The Seamless Garment

A reflection from Lisa Yander
JV working with teens and young adults with disabilities at STRIVE

Being a Jesuit Volunteer in Maine allowed me to make the journey to Washington, D.C., for the annual March for Life. It's something I have always desired to do. Making the choice to attend made me look deeper into the ethics of all life and the dignified treatment of all humanity.

I have been thinking about Joseph Cardinal Bernadin, who was passionate about the consistent ethics of all life. He said, “When human life is considered ‘cheap’ or easily expendable in one area, eventually nothing is held as sacred and all lives are in jeopardy.”

As a JV, I have been challenged to take action to change systems that oppress, hurt, or devalue people. Being a JV has helped me see the importance of carrying through my passion for life into all aspects of the ethical treatment of humanity.

Like Cardinal Bernadin said, if we can justify death or make life invaluable in any area, then we will lose sight of the sacredness and beauty of all life.

Every day as a JV is a chance to stand for life. I work with individuals who have developmental disabilities and my roommates work in placements serving people who are undocumented immigrants, mentally ill, facing addictions, or homeless.  A community member and I have also become pen pals with a death row inmate who writes in his letters about living on death row and the injustices he faces.

I was able to stand for the individuals I serve by going to the March for Life. It allowed me to take action and stand for the unborn and those who are not given a chance at life because of their disabilities.

For the past 5 years, I have been very passionate about working with individuals with disabilities. It has affected my life in such positive ways. I see how every life must be valued rather than devalued.

In my year as a JV I strive to live the Gospels and serve all in need. I try to live in solidarity with others so that I can better understand their day-to-day situations. I work for change.

The way I see change happening, the way I see people finally being given the dignity and respect they deserve, is if we can truly see all life as sacred. Life is beautiful from the moment of conception until natural death. It needs to be given the utmost value so that we may all work towards a more beautiful life for everyone.

Applications and Interviews

It's deadline day for the international program and the first round of the domestic program. As you wrap up your online packets, you may want to look ahead at the next step, the interview process.

Visit http://www.jesuitvolunteers.org/interviewing for resources to help you prepare.

Think Twice

by Heather Moline (Nicaragua '10)

Happy Holidays. To the Christians, Merry Christmas. I hope you find peace and comfort with people who love you, no matter the space between you. And I hope you find a few moments to welcome those who don´t have those people.

I found myself walking home from the bus in a drizzle and passed an open sewer. One of many that I´ve passed multiple times. Twenty feet long, ten feet wide, and thirty feet deep, there is room enough that a large car, let alone a small human, could easily plunge into it. Which has almost happened to me during rainy season, when torrential downpours turn streets into rivers you can´t see your feet through.

It´s hard to describe the choking odor of gathered garbage, but I´ve encountered it plenty of times in Nicaragua, and this was one of those times. Thousands of styrofoam plates, chip bags, straws, chicken bones, and soiled toilet paper floated threateningly to sea. Very slowly, like they were enjoying themselves with sneers on their greasy faces.

Managua is a big city that thrives on consumption, but it isn´t like major US cities, which hide the scars of wasteful living behind investment. That is, the reason we can afford to live the way we do, with televisions, and cars (I will never forget the embarassing moment when I told my best friend here that my family owns three cars), and plastic, and microwaves, is that we have money to not suffer the effects of them.

The majority of Nicaraguans can´t afford to do that. And since, through JVC, I´m trying to live more in tune with the majority of Nicaraguans, heck, the majority of humanity, I stood my ground outside that sewer and let it choke me for a minute.

I thought twice. I recalled that the past three days I had purchased a delicious kalala or piña or tiste fresco (Nica fruit and drinks) in a plastic bag with a plastic straw. Three bags and three straws in three days. How much will I contribute to that plastic river in a week? In a year? How much do people who live like me contribute in a year? I shuddered at the thought. But was glad for it, the second thought.

December is the craziest month for JVs in Nicaragua. The second-years leave with tears and gratitude, newbies arrive with energy and anxiety, families fly in with dumbstruck faces and suitcases packed with cookies, peanut butter, and new underwear, and I go to stay with the JVs in Belize for a week. I left the JV house today after a delicious banana-oatmeal smoothie, flying through my to-do list of people to visit, dishes to bake, emails to send, questions to ask.

Then I passed a young man rummaging through a trash river on its way to another sewer, looking for something to sell to a recycling stand so he could buy a meal. I doubt he´ll get dinner. Slow down, H, I told myself, and think twice.

That´s what I hope to do this Christmas.

Help us meet a Christmas challenge

JVC needs you this Christmas!

We've been presented with a generous challenge. If we can raise $250,000 by January 31, a anonymous donor will contribute an extra $50,000 to JVC. That's $300,000 to support JVC, Jesuit Volunteers, and their work for peace and justice around the world.

You know the impact of JVC. If you're an FJV, you know the transformative experience of giving of your whole self. If you're a friend or family member, you've heard inspiring stories and seen the change in your JV. If you've hired a JV at your placement site, you know their dedication.

Help us continue to do great work. By becoming a donor, you are doing your part to ensure that JVC can continue to provide opportunities for women and men to be transformed as they work for justice in the U.S. and around the world.

Every gift brings us closer to the goal. Visit www.jesuitvolunteers.org/christmaschallenge to make your contribution today.

JVC on the Today Show?

Many folks show up with signs, but not everyone gets camera time during outdoor segments of the Today Show. The Bridgeport Jesuit Volunteers were just that lucky when they visited on Black Friday.

Their sign promoted JVC to a national audience. Did you see them?  

Thanks, ladies, for sharing the love!