I will never forget the smiling expression of a middle-aged Ethiopian after I cleaned some of his wounds when he was on his death bed. It touched me to the core: It was one of deep gratitude, joy and inner freedom as he lay there suffering. His raised finger pointing to the sky showed me where his inner roots stood.
Somehow, though metaphorically speaking the body of this car was in the scrap yard, its internal engine was still going strong and its fuel tank full. Ironically, in stark contrast, we, our capitalist, fragmented society in general, and sometimes the Church itself, seem to be running on reserve tank, and living in the illusion that we don’t have enough fuel.
I will give a few examples to explain what I mean.
In his recent encyclical, Pope Francis challenges our lifestyles as follows: “When people become self-centred and self-enclosed, their greed increases. The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs things to buy, own and consume.”
This attitude is reflected in the proposals to build ever more shopping complexes, petrol stations, hotels, and so forth, on our precious land. Due to Malta’s limited size we can hardly afford realising these proposals without undermining our quality of life.
We remain silent in the face of various social injustices, with the passive, fatalistic attitude ‘mhux li jridu jagħmlu!’ (they always do whatever they want).
We do not recognise and value the gratuity of life when considering the genocide of the unborn.
Yet another example is our fearful attitude towards immigrants, resulting in the building of walls instead of bridges. We forget how this phenomenon can even enrich our own culture.
The challenge is to live with the knowledge that our fuel tank is full; in other words, to live in true hope, and consider that we all have true power.
As Pope Francis emphasises: “No system can completely suppress our openness to what is good, true and beautiful, or our God-given ability to respond to His grace at work deep in our hearts. I appeal to everyone throughout the world not to forget this dignity which is ours.”
No one has ever become poor by giving- Anne Frank
We fall in the same illusory trap even in our relationships. Sometimes we are afraid to give, out of fear of ‘draining ourselves’.
At times we are afraid to forgive because we think we might diminish our self-worth.
Again, these fears are rooted in the powerful illusion that our fuel tank is empty, and that something can drain our dignity.
If we are true to ourselves we will realise that nobody can tarnish our beauty. As Anne Frank put it: “No one has ever become poor by giving”. Rather than living in fear, let us open ourselves to the ‘other’.
As Alan Alda says: when we give, “there’s a better self in us that comes to the surface, gasping for air, glad to be let out”.
We often make the same mistake even as a Catholic community. We seem to forget that Jesus is not simply a great master, and the Church not simply a group with a set of rules. If this was the case, it would be very important to protect our territory, defend our master’s teachings, and make sure we live by the book in our life and celebrations.
But God Himself is the fuel tank, the path of true spiritual and societal transformation. There’s nothing to ‘defend’ but much to ‘share,’ as our fuel tank is eternal; the joy that lies within that takes us through thick and thin.
Whether we choose to believe or not, we should pay attention not to fall into the trap of illusions that lead us to a mediocre way of life, constantly rushing to fill a tank which is already full.
Let us live our life in gratitude and true hope; let us discover the true power that lies within; let us water the seed that helps us realise our full potential.
This is not an optimistic point of view. The scene in Ethiopia that provoked this train of thought is tragic, as are the many attitudes mentioned above and which many a time also entrap me. On the contrary, it is the Good News, which all human beings can tap into, and that we celebrate as a Catholic community on Mission Sunday.
tonimifsud@yahoo.com