No one left behind

IN any group that we may belong to, be it a family, a

neighborhood, a class, an office, etc., we should have that concern

for one another such that we form one organic whole whose parts or

members know what to do and help each other for the good of all. In

other words, that no one should be ostracized or left behind in spite

of our differences and conflicts, and even the mistakes and sins we

may commit against one another.

            This, I believe, is the social aspect of charity which

should not be lived only on a one-to-one basis but also on the level

of any given human aggrupation. Of course, our capacity to live

charity in the social dimension would depend also on how we live

charity on the personal and individual level. We just have to make

sure that our person-to-person charity is not stuck there. It has to

expand and cover everyone in any group.

            Underlining this point is this beautiful story of the 40

holy martyrs of Sebaste (in present-time Turkey) way back in the 4th

century. They were soldiers who believed in Christ, and their superior

wanted them to renounce their faith.

            To make the story short, they refused to renounce their

faith and preferred to suffer martyrdom. When all 40 of them were

exposed to the cold to die, they agreed they die together. “God so

ordained that we made friends with each other in this temporary life,”

one of them said, “let us try not to separate even in eternity…”

            As the story unfolded, one of them actually left the

group, but the soldier who was assigned to watch over them, suddenly

converted and made himself a substitute to the one who left. In the

end, it was still 40 of them who died for the faith.

            This should be the spirit we ought to have in any social

unit we may be in. To care for one another should be something

instinctive. To feel an organic part of the group both in good times

and in bad should be strengthened.

            When we happen to have some personal needs and

predicaments, we should not be afraid or ashamed to let the others

know. And the others should try not to hesitate to complicate their

lives just to help the ones in some need.

            This point is highlighted, for example, in the gospel when

Christ told the story of a man who bothered his friend and store owner

in the middle of the night to give him bread because an unexpected

visitor just arrived and the man had nothing to offer the visitor.

(cfr. Lk 11,5-13)

            We should not be afraid and ashamed to let our friends

know about our predicaments. Christ gave this reassurance for that

kind of attitude: “Ask  and you will receive; seek and you will find;

knock and the door will be opened to you.” (Lk 11,9) And if we are the

ones asked for favors from our friends, we should try to give in

always, even willing to complicate our lives for our friends.

            In the school where I work, I always encourage the

students to have a good class spirit where everyone should be

concerned about everybody else. As one liturgical prayer would put it:

“Stand fast in a common unity of spirit, with the faith for your

common cause. Each of you must study the welfare of others not his

own.”

            This should be the proper spirit. And so I tell those

students who are more gifted than the others to share what they know

and have with those who are less gifted. And to those who are less

gifted, I tell them not to be afraid to approach their classmates for

some help, be it about the subjects or about other things.