Mary’s Choice
Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:37-38)
Every day, between 1.3 and 2.8 million runaway and homeless youth live on the streets of America. Seventy-four percent are girls, the vast majority between the ages of 14–17. What reason is most often cited for running away? Neglect or abuse at home.
As bad as things may have been at home, however, teen runaways soon find that life on the street, where danger and exploitation lurk at every turn, is even worse. Seventy-five percent of those who remain on the street for two or more weeks will become involved in theft, drugs or pornography, while one out of three will be lured into prostitution. Gay and bisexual youth are particularly vulnerable.
Other risks runaways face are malnutrition, psychological/ emotional disorders, HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases, unplanned pregnancies, drug and alcohol abuse, robbery, sexual and physical assault. Not surprisingly, thirty-two percent attempt suicide at some point in their lives.
Covenant House in New York City is a shelter for homeless runaways struggling to survive. Anne Donahue, a Georgetown University graduate, is a Covenant House volunteer. Most nights at ten o’clock Anne and another volunteer put gallons of hot chocolate and bags of sandwiches into the Covenant House van, with a dove painted on the door, then tour the city’s juvenile prostitution areas. The volunteers simply offer free sandwiches and hot chocolate to runaways working the streets.
What does Covenant House hope to accomplish by these nightly excursions? Anne answers the question this way: “We’re out there because we know that a lot of kids haven’t tried Covenant House yet. About two-thirds have never heard of us.” Anne goes on to say that they accomplish something else, too. They show these kids that somebody cares, that somebody is out there who’s neither buying nor selling them.
Referring to her first year as a volunteer, Anne says: “I was depressed. What kind of God would let kids suffer so much? Finally it got through to me…God isn’t going to come down and show us his love. We have to let God’s love work through us.”
What a great Advent story! Anne’s right about God not coming down to show us his love. That’s because God already did, more than 2000 years ago, in the birth we celebrate in a few short days. And she’s also right about our having to let God’s love work through us. Jesus, as we well know, before ascending to his Father specifically commissioned us to continue his ministry.
Just as the Father worked through Jesus during his life of earth, so Jesus teaches us to let his Father work through us during ours. Like him we’re to be channels of God’s love to others. That’s what Anne Donohue does as she drives her van through the seedy areas of New York City and what Mary did in today’s gospel by agreeing to become Mother of the Son of God.
What Anne is doing, and what Mary did, you and I must also do. That, after all, is the reason for the season. If Jesus is to be born again into our world; if the Christmas promise of “Peace on earth, Good will to all” is to be realized, it must happen through us. God continually invites us to say with Mary: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”
In my nineteen years as a family court judge, I have been privileged to preside over 614 adoptions, many of abused or neglected children removed from seriously troubled families and placed in foster care. Eileen Caldarelli has been a foster mother in Monroe County since 1987, my first year on the bench. She and her husband Lou have fostered more than 30 children and adopted seven, five of my 6l4, in addition to raising a biological son and daughter.
Here’s what Eileen says about her experience: “The most important thing to remember is to treat your foster children as if they were your own. Our first foster child told us he lived out of a gym bag in previous foster homes. We gave him his own room and dresser, ate supper together, and helped him with his homework at night. Dan stayed with us throughout his teens and, at age 25, asked to be adopted so his children would have a place to call home.” Dan’s was one of my five Caldarelli adoptions. Like Mary and Anne Donohue, Eileen too has chosen to be a channel of God’s love.
Besides becoming a foster or adoptive parent what else can you do to show God’s love to a youngster in need? Here are a few more examples. You and your family can provide a short term respite home, a program of The Center for Youth which provides emergency shelter and street outreach services for homeless and runaway teens in our area. You can become a Compeer mentor; a Literacy for Life volunteer or a tutor at an inner city school.
You can become a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) who advocates for children involved in neglect and abuse proceedings. You can play the role of a Hillside Children’s Center “Special Santa;” or donate an item on St. Joseph’s Villa’s Holiday Wish List or, as many of you already have, donate a gift from our parish Giving Tree. And, of course, you can always write a check to the Catholic Family Center or any of a number of local nonprofit agencies working with families and children at risk.
Young brothers and sisters what can you do? You can choose to be a friend to a kid who desperately needs a friend. You can decide not to bully or tease anyone and speak up if someone else does. You can buy a toy with money you’ve earned and donate it to the “Toys for Tots” campaign. And the list goes on and on.
The Kingdom is God’s dream for the world. It began to unfold when Jesus entered human history for the first time, a baby born to an unwed teen mother who made a choice of cosmic dimension. It grows even now whenever and wherever ordinary people like you and me reach out to one another in love. With every kind gesture, with every caring act, we help bring the Kingdom closer to reality. As with Mary, it’s a matter of choice.
Anthony J. Sciolino
4th Sunday of Advent
December 18, 2005. (Cycle B)
Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16
Romans 16:25-27
Luke 1:26-38