NEAREST NEIGHBOURS
One day a man came to Mother Teresa's house
to inform her that a poor Hindu family with several children was starving for
several days. She immediately visited the family, carrying in her hands a bag
of rice for the family. The mother of the family thankfully received the bag of
rice. She then divided it into two halves and went out with one half of the rice.
When she returned, Mother Teresa asked her
where she had gone. The woman replied that she went to give a share of the rice to a neighbouring Muslim family which
was in a similar state of poverty and starvation. Mother Teresa was touched by
the love and compassion of the poor lady which made her share her meagre assets
with her starving neighbours. She was happy to see them enjoy the joy of
sharing.
Albert Schweitzer
thought and wrote about the "fellowship
of those who bear the mark of pain." Those outside this fellowship
usually have great difficulty in understanding what lies behind the pain.
The early
Christian communities displayed three major qualities: Daring, Caring and Sharing. They had the courage
to practise what they preached and believed, even facing adverse conditions and
persecutions. They showed care and kindness to each other, especially to the
weak, the sick and the poor.
We should be ready to share our possessions with those in
greater need. Sir Winston Churchill said, "We make a living by what we
get, but we make a life by what we give."
"The group of believers was one in
mind and heart. No one said that any of his belongings was his own, but they
all shared with one another, everything they had...There was no one in the
group who was in need" {Acts 4:
32-34}.
In his Epistle, St. John
wrote, "My children, our love
should not be just words and talk; it must be true love, which shows itself in
action" {1 John 3: 18}. "God is love and whoever lives in love lives in union with God and
God lives in union with him" {1 John 4: 16}.
Worried
over the lack of love among some Corinthians, St. Paul wrote to them his famous
words of wisdom about real love, "I may be able to speak the
languages of men and even of angels, but if I have no love, my speech is no
more than a noisy gong or a clanging bell..." {1Corinthians 13:
1-13}.
Love is the language that Jesus taught his disciples as the universal medium
for evangelisation. Love can be heard by the deaf, seen by the blind and felt
even by the new-born and the mentally retarded.
We
may give without loving; but we cannot love without giving. Love is giving all
we can. Love is like a smile - neither has any value unless given away. Karl
Menninger said, "Love cures people
- both the ones who give it and the ones who receive it." Mother
Teresa said, "It is not how much
you do, but how much love you put into what you do that counts."
THE
REALITY ABOUT CHRISTIANITY
"JESUS HAD NO ‘CROWN’ OR ‘THRONE’;
HE WAS GIVEN A ‘CROWN OF THORN’.
BY HIS LIFE HE SHOWED HIS LOVE;
EARLY CHRISTIANS SHARED THIS LOVE.
THEY PRACTISED WHAT THEY BELIEVED;
GLADLY SHARING ALL THEY HAD.
BY SERVICE AND SACRIFICE
THEY COULD BUILD A WORLD OF PEACE."
-Prof. Dr. Babu Philip
.................................................................................................................
© By: Prof.
Dr. Babu Philip, Professor, Cochin University of Science &
Technology, Fine Arts Avenue, Kochi-682016, Kerala, India, Prof. Mrs. Rajamma Babu, Former Professor, St. Dominic's
College, Kanjirappally, Leo. S. John, St. Antony's Public
School, Anakkal, Kanjirappally and Neil
John, Maniparambil, Ooriyakunnath, Kunnumbhagom, Kanjirappally,
Kottayam-686507, Kerala, India.
For more moral stories, parables and
anecdotes for students, catechists, teachers and preachers, kindly visit
our web-sites:
This is Story No. 267 in the second site. Please
click ‘Older Posts’ at the bottom of
a page to read previous stories and click 'Newer Posts' at the bottom of a page to read newer stories in
these sites. Please click on a word in the 'Story Themes' to read stories on that theme.
No comments:
Post a Comment