2. The “brother belongs to me”

Continuing our study of NMI, we find the expression “The brother belongs to me”.

The brother, the sister belong to me and I am responsible for them.  Every brother and sister

of your large and splendid Congregation or community belongs to you, whether they be European or non-European, young or old, good or mischievous, hardworking or listless…No one can be excluded from our love (stated in n. 49 of NMI) since “through his incarnation the Son of God has united himself in some fashion with every person”.

            All of John Paul II’s teaching helps us understand the mystery of the human person, the way of the Church, and teaches us to make every effort so that the human person always and everywhere be fully appreciated and respected in his dignity. We must respect and value each other, reciprocally, respect and value everyone, regardless of races and languages, beyond every barrier, because (as I stressed) only in that way can we build community, create communion. We must be able to overcome the ethnocentrism that sets up a hierarchy among cultures and break the logic of uniformity, distinguishing between what is essential and what is transient.  (Ecclesiasticus says: “Have you found a wise man? Let your feet wear our his doorstep.”)

            Some time ago I heard the testimony of a young woman, an ex-drug addict, who now lives in the community where she recovered, and is helping others to recover. Of what she said, two statements impressed me: “What kills a community?  Judging.”  Yes, a judgement made because of rivalry, or individualism, or superficiality, or arrogance, or a mania for competition that feeds conflict and spoils communion and peace..

The second statement that I’ll pass on from the conversation of Angela (that’s the name of the young woman I mentioned) has to do with  service,  the pedagogy of service  that we have to render to each other, mutually, but which pertains especially to those called to animate, and which is indispensable for creating community.  This pedagogy seems to me well evidenced in the parable of the prodigal son, narrated by Jesus.

We know the parable (and maybe you heard me cite it other times…) In our days, we, too, live all the stages of service expressed in this parable:  the younger son who serves impatiently, unhappily, in his father’s house; this same son who serves sin and then humiliates himself to serve a boss in a foreign land.  The older son, who serves for self-interest;  the servants who kill the fatted calf and wear festive clothes.  And then, the father (the marvelous figure of the father, whom Rembrandt has represented magnificently with a feminine hand and a masculine hand), the Father, who is truly servant of these sons, a servant for love. To grow in love, to make service an act of love, to nourish communion,  it is necessary “to become the Father,” wrote Henri Nouwen. A father, with a maternal and paternal heart who witnesses, by what he is and does, a great gospel truth:  “You, sister/brother, are important to me.”

The pedagogy of service is also the pedagogy of “taking care” of each other in order to help each other grow and to increase communion  (I care…).  How many aspects are involved in this taking care of each other! I’ll limit myself to giving some examples. (This is not the first time that I suggest them, and some of you know it; but I like to meditate on them again, go more in-depth and communicate them…).

Teresa of Calcutta  who cares for the very poor and the dying (in our Congregations there are those who suffer long and painful illnesses.. which also lead to desperation: they need all our love, all our compassion);  Bridgid of Sweden who cares for unity and peace (how great is the need for unity and peace in our community… That great prophet of our times that the Patriarch Athenagoras was, wrote:  “It is necessary to manage to disarm ourselves.  I fought this war: For years and years. It was terrible. But now, I am disarmed!  I no longer fear anything because love drives out fear.   I am disarmed from the will to have my way, to justify myself at others’ expense. I am no longer on the alert, jealously clinging to my riches. I receive and I share. I do not insist particularly on my ideas, my plans.  If others better are suggested to me, I accept them gladly. Therefore, I am no longer afraid. When one no longer possesses anything, one is no longer afraid. “Who will separate us from the love of Christ?”  But if we disarm, if we divest ourselves, if we open ourselves to the God-man who makes all things new, then it will be he who will wipe out the wicked past and restore to us a new time where everything is possible); Monica who cares for the great rebel Augustine (“Young Europeans” – we  read in the final document of the Congress on vocations to priesthood and consecrated life in Europe -  “live in …a pluralistic and ambivalent culture, “polytheist” and neutral. On the one hand they passionately seek authenticity, affection, personal relationships, greatness in horizons; on the other hand they are fundamentally alone, “wounded” by affluence, disillusioned by ideologies, and confused by ethical disorientation.” We wonder: “how much the young men and women in our congregations reflect these affirmations?”) Gianna Beretta Molla who cares for life;  Theresa of the Child Jesus who cares for love;  Edith Stein who takes care of truth;  Catherine of Siena who cares for authority… These are the colors of the rainbow of love, which can be increased immeasurably!!! The testimony of these holy women confirms us in our responsibility to cultivate in us and in our sisters and brothers this attitude of “taking care of” which makes community life beautify, confirms us in the certainty that “Communion must be cultivated and extended day by day” (n. 45), that today in this our chaotic and complex time there is much room for the “creativity of charity” (n. 50), and that we cannot build anything new if we are not animated by the passion of charity/love.