This past weekend I saw the film Outcasts, which depicts the work of the Franciscan Friars of the
Renewal as they accompany and minister to people who live in poor communities
throughout the world. Two friars who appeared in the film were present for a
question and answer session, and in response to the question, “What can we do
if we are not called to live among the poor as you do?” one friar replied, “The
word that comes to mind is reverence.
We must have a sense of reverence for each person we encounter in our daily
lives.”
This statement made me think of a video that Sr. Esther
Fangman included in a presentation on prejudice at the most recent Senate
meeting at the Mount. A white woman, apparently angry that she was standing in
line behind a woman of color at a customer service counter, began spewing a
loud tirade of hate and bigotry. No one standing nearby attempted to interrupt
the tirade or moved to support the verbally abused woman in any way. However, if
we have reverence for all people, we are called to intervene in such situations—for
example, by moving to the side of a person who is being bullied as a sign of
support.
As Clarissa Pinkola Estes has noted, “Ours is not the task
of fixing the entire world all at once, but of stretching out to mend the part
of the world that is within our reach. Any
small, calm thing that one soul can do to help another soul, to assist some
portion of this poor suffering world, will help immensely.” The needs of the suffering
people of the world can feel overwhelming, but we are not asked to address
these needs by ourselves. One of the beauties of being part of the body of
Christ is that, when we each work to mend the part of the world within our
reach, the world is knitted together in a web of healing and of peace.
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