One of the great Catholic thinkers of our times, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, wrote in his book “Darkness and Light: The tragedy of faith” that excessive evil and injustice are in contrast to excessive love and transcendence in the world. Martini, through the Gospel of John, portrayed these two excesses of evil and love through several characters in the Gospel like Judas Iscariot, Pilate, the High Priests, the soldiers, Peter, the disciple that Jesus loved and the other disciples, the women who stayed and stood with Jesus in His Passion and Death, especially Mary Magdalene. If we imagine our world today, we can truly affirm the existence of excessive evil, injustice, and suffering. Just think of what is happening because of this pandemic: loved ones, close friends, are getting sick and are dying. Death is so close to us. The massacre in Myanmar, the fall of Kabul, wars in Ethiopia, typhoons and hurricanes in the Pacific and the Atlantic, and we can go on with our list, not to mention our current national situation. But Martini also wrote that, in contrast, there is also excessive love, transcendence, that of going beyond selfishness. These realities, we see right before our eyes, and some of us even had our share of excessive love in the community pantries, collective and individual initiatives to help one another, and most especially, our social and healthcare workers – an excessive love and transcendence mostly carried out in the “heroism of daily and ordinary life.”
First and foremost, this excessive love was not only demonstrated by the penitent woman who poured expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet, washing them with her hair, or Mary Magdalene going to the tomb so early that Easter dawn. Above all, it was God himself in Jesus who manifested this kind of love, when He died for us to the point of abandonment and death.
The Church is called to be the instrument that shares this excessive love of God with humanity. Two important words characterize what the Holy Spirit, through the Pope and the whole Church, would like us to live: accompaniment and synodality or “walking together” in holiness, in other words, being companions on a holy journey. As we think of these two words, let us remember, most of all, that before being an “accompagnatore,” one who accompanies others in the Holy Journey, we ourselves have been accompanied first by Jesus Himself who promised to be always in our midst. He was the one who came to be one of us by his incarnation, his passion and death. On the road to Emmaus, Jesus, though unrecognized, walked with two downtrodden and discouraged disciples and, later, appeared to them, confirming that He was with them, making their hearts burn again with hope.
Perhaps, we can help keep alive His presence in our midst, if, like him, we take the first step in offering help, caring for others in concrete acts of solidarity with suffering humanity by sharing our material goods, lending a listening ear, or just being a loving presence to persons who need it most.
As the Church ushers in the Synod on Synodality that starts this October, we offer our contributions to our local communities and families. Let’s attend to the needs of the poor, listen to the aspirations of our young people, and heal the wounds of creation in the most creative ways, making use of our God-given talents and gifts. By being at the forefront in caring for others and creation, we can help fulfill what St. John wrote in the book of Revelation: “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his people” (Rev 21:3).
