The Word made Flesh:
serving Christ in the sick and the poor
Last week, as I was writing this column about the Word made words
in a new Lectionary, I also had in my mind and heart a visit to
a place where the Word is made flesh in the bodies of the sick
and the poor: St. Bernard Hospital and Health Care Center in East
Englewood. The Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph have sponsored
the hospital since its founding in 1903. Sister Elizabeth Van
Straten directs the hospital in a neighborhood now much different
from when her Sisters first began to serve in Englewood.
The name Englewood can conjure up images of an unsafe inner city
area; and it is, in fact, one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods
and one of the city’s medically under-served communities. All
the more encouraging is a visit to a hospital that cares for life
in all its stages. I visited an obstetrics unit full of the sounds
of 16 newborn babies and an emergency room active with patients
from ages two to 82. I walked through corridors sparkling clean
and traveled by those visiting their sick relatives and friends.
I stopped in the large chapel to pray for those in the hospital,
for the administrators and staff and for the doctors who have
their offices within its walls so that they can continue to take
care of the sick even at hours when a free-standing office in
the neighborhood might not be a safe haven.
As in every Catholic hospital and health center, everyone is safe
in St. Bernard. No one will be deliberately killed, no matter
how weak and defenseless they might be. Not those still waiting
in their mother’s womb to be born, not those dying in their beds,
not those wounded by others or by accident, not those beyond normal
medical care. No one will be deliberately killed. It is a Catholic
hospital; everyone is safe.
St. Bernard Hospital is a community anchor. The hospital is concerned
with the overall health of Englewood residents, which is directly
related to the conditions of the neighborhood. Taking a leadership
role in community development, St. Bernard plans to build affordable
single-family homes on vacant land in Englewood. Home ownership
is key to establishing a stable base in any community. With a
stable base, opportunity for other development follows. Even God’s
Word made flesh needed a roof over his head, as do the poor today.
It was, in fact, interest in a Catholic hospital-sponsored housing
project that moved me to visit St. Bernard, but of course I discovered
as well the hospital itself and the local Catholic parish which
cooperates with the hospital in serving the neighborhood. St.
Benedict the African (East) worships in an appropriately beautiful
church which is designed to welcome anyone who wants to hear God’s
Word and worship in spirit and truth. The parish, pastored by
Father David Baldwin, is a sign of the hope that only God can
bring, even in places that seem to strangers to be hopeless.
The Catholic Church makes a huge difference in Englewood, in the
social services it provides, of course, but more profoundly in
proclaiming God’s Word, which brings strength to those who hear
it, and in making Christ himself present through the Sacraments,
especially the Holy Eucharist. The parish is an oasis of hope,
the hospital a symbol of loving care, and both give flesh to the
mission of the Church to preach the Gospel to the poor.
The season of Advent has become less a time of waiting and more
a time of partying, so that Christmas itself becomes something
of an anti-climax. How different might our preparation for Christmas
be if, along with our prayers of the season and our search for
appropriate gifts for those we love, we added a visit to a place
and a neighborhood where we would not at first feel completely
at home. Then we would have to listen, and when we listen we can
hear a call.
Advent is marked by the figure of John the Baptist, who called
his people to repent because the Kingdom of God is at hand. Advent
is marked as well by the figure of Mary, Daughter of Zion, whom
the Archangel Gabriel called to become the mother of the Savior.
Advent invites us to place ourselves interiorly and exteriorly
in readiness for a call from God through his messengers today.
St. Bernard Hospital was such a messenger for me, and I am grateful
for the call they make to all of us to be servants of the sick
and the poor. God bless you.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
