Posted On 2015-06-16 In Something to think about

Care

By Fr. Guillermo Carmona, National Director of Schoenstatt in Argentina •

To go out to encounter not only presupposes “closeness,” but also “care” for the other person.

To care for someone is to have concern for, to take interest in, to anticipate dangers, and to accompany the person in their adventure toward freedom; it is the strength to develop his best talents and to fulfill his vocation.

Against the globalization of indifference

It is the opposite of indifference, to the “globalization of indifference” that was mentioned by Pope Francis. His gestures are impressive: in Lampedusa, depositing a crown of flowers in memory of the victims in the sea; inviting the homeless to breakfast on his birthday; asking for showers to be installed and hiring barbers for the homeless at St. Peter’s. When he received 150 homeless, he shook the hands of each one of them while he told them: “Welcome. This is the home for everyone; it is your home. The doors are always open to everyone.”

Indifference is an affective anesthesia; it is coldness: the opposite of love is not hate but indifference. Anonymity is dead, Simone de Beauvoir would say: “Kill it with indifference.” The indifferent person remains on the margin and is insensitive and cold: “nothing is important to me,” “it makes no difference to me.” Indifference is cold like bile, it armor-plates the I, it encloses it, it isolates it and makes it aggressive, while the other person thinks: “I am so little, I am worth so little, that no one remembers me.”

It can have multiple causes and have to do with egotism: to look a great deal at one’s self and to seldom look at others. Life’s disappointments or wounds of the past also influence. So much negative news cauterizes the soul and tricks it: “I am sorry, I cannot do anything, it is beyond me, I cannot intervene…” “There is no question more demanding,” recalled the Pope, than Yahweh’s to Cain: “Where is your brother?” And there is no response more tragic than his: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4: 9-10)

We cannot force anyone to worry about others, but we can motivate him to come out of the “thermos” and abandon his shell. It helps to think about the people who are worried about us, visualize faces and recall names of those who took risks for me in my life. The washing of the feet is Jesus’ most convincing expression, taking care of his apostles.

Against the “what do I care?”

To care for others is knowing that “If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; and if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy,”(NABRE1 Cor. 12:26). This is also valid for the family, the Schoenstatt Movement, the Branch, the Church and also school, work and study. We have to begin by knowing ourselves: “Who are you?” can detonate dialogue and communication. In this way, we can know what is hurting our brother and how we can be helpful.

We take care of one another through concrete gestures: “deeds with love and not with good reasons.” Good deeds only count when they are fulfilled; like “Good morning” said with love; or to help in a shared organization and visit someone who is alone and sad. To care for someone is not to be over them, wanting to be controlling and demanding, but respecting them in love.

Also it is good to not only care for people, but to also care for our surroundings and environment. The attitude of “what do I care” causes us to cut off a branch, a sprout, a flower and to litter the streets. To care is to believe that God gave us the world to make of it a paradise. Ecology is not the property of the green teams but of all good Christians.

The Gospel of Mathew speaks of caring in relationship to the final judgment: “…Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ (Matt. 25: 34-46). It is worthwhile: the reward is infinite. Thus we will create islands of mercy, as the Pope suggested, amidst the ocean of so much indifference.

On this Covenant day, we ask Blessed Mother that she, who cared for Jesus and taught him to speak and to walk, show us how to go out and care for those who walk along beside us. It encourages us to know that life is a mirror; if today we care for our neighbor, Blessed Mother will continue blessing us. Since as we know, she never allows herself to be outdone in generosity. This is also a motivation to generate in Schoenstatt’s archipelagos of brothers and sisters who meet.

Original: Spanish. Translation: Carlos Cantú, Schoenstatt Family Federation, La Feria, Texas USA

 

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