“Let me give you a new command: Love one another. In the same way I loved you, you love one another. This is how everyone will recognize that you are my disciples—when they see the love you have for each other.”
John 13:34 (The Message)
The students were amazed by the joy we saw when we first visited and lived in a small rural poor community in Honduras! It was obvious that most of the metrics used to assess need would not capture the well being of this community.
More recently, we heard again from Jean Varnier, the 2015 Templeton Prize winner and founder of L’Arche communities of the disabled. His big ideas find their reality in small acts of kindness and communities that value the most rejected.
This last week, we where all amazed by the forgiveness given by the relatives of those murdered at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. What was the origin of these great acts of forgiveness in that community of faith?
The message for me of these examples of “Well Being” starts well before the suffering and pain. It happens in small ways that are practiced over and over again. It becomes a way of being well in a welcoming community. The practice of healing is found in this practice! It requires a focus and faith that is lived everyday. It means that we need to be present with those who suffer even before we try and “do something”. It is for Christians the basis of our healing mission.
Thanks be to God for all who build communities that care for each other and bring “Well Being”.
Marvin
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