"Living Under The Shadows"

I believe that today’s readings provide a strong message for our society today…here in San José. This past week - as in every week - we had a number of people come to the parish for help. A grandmother came in asking for rent support. She’s caring for several of her grandchildren. One of her daughters is in jail and the one living with her now has special needs. Because of her limited resources she was forced to sign two of her oldest grandchildren over to foster care.  A couple weeks ago there was a conflict with the landlord and he evicted this family without warning. He got away with it because the grandmother paid rent in cash and he gave her no receipt. When the eviction came, she had no proof of paying rent.  She’s been living in shabby hotels and in her car with her grandchildren. She can’t get a permanent place because no one will rent a room to a grandmother with four young children and two adults.

Another woman came in looking for help for her family. The family is currently renting in a space in a garage - that is, she’s renting half of a garage. The other half has a family of four! Her daughter is graduating high school and applying for college. Each application costs a minimum of $50. The mother barely makes enough to pay for rent with her $11.00/hour job and she can’t help her college bound daughter.  Once her daughter turns 18, this woman will lose public assistance for her daughter.  This will severely affect the rest of the family. Also it turns out that his woman’s take home pay disqualifies her for getting assistance.  Apparently $11.00/hour is too much money. 

There’s a young 13 year old boy, Pedro or “Peter” as he identifies himself, who wrote about his situation on a social media site, GoFundMe. (See:

http://www.gofundme.com/g2m5q0?fb_action_ids=349110855256528&fb_action_types=og.shares&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B734692109912916%5D&action_type_map=%5B ) This site is a social media site popular with most people who use the internet as a part of school or their job.  Peter tells his story on the website. Once people read his story, they are given the option to donate to help out his family.

Peter helps his single mother raise his sisters and brothers. This past month a massive infestation of roaches and bed bugs have driven all the tenants of his apartment building out of their homes. Peter says that they’ve been living in this situation for over 4 months.  Because of the bedbugs, the children had to get rid of all their clothing, beds and bedding. The exterminators have evacuated or evicted everyone from the building and Peter’s family has until October 31st to get out of their unit.  They won’t get their deposit back because of a change in property management and they are completely broke.  All their belongings are in backpacks.  Five backpacks. 

Peter wrote on his GoFundMe webpage, “My mom has worked so hard over the last few weeks to try to find us a new place and come up with the money for the first month of rent and deposit on a new apartment.  She is even taking on a second job.  With 5 kids and being a single mom, this is just too much for her.” I was blown away by Peter’s initiative in getting this GoFundMe account.  Peter, his mom and siblings have their story for sure, but their story and the story of the grandmother and the single mother isn’t unique.  They are, we are, the untold story of Silicon Valley. If our stories aren’t told, the truth remains in the shadow. When our stories are known, we are known: we are no longer hidden in the shadows.

We are the workers behind the scenes. We clean up their offices after they go home to their spacious homes.  We stand behind the counter serving them coffee and scones and we come by their tables to wipe up the messes their children left behind. We work behind the scenes as construction workers, gardeners, nanny’s, care takers, and hotel workers. No one sees our face, they look at our badge or our uniform.  If they even use our name, they mispronounce it. Mostly they call us, “hey you” or “Miss” or “Excuse me!”  We make $11.00 an hour. We live with 10 other people who are not our relatives in a crowded duplex in a neighborhood that is not entirely safe. We live in the shadows because no one knows our story.

When working folks are forced to live in their cars, or behind dumpsters in a shopping mall or church, or rent cheap hotel rooms week to week because they can’t pay for groceries and rent - they are living in captivity. There’s a Facebook meme that I came across that captures this point, “When the entirety of your earnings are exhausted on food and shelter, your labors are no longer viewed as an opportunity for economic advancement, but rather as an act of self preservation. In the real world that’s called SLAVERY.”

The Exodus reading speaks about this injustice in no uncertain terms. Let’s revisit some of those verses, “You shall not molest or oppress an immigrant, for you were once slaves in the land of Egypt…You shall not wrong any widow or orphan….If you lend money to one of your poor neighbors…you shall not act like an extortioner toward him by demanding interest from him. If you take your neighbor's cloak as a pledge…you shall return it to him before sunset."

Today when we read Exodus, we, like the Jewish people, cannot forget that at one time we were - if not now - are or were immigrant slaves. There are some immigrants who have done very well - they start technology companies, grocery store chains, cleaning services, construction companies!  But there are many more who have not done so well. 

This brings us to the task that I believe we all have to face: how to deal with those who live in the shadows. Sure, our story is sad - it’s tough to hear and there are no easy solutions, but what we face isn’t hopelessness. Our story is  ultimately a story of resilience and resistance. We, like the Hebrew people, will not be slaves forever.  We will overcome. We will overcome just as that grandmother is overcoming her obstacles by reaching out and finding support. Like that the daughter of the single mother who is living in one half of a garage and applying for college hoping to help out her family by getting a college degree. Like 13 year old Peter, whose faith in his mother makes him hopeful, innovative, and creative rather than resentful and dejected.

Jesus reminds us that the love of God is inseparable from the love of neighbor. If we are neighbors, no one lives in the shadows. No one is a slave. If we love our neighbor, we will find hope in one another and find hope in the midst of struggle. We will find the strength to take just one more step. Love will give us joy even if it looks like there’s not a lot to be joyful for. And when we’re joyful, we have the confidence to believe that we have something to offer, not just to ourselves, but to our neighbor.

So in love, we come before Christ to this altar, bringing the gifts born of our struggle. We bear the gifts of our lives - trusting that what we surrender unto God will bear fruit in someone else. And in return, we trust that what we receive from this altar - the Body and Blood of Christ - will be enough for us.

St. Ignatius’ prayer, the Suscipe

Take, Lord, and receive all my liberty,
my memory, my understanding,
and my entire will,
All I have and call my own.

You have given all to me.
To you, Lord, I return it.

Everything is yours; do with it what you will.
Give me only your love and your grace,
that is enough for me.