Who is my neighbour? That is a question straight from the bible and in today’s confused society can have many interpretations. Is the neighbour someone like me? Is my response coloured by moral judgement, feelings of pity, fear or indifference or by love, the right thing to do?
What is stirring in your heart as you look at the innumerable social needs demanding attention. Yes, the needs can be overwhelming and can shut you down but they can also stir you to action. The choice is personal.
I chose to get involved and started to volunteer one morning a week at St. Joe’s Café, our hospitality centre here in downtown London, where the guests who come each morning for breakfast became familiar and I could put names to faces.
Some of the guests come sick and struggling with addictions or homelessness, poverty, or loneliness, and some come for the social contact and the delicious food. The staff and volunteers welcome each person with dignity, kindness and words of understanding and support. As I sat thinking about my experience at the café, I received a call from a friend, a new Canadian, who was asking for advice on how to help two undocumented coworkers who were let go from their workplace. They contacted her in great need. She said to me,
I love Canada, and I want to pay forward the help I was given when I was lost and needed hope to face the future.
The answer to ‘who is my neighbour’ is revealed each time I step out of my comfort zone to extend kindness, a listening ear, or comfort to a brother or sister in need.
-Sister Ann Marshall, csj