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August 15
Frederick Buechner and Catherine Doherty
David Barnhart
August 15, 2025
Birmingham from Red Mountain, 2016. Own photo.
Frederick Buechner died August 15, 2022. We remembered his birthday on July 11.
Today marks the birthday, in 1896, of Catherine Doherty. She was born in Russia but emigrated to Canada, where a spiritual vision moved her to live in community with the poor. She founded two communities called “Friendship House,” in Toronto and Harlem, before finally founding Madonna House in Ontario. She wrote prolifically and talked about the church “breathing with two lungs,” its Eastern and Western traditions.
Reflection:
Catherine Doherty proclaimed what she called “The Little Mandate,” God’s mission for her which was revealed over many years:
Arise, go! Sell all you possess. Give it directly, personally to the poor. Take up My cross (their cross) and follow Me, going to the poor, being poor, being one with them, one with Me.
Little, be always little, simple, poor, childlike.
Preach the Gospel with your life, without compromise. Listen to the Spirit; He will lead you.
Do little things exceedingly well for love of Me.
Love, love, love, never counting the cost.
Go into the market place and stay with Me. Pray, fast. Pray always: fast.
Be hidden. Be a light to your neighbor's feet. Go without fears into the depth of men's hearts. I shall be with you.
Pray always. I will be your rest.
Frederick Buechner wrote this about money:
“…If the government declared that the leaves of the trees were money so there would be enough for everybody, money would be worthless. It has worth only if there is not enough for everybody. It has worth only because the government declares that it has worth and because people trust the government in that one particular although in every other particular they wouldn't trust it around the corner.
…There are people who use up their entire lives making money so they can enjoy the lives they have entirely used up.
Jesus says that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Maybe the reason is not that the rich are so wicked they're kept out of the place, but that they're so out of touch with reality they can't see it's a place worth getting into.”
Prayer: God, keep us focused on what is truly important. Amen.