I believe

For seventeen days this month I have been writing about the aims and the means of the catholic worker. I believe that the needed personal and social transformation of which I have been writing should be pursued by the means Jesus revealed in his sacrificial love. With Christ as my exemplar, by prayer and communion with his body and blood, I will strive for practices of:

non-violence. Blessed are the "peacemakers," for they will be called the children of God. I so like the Kwak'wala translation of Matthew 5:9. "Blessed wista da Kyama Kula masak naukya." It translates "Blessed are those whose spirits are made still like the ocean at those times when it is still beyond measure." Only through non-violent action can a personalist revolution come about, one in which one evil will not simply be replaced by another. Thus I oppose the taking of a human like for any reason, and see every opposition as blasphemy. Jesus taught us to take suffering upon ourselves rather than inflict it upon others "This is what you were called to do, because Christ suffered for you and gave you an example to follow. So you should do as he did" (1 Peter 2:21). And he calls us to fight against violence with the spiritual weapons of prayer, fasting, and noncooperation with evil.

works of mercy as found in Matthew 25:31-46, are at the heart of the gospel and they are clear mandates for our response to the "least of our brothers and sisters." In 1539 Menno Simons wrote, "True evangelical faith cannot lie dormant, it clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute, it serves those that harm it, it binds up that which is wounded, it has become all things to all people." Houses of hositality are centres for learning to do the acts of love, so that the poor can receive what is, in justice, theirs; the second coat in our closet, the spare room in our home, a place at our table. Anything beyond what we immediately need belongs to those who do without. "The group of believers were united in their hearts and spirit. All those in the group acted as though their private property belonged to everyone in the group. In fact, they shared everything. With great power the apostles where telling people that the Lord Jesus was truly raised from the dead. And God blessed all the believers very much. There were no needy people among them. From time to time, those who owned fields or houses, sold them, brought the money and gave it to the apostles. Then the money was given to anyone who needed it" (Acts 4:32-35). I pray that my house would be a house of hospitality, recognizing that if I have two of anything while another has not, I have too much.

manual labour, in a society that rejects it as undignified and inferiour, "Besides inducing cooperation, besides overcoming barriers and establishing a spirit of sister and brotherhood (besides just getting things done), manual labour enables us to use our bodies as well as our hands, our minds" (Dorothy Day). The Benedictine motto ora et labora - pray and work reminds us that the work of human hands is a gift for the edification of the world and the glory of God.

voluntary poverty. "The mystery of poverty is that by sharing in it, making ourselves poor in giving to others, we increase our knowledge and belief in love" (Dorothy Day). By embracing voluntary poverty, that is, by casting our lot freely with those whose impoverishment is not a choice, we would ask for the grace to abandon ourselves to the love of God. It would put us on the path to incarnate God's preferential option for the poor.

And I must be prepared to accept seeming failure with these aims, for sacrifice and suffering are part of the Christian life. success, as the world determines it, is not the final criteria for judgement. "Surely the justice due is with Yahweh, and recompense is with God" (Isaiah 49:4b). The most important thing is the love of Jesus Christ and how to live his truth.

For seventeen days I have been exploring the aims and means of the catholic worker, and I find myself, sitting in the midst. for this reason, I too am a catholic worker. I too am an Anabaptist. I too am a follower of Jesus Christ. And I will "remember my leaders, who have taught God's message to me. I will remember how they lived and died, and I will copy their faith; for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever" (Heb. 13:7-8).

Stay tuned to the blog for my ongoing journey "on the way." In the coming days I will be exploring the vocation of work, the call to pastor in the marketplace.