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Options 19 little things matter
By Clare Burns
WAITING for the 8.18pm bus in the CBD I was reading a nov-
el when “Jack” approached me ask- ing how long until the next bus, “Twenty- ve minutes to go,” I said.
“Ah, right,” he paused, then said, “sometimes it’s so hard to keep on going I feel like ending it (mentioning a suicide method).”
In that moment I had a choice – keep on reading and pretend I hadn’t heard his last com- ment or actively listen.
I choose the latter and words spilled out of Jack’s mouth as if he’d waited a while to tell someone his situation.
Jack is 75 years old, had been a meatworker until retirement and his wife, a woman of
the “highest quality”, had died 15 years ago – “Life had been hard ever since.”
His 45-year-old child is a drug addict and he doesn’t understand it.
“I’ve never taken drugs in my life and I haven’t smoked or drank since I was 30,” he said.
Gently I asked Jack about other things in life, where he met his beloved, did he have any other children.
I was aware I couldn’t solve any of his prob- lems but I could sit with him.
Jack and I found some common ground around music and knee problems, which he referred to as “kneemonia”.
Later in the conversation I told him it hurt my heart hearing he thought of ending his life.
Jack said every day was a struggle but prom- ised he wasn’t going to suicide.
I was happy to hear this, I was also happy to hear Jack say he felt comfortable with me.
The things that made Jack happy now are
a good steak when he could afford it and a good movie on TV, “but not the midday movies, they’re rubbish”.
Prior to chatting to Jack I thought I was en- grossed in my book but this paled when hearing about his ordinary, extraordinary life story.
Mother Teresa’s view: “Each one is Jesus in disguise.”
When I got off
the bus I found myself elated at being trusted with someone’s life story.
son was calling me as I had forgotten I was still wearing my red Rosies shirt.
A young lady whose face looked as though she’d endured some tough circumstances started walking towards me.
I asked if she would like the bag of clothes.
Delighted, she grabbed the bag, while giv- ing me a hug then disappeared again.
I could not have asked for a more perfect way to nish the night.
Later in the week I was sharing the experi- ence with Sr Maeve Heaney, who had just nished a talk on serving the poor.
“It’s the little things that matter; these are the things that really make our day,” she said.
I could not have agreed with her more.
Her wisdom, similar to Jack’s wisdom on lit- tle things echo Mother Teresa’s, “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”
If you or a loved one would like to talk to someone there are a range of services available. Call Lifeline: 131 114 or Centacare: 1300 258 322. Your local GP, your parish priest or pastoral associate may also be a good person to chat to about life.
By ClaRe BURnS
Clare Burns is a Brisbane Catholic businesswoman.
As he spoke it was clear he married the love of his life and cherished her.
He said the “little things” his wife did every day mattered.
While Jack said his wife was “not religious”, it is clear she lived a life aligned to St Mother Teresa, “being faithful in small things”.
Once on the bus, Jack came and sat next to me as if we had known each other for a long time.
When I got off the bus I found myself elated at being trusted with someone’s life story.
I’m glad I listened.
Indeed, another of Mother Teresa’s sayings rang true, “Each one is Jesus in disguise.” The bus journey also brought home an-
other truism from the saint. “Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everyone, is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat,” Mother
Teresa said.
The night before catching the bus with Jack I
was at the Vinnies CEO Sleep Out.
Here I was energised as CEOs asked ques-
tions about the works of Vinnies and Ros-
ies Friends on the Street to support people who are homeless.
Being out in the cold together was a great leveller and created a sense that “we’re all in this together”; similar to waiting in the cold for the bus with Jack.
The CEO Sleep Out with some of Brisbane’s best business minds was energising.
However, this event was eclipsed as I
drove home and went to drop off a bag of clothes in a Vinnies bin.
Out of nowhere I heard someone shout, “Ros- ies, hey Rosies!”
It took me a second or two to realise the per-
Prayer reflections for the week
The following prayer thoughts for the week are from Br Brian Grenier’s book Attend Unto Reading.
august 27 – Remembering helder Camara
Dom Hélder Câmara was the diminutive Archbishop of Olinda and Recife in Brazil (1964-85) during the years of a military dicta- torship. Wearing a battered cassock adorned with a wooden pectoral cross, he lived in a three-roomed house rather than in the episcopal palace favoured by his predecessor and successor.
To the chagrin of the power-brokers, he embodied
the Church’s preferential option for the poor. He
said: “When I give food to the poor, they call me a
saint. When I ask why they are poor, they call me a
communist.” Surrounded by close friends, he died
in his hammock on August 27, 1999.
august 28 — The Confessions of St augustine
Written at the request of his friends and
composed between AD 397 and 401, soon after
its author became Bishop of Hippo Regius, The
Confessions of St Augustine is uncontestably
one of the great classics of world literature. In it
Augustine narrates and prayerfully re ects on the
pivotal events in his faith journey from child-
hood, through his conversion and baptism to the death of his saintly mother Monica. Speaking candidly to the heart and soul of the reader, it is a confession not only of his early sinfulness but also of his vibrant faith in God. Strongly recommended read- ing. Augustine died on August 28, 430.
august 29 – memorial of the passion of St John the Baptist
The saying, “No prophet ever died in his bed”, is certainly true
of John the Baptist, the last of the Old Testament prophets. Jesus de- scribed him as “a burning and shining lamp” (John 5:35) and said of him, “Among those born of women no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist” (Matthew 11:11). Jesus warned his own disciples
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(and implicitly his followers evermore) that they too might suffer the same fate as John: “They will hand you over to be tortured,” he said, “and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name” (Matthew 24:9).
august 30 – The Role of the prophet
It was the vocation of the Old Testament prophets to be the reminder people in the midst of their community, prodding the wayward and the stiff-necked recidivists to return to the Torah. In this they were types of Jesus, the great prophet who was and is, in Meister Eckhart’s theology, the de nitive Reminder of
what graced humankind may aspire to. Every Christian has a prophetic role. It is to keep alive in the Church the “dangerous memory” (Johann Baptist Metz) of Jesus by telling his story and by proclaiming his Good News in the rst-person by the testimony of their faith- lled lives.
august 31 – Contemplative prophets
When we hear of the prophetic character of the Christian vocation, the people who come most readily to mind are usually activists dedicated to promoting peace and justice in the light of the Good News. That is understandable. However, amid the infernal din that envelops us, might
we not also include contemplatives and mystics among the great prophets of the age – women and men whose very existence invites judgment of our lifestyle and speaks to us of God. Action and
contemplation are mutually supportive, not mutually exclusive. A contemplative-in-action is not a bad description of the authentic Christian.
September 1 – Today’s prophets
In spite of persistent opposition and threats to his life from
the custodians of the average, Jesus persevered to the end in
his prophetic mission. Thank God there are prophets in today’s Church who are imbued with his Spirit. Counterweights to the institutional, they are people of hope who come among us in the name of the Lord exposing indifference and pusillanimity. Women and men who are both in their time and ahead of it, they see future
Membership of the
“silent majority” is free: membership of the vocal prophetic minority is
freeing, but often costly.
possibilities in the predicaments of the present and “love the world with the eyes of those who are not yet born” (Otto René Castillo, Guatemalan poet).
September 2 – Jeremiah the meddler
According to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “the main activ- ity of the prophet was interference”. The prophet Jeremiah is a classic instance. For his meddling, he was thrown into a cistern where, there being no water, he “sank in the mud” (Jeremiah 38:6). Jeremiah’s only crime was that he revealed the unwelcome truth about the coming judgment on his stiff-necked people. Today’s prophets are similarly abused. Membership of the “silent majority” is free: membership of the vocal prophetic minority is freeing, but often costly. Jesus calls upon us, whatever the cost, to embrace his truth which alone can set us free (John 8:31).
The Catholic Leader, August 27, 2017