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Love Your Neighbor |
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Written by Colleen Coughlin
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Friday, 09 January 2009 |
Colleen is a staff member at the Mission Office. She is the Website Editor and the Coordinator for the Holy Childhood Association.
 New Year’s resolutions … yes, it’s that time of year again! Every January, I try and come up with a few resolutions that I think I can put into practice for the coming year. “Eat healthier”, “exercise more”, and “spend more time with family and friends” are often at the top of the list. But by the time the end of January rolls around, I am usually back to my old habits, and the rest of the year seems to be shot. What am I doing wrong? Why can’t I stick to my resolutions? Laziness and busyness are usually the answers. So, for 2009, I have decided to add a new resolution that I really hope I can follow through with! My wish is this: to be a neighbor.
Be a neighbor? How do I do that? There are many ways that each one of us can be a neighbor in our everyday lives. We can lend a helping hand or a shoulder to cry on. We can give food or drink to a hungry child. We can be kind to family, friends, and strangers. We can spread the love of Jesus and show that we care. It is usually the simplest things like these that show one’s true compassion for their neighbor.
I am lucky that I can be a neighbor to people all over the world each day. While I do not know them by face or by name, I know that they are out there and that they deserve the same care, compassion, and love as anyone else in my own neighborhood. It’s an amazing privilege to be able to help people in Bolivia, Belize, Ghana, Papua New Guinea, India, and many other places around the world. While I am not able to travel to every one of these places and actually see the people that I am helping, I know that my work here – no matter how big or how small – is important and is making a difference for them. Every thought, every word, and every action plays a huge role in being a neighbor, even to those halfway across the globe. And that’s exactly how we are able to move forward and take those concrete steps needed to help others – thoughts become words, and words become actions.
I know that what I do each day may not be considered the most “glamorous” job in the eyes of some. Unfortunately, there are many people who are quite selfish and just don’t get it. They think that money, clothes, cars, houses, and partying is what life is all about. They are ignorant of the fact that there are people out there who go without eating, who sleep in cardboard boxes, who don’t receive an education, who have severe physical and emotional problems – people who literally have nothing. They don’t understand the importance of loving, caring, and being a neighbor, and how wonderful those things are, both for the person receiving AND the person giving. I feel so honored that I’m in the position to offer even the tiniest bit of support to people who need help. I have realized that whatever I have to offer is important. Whatever anyone has to offer is important.
So, as we talk about being a neighbor, I’d like to share a beautiful poem that I found in a recent edition of MISSION Magazine. This issue of MISSION Magazine speaks specifically about loving thy neighbor and how every minute, there are priests, religious, and lay people who are reaching out to be a neighbor to those in the developing world. This poem, called “The Neighbor,” helps us to understand how the simplest actions are often the most real and heartfelt ways that one can be a neighbor.
The Neighbor
It happened by a corner
in a whirlwind city
as the morning flood people
hurried on to work.
Day by day,
a young man rounded the corner
bearing a paper bag as if it were
a gift of the Magi.
In a doorway just there,
a woman huddled, hardly noticed
until the young man stopped
and, smiling, offered her the bag
with steaming coffee and a bun.
It would have been enough
to merit grace – this gift brought and given.
But, always, the young man stayed a while
to visit with the woman as,
cuddling the cup,
she drank from the well of his kindness.
To one onlooker,
“neighbor” will forever be
a young man, a needy woman,
a “coffee to go” and a chat.
To be neighbor is to give and nourish, yes.
But more, to pause and tend the heart.
Would you like to see more neighbors like the young man in the poem? Scroll through these MISSION Magazine photos, to see real-life pictures of missionaries and the people they serve. Each photo you see depicts what it truly means to be a neighbor in this world.
Honduras
India
Sierra Leone
Sudan
Thailand
Uganda
Zambia
Zambia
Zambia
Zambia
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Archdiocese of St. Louis: Mission Office
20 Archbishop May Drive, Saint Louis, MO 63119 • missions@archstl.org
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