Am I my brother's keeper?

Am I my brother's keeper?

The answer is "yes."

I recently bought a new book, Pope Francis' autobiography entitled HOPE.  It's very early in the book for now, but something caught my eye last night while I was reading.  The Pope, in his first chapter, was talking about the events of days when his grandparents left Italy and went to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  Before his grandparents were able to board one ship for which they had a ticket, they could not sell everything they had by the time the ship left.  That ship met practically the same fate as Titanic (no icebergs, went to the bottom of the ocean).  Its passengers were lost.  "Why them and not me?"  That question pervades his soul even to the time this book was written.  So many of us would say "Don't dwell on the past and what could have happened.  Just be grateful you are here today."  And he tells us just how grateful he is.  However, something was awakened in him -- if I hear of people in need like the many people who MADE it to Buenos Aires, then I should go to help.  He says it makes him think of God's response to Cain after his slaying of Abel "What have you done?  Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground."

My friends, that is the case all over the world.  We ARE our brother's keeper.  Our whole existence is supposed to be revolving around the needs of others, whether that is in our neighborhood, state, country, or globally.  Think about it.

Many celebrities in the 1970s and 80s did television commercials asking for viewers to donate money to various charitable foundations that would make major efforts to send food and/or medical supplies to parts of the world where people young and old were impoverished to the point of death.  Not all of those people were able to be saved from death, yet the point is that we as human beings who are blessed to live in a part of the world that has plenty can and ought to be able to show care, compassion, mercy, and God's love.  In this way, WE can be signs of hope both individually AND as the Body of Christ.  What was the hook for people to donate?  It was not necessarily the video images of the dying and afraid people; it was the "after" images that would show what could happen if a person donated.

That is what we are all called to in our world by virtue of our baptism.  As I have taught many times, the grace of faith is poured into our souls and instilled in our hearts when the holy waters touch our forehead, but faith is of naught "For if the dead are not raised, neither has Christ been raised, and if Christ has not been raised,* your faith is vain; you are still in your sins." (1 Corinthians 15:16-17)  Therefore, faith is directing us toward the good of the world, toward the needs of others.  In that way we become signs of hope to the world.

Imagine how much more I could think about with 24 more chapters in the book to go!  😃