ACCOMPANY IN ORDER TO LIVE
One of the most characteristic aspects of Christian love is to know how to come close to one who could need our presence. That is Mary’s first act after welcoming with faith the mission to be mother of the Savior. She sets out and journeys quickly to be near another woman who needs her help in that moment.
There’s a way of loving that we need to recover in our days, and which consists in «accompanying in order to live» someone who finds themselves sunk into loneliness, blocked by depression, trapped by sickness or simply empty of joy and hope.
We are forming with each other a society made only for the strong, the attractive, the young, the healthy and those who are capable of enjoying and making the most of life. We are thus fostering what is called «social segregation» (Jurgen Moltmann). We gather children into child care centers, we put the sick into clinics and hospitals, we take care of our elderly in nursing homes and assisted living, we lock up delinquents into jails and we put drug addicts under watch…
Thus all is in order. Each one receives there the attention they need, and the rest of us can dedicate ourselves more tranquilly to work and enjoy life without bother. We manage to surround ourselves with people who don’t have any problems that might put our welfare into danger, and we succeed in living «pretty satisfied».
It’s just that this isn’t the way to be able to experience the joy of spreading and giving life. It’s clear that many, although they have reached an elevated level of welfare, have the impression that life is tediously slipping through our fingers.
The one who believes in the incarnation of God who has wanted to share our life and accompany us in our need, feels himmself called to live something different.
It’s not a matter of doing ‘great things’. Perhaps it’s simply to offer our friendship to that neighbor lost in loneliness, come close to that young person who’s suffering from depression, having patience with that senior citizen who’s looking for someone to listen to her, be close to those parents who have their child in jail, bring joy to that child who’s saddened by his parents’ divorce…
This love that brings us to share the burdens and weight that our brother or sister has to bear is a «saving» love, since it frees from loneliness and introduces new hope for someone who’s suffering, since they feel themselves accompanied in their affliction.
José Antonio Pagola
Translator: Fr. Jay VonHandorf
