Foundations of the Future

 

This society is getting old. It is a sociological observation. Now, the fact that there are increasingly older people could be something very positive. It means that life expectancy, and a quality life, is getting longer thanks to advances in medicine. The serious thing about aging would be that it lead to hopelessness, isolation, loneliness; it would be equally serious if care did not reach everyone, or if it were conditioned by the economic situation, because this would be a sign of a wealthy society, in which many human beings are often forgotten, isolated, and despised.

Among the elderly, as occurs in all social groups, there are some who are more integrated, or have a higher economic or cultural level. But, in one way or another, everyone has a richer experience and memories than those of the young. Sometimes they have lost some vitality. It would seem that the elderly, from the outset, should have more dissatisfactions than the young. It's not really like that. Satisfaction does not depend on age, but on how life is lived, on the loves that are preserved, on the look with which we address others, on the inner wealth that one has and, for the believer, on his degree of encounter with God. Of course, each stage of life has its own needs. And it is possible that, in relation to the so-called Third Age, It is true that the ability to be heard is not precisely proportional to the needs that one has. Hence the importance of discovering under many silences the cries that cannot be heard.

A stranger on the Road

 

The parable of the merciful Samaritan. I offer a synthesis of the Pope's commentary on this parable in his encyclical Fratelli tutti, putting in parentheses the numbers of the encyclical to which I refer.

Francis poses a question that challenges us directly: with which of the characters in the parable do you identify, with the robbers, with the religious people, who ignored the wounded man and passed by, or with the one who, without knowing him, considered him worth spending your time? (64).

I underline some teachings of the parable directly related to fraternity and social friendship. First, in a world of wounded and people excluded or left by the wayside for economic, political, social and religious reasons, there are only two possible options, two types of people, regardless of position or disguise. With which they dress, namely: take care of the wounded or pass by (67 and 70). Those who pass by are accomplices of the robbers. So that in moments of crisis "everyone who is not a robber or everyone who does not pass by, is either wounded or is placing someone wounded on his men" (70).

Second, we can all do something. “We do not have to expect everything from those who govern us” (77), nor let ourselves be discouraged by their ineffectiveness or corruption, or by institutions “directed at the service of the interests of a few”. If "others think about politics or the economy for their power games", people of good will are called to feed what is good and put ourselves at the service of good (77).

We are called to forget about localisms and particularisms, to transcend historical and cultural prejudices (83), called to expand our circles of belonging (81 and 83), so that our vocation as "citizens of the whole world" (66) and, like the Samaritan, to become close to the stranger (80). “But let's not do it alone, individually. The Samaritan searched for a host who could take care of that man, as we are invited to summon and find ourselves in a 'we', which is stronger than the sum of small individualities” (78).

Finally, I highlight a “warning” raised by those religious people who pass by the wounded: “the fact of believing in God and worshiping him does not guarantee living as God pleases. A person of faith may not be faithful to everything that same faith demands of him, and yet he may feel close to God and believe he has more dignity than others” (74). The notice continues, from another perspective, after lamenting that it took the Church so long to condemn slavery and various forms of violence: "there are still those who seem to feel encouraged or at least authorized by their faith to support various forms of closed nationalism and violent, xenophobic attitudes, contempt and even mistreatment towards those who are different” (86).