Scripture Readings

• First Reading: Isa 58:6-11

• Responsorial Psalm: Ps 112 (111):1-2, 3-4, 5-7a, 7b-8, 9

• Alleluia Verse: John 13:34

• Gospel: John 15:9-17

Reflection on Today’s Feast

By Fr. Gap LoBiondo, SJ

Saint Peter Claver is both an example and a challenge for us in the twenty-first century. He is an example to us in the way he treated the African American slaves who were considered racially inferior as equals. In a letter written in 1627 to his Jesuit superior he describes what he did when slave ships arrived at the Port of Cartagena, Colombia where he lived. As the slaves were put ashore he and his companions hurried out to meet them with fresh fruits and biscuits. Seeing them in such miserable condition, their hearts went out to them. They would take the cloaks off their backs to help them warm up.

At the same time Peter Claver’s approach to the slaves challenges me to realize that slavery was a deeply rooted unjust social structure. I learned a lot about his approach from a wise old Jesuit, Father Horace McKenna, who ministered for years to African Americans in Philadelphia, Southern Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The Father McKenna Center is a drop in center for homeless people located in the basement of St. Aloysius Church at Gonzaga High School in Washington, DC. This center is a tribute to Horace who was the St. Peter Claver of our day. He went out of his way to serve people who were in great need. By his example of loving care for every person, Father Horace McKenna, S.J. gave me and many other young Jesuits a good sense of how Saint Peter Claver must have related to the former slaves of his day.

Horace carried the charism of Peter Claver and helped me deal with my own racial prejudice without my realizing he was doing it. His references to Saint Peter Claver as a model Jesuit priest challenged me. Horace would invite me to visit African American families with him. This accompaniment was an educational experience that taught me about the injustice of racial discrimination. His love and care taught me to appreciate his relationships with those who were descendants of the slaves owned by the Jesuits in Southern Maryland.

Like Claver, Horace challenged me in one respect, but not in another. On the one hand he taught me by his example about Pedro Claver’s way of relating to former slaves of his day. His profound charity moved me. It gave me insight into Claver’s counter cultural attitude towards those whose ancestors had been enslaved. On the other hand he did not explicitly challenge me to the kind of radical social justice that would go beyond works of charity and actually confront the structures of racism.

However, Horace and Claver did take me a step further in this direction.. They helped me get at the spiritual roots of anti-racism. They helped me to realize that an attitude like theirs could only come out of a rich spiritual life. In this sense, Peter Claver is not a Jesuit saint only because he ministered to marginalized people. He is a model because of the way he integrated his interior, his spiritual life with his apostolic life. I made this connection only recently as I have been reflecting on the life and writings of Howard Thurman.

Thurman (1899-1981) was an African American theologian, educator, and civil rights leader. He was a spiritual mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr and other leaders in the Civil Rights Movement. His writings include Meditations of the Heart and The Inward Journey. While I was reflecting on these rich texts, I could not help but think of Saint Peter Claver. Thurman seems like a modern embodiment of Claver’s spirit. The parallels are many! We need not dig far into the past to find the same inspiration at work in both of them. Howard Thurman’s spirituality embodies the same integration that we find in our Jesuit brother Peter Claver.

So as I reflect on the impact of Peter Claver on my Jesuit life and ministry, I realize that Thurman carries in our own day the same liberating spirit that Claver did four hundred years ago. And at the same time he leaves us still facing the same challenge of finding ways to confront and to end racism.

St. Peter Claver, pray for us!

Fr. LoBiondo, SJ, is chaplain to Gonzaga College High School, Washington Jesuit Academy, and the McKenna Center.