“What time is it on the clock of the world?” – Grace Lee Boggs
Awakening to a longing for change
By Rob Stewart
Over my thirty years in our family’s school uniform business, I wore many hats, including as the employer, supervisor and mentor for many young men and women. We offered work opportunities to school and university aged students to assist over the peak back to school period. We ran a Gap Year Program from students interested in a year of full time work, or work and travel, between finishing school and starting University. Many of these young people worked with us for a number of years. So I had the opportunity to get to know them well.
Over the years, I witnessed a troubling trend: young people struggling to thrive, ensnared by anxiety, loneliness, and depression. I saw this and it broke my heart. It broke my heart that these young people lacked hope. They lacked hope in themselves, in the community around them and in a future they could believe in.
I felt compelled to help. Perhaps because this heartbreak mirrored my own, deeply unhappy, experience of struggle as a young person. How could I help restore hope and joy to their lives? I offered mentorship, some vulnerability, and my time. I found different ways to support them within the limitations of my role as an employer, though often feeling powerless against larger societal issues like social isolation, inequality, and the climate crisis.
Sometimes, it seemed I did really help, but it seemed mysterious how. There were some young people I did connect deeply with. Truly, a source of joy for me but also a challenge and a call to grow. To be an authentic mentor to a young person demands careful discernment and a deep commitment to their flourishing.
I shared these experiences with my spiritual director, and I was asked which scripture resonated with me when reflecting on these experiences. Instinctively, I chose “the feeding of the 5000.” My Spiritual Director invited me to pray with this gospel passage and this prayer led me to unexpected places.
I found myself standing on a grassy hillside by the Lake of Galilee. The sun was shining and the waves were lapping gently on the shore. There was a large crowd seated in groups, on the green grass. A disciple of Jesus passed close to me. He handed me a basket and asked me to help distribute food to the hungry people. I looked into the basket but there was only half a bread roll in the bottom. I didn’t know what to do. So I looked up the hill, and there, sitting on the grass was Jesus. I looked at Him and He smiled at me. His dark eyes sparkled. His smile was… amazing, so full of Love, of Joy and of Life itself. I felt my eyes filling with tears.
Reaching into my pocket. I found a rather battered and grubby crust of bread. I put the crust into the basket. Again I looked up the hill and once again Jesus smiled at me with His joyful, and deeply moving smile.
I looked down and the basket in my hands was now full, no, not full, rather overflowing with loaves, and the scent of freshly baked bread filled the air. Stunned, and with tears in my eyes I walked through the crowd feeding the hungry people.
I have reflected on this prayer vision many times since that day. I feel called and challenged to be hope for others as Jesus is hope for me. God’s gift to me is Jesus, a companion who walks with me always, and shares in and redeems my struggles. I feel deeply comforted that my “battered and grubby crust” can be transformed by the power of Christ who accompanies me. As St Paul writes:
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20, 21
That is why I’m passionate about our work as the Francesco Collaborative. Together, we can move the needle on the crises facing our world. That is why I’m now launching a cooperative focused on household sustainability and energy poverty. I’m striving to be an artisan of hope.
This need for Hope is now greater than ever. Following the recent US elections, many are feeling a loss of Hope, are feeling disoriented, dispirited and weary. In this time of darkness we are called, more than ever, to draw close to one another. We are called to be Artisans of Hope for each other, and for the world.
I can believe this is possible, because I know that Christ accompanies us and is our Hope. We are called to accompany others, whether it be as impact investors, social entrepreneurs or friends. How are you called to be bread broken for others? How are we, as a community called, to accompany others and one another in these times?
How will you be an Artisan of Hope?