Fr. Leo's Spiritual Reflections

By Fr. Leo Schneider (7/12/2009)

Dear People of Holy Name,

“Take nothing for the journey but a walking stick-“ (Mk 6:8)

999 is the number you call in London if you need an ambulance. I learned that as an ambulance needed to be called for a twenty-nine year old woman who was passing by the restaurant where I was eating. She took a chair at the outside table next to mine and her mother asked for help. Surprisingly there was no ambulance immediately available as they were backed up, so they gave instructions of what to do and not do with the ill person.

I don’t know how the English system works, if they have a priority system, or a first come first serve system when it comes to emergency care. The ambulance did come in a bit and all was fine, but it certainly made it clear how health care is handled differently in other countries.

Mine was a timely experience as our country takes up the issue of health care once again. We have some of the best health care in the world and I know of people who were lucky to be here when they had their heart attacks and bypass surgery, as they would have had to take a number in their own countries and hoped to live until they had their surgery.

I like our system, but I have to challenge myself and admit that health care is different in our country for the haves and have-nots. I can have an annual physical and do preventative medicine, but the poor have no resource except emergency care. When they walk into an ER, they must be seen and treated, but what about before that? As I write there is an effort to put a bipartisan bill through the legislature to expand health care in our country in a way that may help the have-nots without decreasing the care for the rest of us. The question I must still face is, “What is fair?”

God created the poor person and shares his life with him just as he has with me. On what grounds do I say I deserve more than another human being who happens to be poor? Am I called to share the “wealth,” take less for myself so that others can receive an equal amount? That is a tough question and as I look at today’s gospel, it is one from which I can not walk away.

In today’s gospel Jesus sends his disciples forth to continue his mission. They are to take only the bare essentials for their mission, relying on God with a readiness to accept rejection just as Jesus did in his own prophetic mission. Are we called to live with the bare essentials and accept our human condition in a way that will allow others to receive an equal amount of health care?

That is a tough question, with ethical weight to consider as we pray and work for better health care for all. I like our system, but hope we can find ways to expand health care for all, in a way that will not diminish anymore than it already has for those of us with health coverage. A person in need and suffering is Christ in need and suffering. How we respond personally and as a society is a measure of our faith and our willingness to go forth to bring Christ to the people of today. We must all wrestle with this question as we are all called to continue the work of Christ. Today we are the sent who are to go forth with faith alone to build the kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.

May the Lord bless and guide us in our thoughts, prayers and action that we may be faithful and true apostles of Christ to the world of today.

In Christ’s peace, Fr. Leo