A Christmas Lesson On Housing the Poor

WHEN I was a boy growing up in Ballwin, Mo., one of my family’s Advent and Christmas traditions was to decorate our house by placing artificial candles in all of the windows, giving our home a warm, welcoming glow. But one window, the main one in our living room, didn’t have a candle until Christmas Eve, when we would put a real, lit candle by it.

That was a candle, Mom and Dad explained, for the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, looking for a place to stay that holy night more than 2,000 years ago. Mary and Joseph — the Mother of God and her spouse most chaste — had to wander the earth, the tradition goes, looking for a haven in which to stay. There was no room at the inn in Bethlehem for them, and they were forced to find shelter in a barn, little more than a cave, really, for Mary to give birth to Jesus, the Son of God, the Savior of the World.

Memories of that candle, an invitation to the Holy Family to come and find shelter in our home, are particularly poignant for me this Christmas, as we continue to confront the terrible scourge of homelessness, especially here in the Big Apple.

Last week, I participated in a news conference with Mayor de Blasio and several other religious leaders of various faiths. We talked about the expansion of New York City’s “Safe Haven” program, to help those living on the streets to transition to full-time housing.

It’s a laudable program with a wonderful goal: No one should have to sleep without a roof over his head. It’s why the Catholic Charities of the archdiocese was happy to pledge five church properties for the city to consider as locations for “Safe Haven” sites. Caring for the homeless is fundamental for us, an integral part of who we are as believers.

But after the news conference, driving back to my office for another round of a seemingly endless series of year-end meetings, I recalled that lit candle and what it really symbolized.

My parents were hardly “weary-our-faith-on-your-sleeve” Catholics, yet their faith was an important part of their lives. That candle represented their understanding that Christmas is a time for interior reform, a change in how we see and treat others, particularly those in need.

As usual, Pope Francis said it so well, during a visit to a homeless center in Washington, DC, in 2015: “Jesus not only wanted to show solidarity with every person. He not only wanted everyone to experience his companionship, his help, his love.”

Jesus, the pope taught, “identified with all those who suffer, who weep, who bear any kind of injustice. He says this clearly: ‘I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.’ ”

The Son of God was homeless; his earthly parents were immigrants and refugees.

This sacred sense of hospitality is something that our Jewish neighbors cherish as well. Remember the story of Abraham, welcoming the three strangers passing by his tent.

Abraham ran to them, implored them to stay with him, prepared and served a splendid meal, before seeing the three strangers on their way. It was only after they had departed that it was revealed that he had been hosting three angels. No wonder, as I’m told, Jewish families still set a place at the table for an unexpected guest who might show up for a meal on one of their holy days.

We encounter the divine when we recognize the God-given dignity in every human person: the homeless, the refugee, the elderly, the ill, the unborn. Each of us has within that spark of the divine, for God made us in his own image and likeness (Genesis 1:27).

As we celebrate this Christmas, might our candles remind us that light will always conquer the darkness, hope will overcome despair, life will triumph over death.

If we are able to keep that in mind, then our response to the homeless and others in need will go beyond simply instituting another program to provide shelter — as necessary as that is — to caring for each other as the Lord would have us do.

A blessed Christmas to all! Might all of us be home for Christmas!

‘ Mary and Joseph, the Mother of God and her spouse most chaste, had to wan der the ’ earth, looking for a haven in which to stay.