I like “Impegno” (Diligence)
What language do missionaries “speak”? Theirs is an alphabet of mercy, with letters that breathe life back into words and generate works
Warning: this alphabet follows Italian words, but we urge readers to consider the concept rather than the consonant or vowel with which they begin
Each of us in our lives has received special gifts, which are not just for ourselves, but to be shared with others. Which ones? Perhaps one should stop for a while, close one’s eyes and reflect. Then take a pen and paper and start making a list.
If we have thought hard about it, we will see that we will find enough.
A short list:
- knowing how to make sad people smile
- sing, play music
- inventing useful things for everyone cooking,
- doing small jobs that require imagination
- and so on and so forth.
But there are also others that could be summed up in one: sharing one’s time.
I, who am part of this earth, of humankind, am not just a spectator, a fan, but one who enters the field
and who plays his game until the end of his own life.
Therefore, it was natural for us to ask our brothers and sisters in Africa to see how they could put at least one hour of their own week at the disposal
to others. And it’s not like they had nothing to do!
Between work, which started early in the morning (around 5 a.m.), commitments at school, at home…they were never lacking. Slowly, though, they realized that we do not exist alone, but live together with others.
So what? The answer came in the weekly meeting they had after returning from work. After praying and listening to the Word of God, they would ask each other how to put it into practice. And each person would tell what he had seen around him.
Someone would talk about a lonely sick person, an elderly person, someone who could no longer make it to the fields, someone who needed money to take care of himself, someone who had been put in prison unjustly, and so too about the needs of the parish, especially on holidays.
Then each person would say what he was willing to do, we would share the work, and at the next meeting each person would say how he had managed to live out his love concretely.
It sounds easy…so why do we here struggle to do it, always delegating to others, when we can do it ourselves?
Maybe we don’t feel part of the parish community, the civil community?
Of course, it is easier to criticize. Why don’t we put our faces to it? There is more joy in giving than in receiving, someone said.
So let’s try, and in the end, we will surely be happy. When we leave the house in the morning, can we say a “good morning, how are you, do you need anything?” to the person who lives next to us?
Of course it is not part of our close kinship, but of the extended kinship, that is, we are all people of this world, even if we are of different color, language, nationality.
Have I ever tried to go and visit some person, either personally, or with children or grandchildren, by someone who lives near us and share with that
person some of my time?
This helps me feel better, fills my day and is a concrete and simple education for those who are beginning their journey in life.
I always remember, in Africa, visiting an elderly person. She let me into her home, sat me down on a chair, offered me boiled peanuts (so good!) and had her grandson buy a drink for me. Then we started chatting together.
After a while (maybe 30 minutes), I told her I had to go see some other people. Then she stood up and started shaking my hand and filling me with THANKS.
I didn’t know what to say anymore. I realized that I must be the one saying THANK YOU, because she had welcomed me into her humble home.
But she said THANK YOU, because I noticed her. And that night I fell asleep happy!
Source
- Father Oliviero Ferro
Image
- Image digitally created by spazio + spadoni