other people doing the same. Try their fruit too. It's delicious. Just listening to this podcast got me thinking differently about how I love my spouse, my family, my friends, my clients.
Am I cherishing them?
Even better, am I living out of my own cherished-ness?
Now we're getting somewhere.
Sometimes, for me, the answer to both questions is no, but the response is not punishment or self-criticism. It is simply to return to the place I am cherished — like they do at Homeboy.
I can run like the prodigal, back to where I feel and remember I am loved. That I am love. I may get pruned or fertilized while I'm there, but that only makes the fruit on my tree better.
It's not hard to do this. It's hard to remember to do this. For some, it's hard to believe such a thing even exists.
Returning to the source of all love and cherishing each other is always the answer, and Jesus is the model.
To quote Father Richard:
“Love is the source and goal,
faith is the slow process of getting there,
and hope is the willingness to move forward
without resolution and closure.”
Have a great week.
ps. Cherishing you is on the agenda at Firelight Adventures - Taos. April 10-13. We have a few spaces left. For more information, click here.
Responses