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Happening ... in the Local Church
The visitor’s face
Webster defines a visitor as an invited friend, a guest. For social purposes, that will do. I have been a home visitor for the Society of St. Vincent de Paul for more than 17 years. In that time, I have visited more than 7,000 homes. I started out as a guest, invited by the person to come into their home and help them. I was drilled in the Church’s preference for the poor, to always look for the face of Jesus in their needs. That worked well for a couple of years. After seeing many greedy faces, demands for help, being treated like anything except a guest, I knew why so many caseworkers get tired. They burn out because it is hard, sometimes impossible, to see the face of Jesus in other people. Something had to change.
The first information I put down on the information sheet was my initials so the office workers would know who made that particular visit. But “JC” stands for someone else, someone who is the driving force behind our help — Jesus Christ. So, a little prayer as I now wrote down his initials: “Lord Jesus, help me to treat this family as you would do.” Life and my visits were changing.
I came to realize that a visitor is also someone who comes to comfort or to bless. But it is a problem to comfort an angry woman, to bless unruly children. It brought on the question our young people so frequently use: “What would Jesus do?” I was asking him to help me treat this person as he would. Certainly Jesus dealt with angry men and women.
I think Jesus gives the answer. It is fine to look for Jesus in another person. Yet the only person that you can be sure is showing the face of Jesus is yourself. He tells us how in the Sermon on the Mount. Happy are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, the merciful, the pure in heart, those who work for peace, who are persecuted.
Rule one: Love God. Rule two: Love your neighbor, the person you are visiting, as you love yourself. St. Paul, in Corinthians 13, explains, defines and brings to life the meaning of love: patient, kind, not jealous, not conceited, not proud, not ill-mannered, not selfish and not irritable. Love never gives up.
The results of living the answer of Jesus are nothing short of glorious. A person is baptized. People go back to church. They get married. They smile. They cry on your shoulder. They ask for prayers.
That was not Jim who visited. The hands and feet, the eyes and ears, the tongue — oh, sure, those were Jim. But only because he put on the life and face of Jesus and showed it all to one of the least, who was in trouble.
This guest editorial was written by James R. Coker, an attorney and president of the Diocese of Lafayette Council of the St. Vincent de Paul Society.