NUMBER FOURTEEN
There are good people who have seen the work we do. With all sincerity they have decided to work with us without necessarily professing the vows of Chastity, Obedience and Poverty. They want to share in our chrism their life with those of whom we dedicated our lives for, the mentally sick, Deaf and dumb, youths, the old… Their desire to bear witness to God’s love among the poor is a gift from God and as such must be respected and they must be helped to understand that their sentiments are not purely human but that God has spoken to them through the events in their lives. They are not us but they are certainly part of us.
NUMBER FIFTEEN
Belief in the resurrection of every man is the underlying concept of every brother of charity. When we meet people stereotyped by society and condemned to an inhuman life, we have to challenge this injustice by accepting these people in charity and give them a pleasant life. Since every human being whether lame or not, sick or not sick we are of the same origin, we have nothing to fear but can count on the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nothing whatsoever shall stop a brother of charity from responding to misery. We struggle together with those who struggle with life and give meaning to their lives by uniting their suffering with the passion of Christ but most of all to lift out from where life and circumstances have put. To set the captives free is not to leave them in prison or sit with them in prison. Our Messiah suffered but he triumphed over suffering and this is an aspect we sometimes forget to emphasise. Jesus Christ did not remain in suffering he endured it but he also fought it and won the fight when he resurrected. With the grace of God we get the courage to carry the sufferings of the people of God and offer them to our triumphant messiah. These are not issues to understand with a purely human mind.
SIXTEEN
By serving the most unfortunate, those who are without hope we get closer and closer to the Kingdom of Heaven. Even though some people are not like the majority of the population i.e. mentally, physically, socially, economically they still have a call to live; they can contribute to the world. They have something to teach the world. They can only become a burden if we don’t accept and love them. But once we do accept them and dare to begin loving them, then we can realize how much life is in them. There are things they can not do but there are many other things they can do that some of us can not; this we some of us have witnessed.
The kingdom of God is found in the situations of our lives, in the people we meet on the streets and those we live with especially in those whose names and faces have been forgotten because they can not talk, see, walk or do not think the way we want them to think. The kingdom is in the here and now…
SEVENTEEN
In my struggle to share I human existence I realise that I can not do everything there is to do in this world. There are things which I can not do but which can be done by others. I do not have the monopoly of ideas and neither are others. We are a necessary part of each other. When I am faced with a challenge, I can decide to face it and try to solve it or I can simply run away from it. The easiest of course is to run away but as a brother of charity I am compelled to face the challenges and this in an amicable and charitable way. This must always be for the good of humanity and in accordance with the message of the Bible, in the chrism of the congregation and though the congregation. It is only when one begins to obey that he can say he is free.
EIGHTEEN
To say yes to life is to be able to live our life in joy and in sorrow and always optimistic. Moments of despair makes us even stronger in faith. The ups and downs of life are not supposed to lead us into the abyss of self pity instead they must always give us a glimpse of the eternal bliss we are all looking for.
Life is a free gift from the creator; we are to live it freely as it has been given. “You received without paying, give without charge.” There is nothing on earth which has a value which is more than human life, therefore, the primary obligation is to respect and preserve human life no matter how disfigured. This is obeying God, a life of charity not in words. One must be able to let go of his best things and hobbies like our drinking wine in our rooms, gossip, personal computers, refrigerators in our rooms, posts as directors, regional superior, and car mention but a few in preference for human life.
If clinging to these things and habits results in the termination or at least stops one from serving and saving human life then it is only proper to prefer human life to them.
NINETEEN
Since Christ is the visible image of the invisible God, we can say in Christ we find the fullness of God himself. Christ said it simple that “He who has seen me has seen my Father and he who obeys my commands, obeys the one who sent me.”
It is clear that he is a manifestation of God and he is God indeed. His words were always followed with action. What he preached, he lived and what he lived, he preached. In the eyes of Christ people had the same dignity and a right to exist that is why we find him healing the sick, breading the barriers that were built between the poor and the rich, the sinners and those who canonized themselves as living saints the sin into which most of us fall.
What was for Caesar he gave to Caesar and what belonged to God, he gave back to God. Life is of God, therefore, it has to be cared for, served and saved. This is exactly what we see Jesus doing and we can say this is the will of the Father. We do not see Jesus going round telling people how nice and saintly his acts are on the contrary its people who proclaim the good news of Jesus.
For the love of humanity Jesus accepted to carry the bundle of all our iniquities. Who can understand this foolishness? Not with our human mind only.
God has remained faithful even when he was scourged, insulted, belittled; Jesus could only say I love you. He could have avoided this incidence but he proves to us that true liberty sometimes entails shouldering painful responsibilities for the sake of the neighbour.
TWENTY
When we work for the salvation of souls, then it is right to say we are working and doing God’s will. But it is not just doing God’s will; we are doing God’s will within a structured organisation called the church but also with a group of people of God. We are determined to respond to the needs of the people of God and the global village at large.
Through pastoral care those entrusted to us shall be a priority. We are to surround them with nothing but love, limitless loves especially their souls. Why their sours? Because we do not like and love them because they are handsome or beautiful further, we do not hate them because they are ugly, or because they have a human soul. This therefore becomes our reasons for our acts and our motivation.
We can succeed in doing this only when we do this as a community; remain docile to the message of the one we claim to be following and the paraclate. The message of Christ can be in what my confrere is saying. It can also be in what we decide as a community or what the community decides without me. This entails that one must be able to express oneself but most of all, listen actively.
TWENTYONE
Failing to obey or refusing to obey the superior is an insult not only to the community and the congregation as a whole, but also to oneself. Since superiors are entrusted with the responsibilities of safeguarding the values of the community, when we refuse to obey them we refuse to do what the community values most, that which brought one the same community. Laughing at what one believes in is not only an insult to self but also a sign that one does not know what he is doing. Superiors are representatives of the community and above this of God. In obeying them one obeys the community to which he belongs which means he obeys himself at the same time and he obeys God. This is said notwithstanding the weaknesses of our being human. It means there are moments when the superior may be wrong question is how do we correct them? Not easy a task.
TWENTYTWO
One can obey only if he has trust in his superiors and other brothers. This trust is matured trust which entails that one will be able to shoulder the responsibilities of his daily life. Such responsibility asks of one a creative mind, true care, and a presence which is not static but always bringing fresh air in the community. This dynamism entails a watchful eye, always on guard on the challenges of our global village and the needs of the people of God together with our brothers in faith.
In giving ourselves to the world we in turn give the world to God. This makes our gift a perfect sacrifice. In giving our lives to the service of the world, we imitate the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ who gave his life to save the whole human race.
TWENTYTHREE
The good news is full of images of charity. Love for the neighbour seems to be a theme that is repeated time and again. Adherence to the message of love especially of those who are not able to cope up with the challenges of life, economically, physically, psychologically, socially, intellectually and otherwise entails that we have chosen for God. When we choose to remain with such then we have chosen the Lord, and we struggle to re-live what Christ told us to do and showed us by his way of life. Christ ate with tax collectors, prostitutes, Jews just to mention but a few, society did not expect him to be found with such people but he sat and talked with them anyway. Where he was not expected to be found there he went.
Pharisees did not understand him; sometimes even his own disciples found it hard to accept his ways but for Jesus service and charity were stronger than seeking understanding. This is what we commit ourselves to, serving the ‘poor of Yahweh’ especially where all hope has been lost. We shall face a lot of oppositions but does it matter? ‘The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing I shall fear.’
TWENTYFOUR
Jesus Christ was preoccupied by nothing else than to do the will of the Father. Each and every act that he did was for the glory of God. He found his liberty in doing/obeying the will of the Father. As long as he was able to do the will of the Father, he remained a happy man. Is this not the true liberty we are all seeking?
Only those who are able to obey are truly free.
Since we are the plenipotentiaries of God, like Jesus we must be preoccupied with one thing, to do the will of the Father. Through our superiors the will of the father is expressed. Therefore, when we obey, we are working in solidarity with the risen Lord. Through obedience the spirit takes over and frees us from our pride. We realize that we do not exist for ourselves. We do not come from ourselves and are not going to ourselves. We belong to God and are going to Him through the service of our neighbour.
It’s only when we are able to take the responsibilities set before us that we can dare to utter that we are the envoys of Christ. Our liberty must lead us to a truly happy life. If we are not able to take up our responsibilities, then we shall never be happy.
TWENTYFIVE
He who has God has all. We realize that we have natural abilities in us. When we look around us we see that we have people who can not see, others can not speak, and another group can not think the way we do. They are very slow; still others have no legs, hands etc. Then we realise that we have received much indeed. Sometimes we wonder why we gave been so blessed with all the gifts that others do not have. The have not been given to us for nothing. We have to go and use them. Those who have not hands find help in those who have them; we have to give them a hand. We become eyes, legs, mouth of all those who do not have them.
Those who have been blessed with a rich personality can only build and perfect it through service. Not just any kind of service but always service in charity. In so doing we become fruitful in the world. No one can steal charity from me if I have it its mine and can only share it. No thief can steal my generosity or my virtues. No thief can steal the poor from me and the love that I give them. Since I posses no material things (only what I need) then I can say I posses everything.
The Previous Part I: No. 1-13:
http://brothersofcharity.blogspot.com/2009/04/charting-with-constitutions-of-brothers.html
Peace & Love
Bro. Constantino Kaunda FC
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