‘Tis the Season! But for what?
Hospitality is at the top of our list. It’s part of what animates the American Solidarity Party.
Peter Maurin, who with Dorothy Day, began the Catholic Worker Movement, has two “Easy Essays” that we’ll explore today. The first is “The Duty of Hospitality,” and the second is “Feeding the Poor at a Sacrifice.” See also Dorothy Day’s “Room for Christ“.
1. People who are in need
and are not afraid to beg
give to people not in need
the occasion to do good
for goodness'sake.
2. Modern society calls the beggar
bum and panhandler
and gives him the bum's rush.
But the Greeks used to say
that people in need
are the ambassadors of the gods.
3. Although you may be called
bums and panhandlers
you are in fact
the Ambassadors of God.
4. As God's Ambassadors
you should be given food,
clothing and shelter
by those who are able to give it.
5. Mahometan teachers tell us
that God commands hospitality,
and hospitality is still practiced
in Mahometan countries.
6. But the duty of hospitality
is neither taught nor practiced
in Christian countries.
1. In the first centuries
of Christianity
the hungry were fed
at a personal sacrifice,
the naked were clothed
at a personal sacrifice,
the homeless were sheltered
at personal sacrifice.
2. And because the poor
were fed, clothed and sheltered
at a personal sacrifice,
the pagans used to say
about the Christians
"See how they love each other."
3. In our own day
the poor are no longer
fed, clothed, sheltered
at a personal sacrifice,
but at the expense
of the taxpayers.
4. And because the poor
are no longer
fed, clothed and sheltered
the pagans say about the Christians
"See how they pass the buck."