2. How to become " a fully alive human being".

         It is not enough for a person to have the capabilities typical of his human condition.  It all depends as well on the “degree” in which he owns each of these capabilities.

 

       And we should all try to reach the maximum degree of those capabilities because our true behavior as a person will depend on that.

 

       We propose the following example to illustrate this:  In the city of Hong Kong there lived a widow, of advanced age, weak and with very little money.  She lived on the 17th floor of a building but without her own apartment.  She slept on the floor in the corner of a hallway.  What little money she received was thru social security or whatever she received from making her own small crafts, she distributed to people poorer than herself who lived in boats along the bay.   One day she went to see the local chaplain to tell him that she wanted to be baptized.  The priest, fearing that the real reason behind this request was that she wanted to be buried in the Catholic cemetery located on a hill above the bay, proceeded to use excuses to postpone the baptism.  Once he verified everything that the lady was and was doing, he realized that indeed she fulfilled all the conditions to be baptized, and so he did.  At the same time, he proceeded to look for living quarters for her within the Catholic nursing homes.  After a long waiting list, he finally received a call from the administrator of the nursing home to take the widow there.

 

The parish organized an event to say goodbye to her, but in the middle of this activity, another call was received.  The father answered it, but the lady widow was able to hear what it was about.  Simply, the nun in the nursing home was calling to explain that a more urgent case had come up which they had to take, and that therefore, they no longer had a place for the lady widow.

 

She therefore, turned around to the other women who were saying goodbye to her, and in order to help the priest from being embarrassed with the situation, she said to them that it was an old lady’s prerogative to change her mind, that she had decided not to go to the nursing home after all.  And in this way, the others accepted it.

 

Days later, another new call announced a new opportunity for a bed for her in the nursing home.  The priest then took her there and had her admitted and said goodbye to her.  But as he left, she called him back and held out an envelope and said, “Look, I will not be using this any more,” and gave it to him.  It had $10 in Hong Kong dollars.  It was all she had.  The priest left quite moved by this gesture.

 

Later the woman passed away.  And this illustration ends with the priest visiting her tomb in the Catholic cemetery, facing the sea.

 

The lady was happy, had been very happy, in spite of how little she had.  But lived her life doing good for others.  She worried about others more than about her own self.  She would put all her human capabilities to the service of others, instead of only using them for herself.  And it was this same attitude that made her happy.

 

It is not enough to be a person.  You must analyze what kind of a person you are.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  © 2008 MINISTRIES TO THE RESCUE – MINISTERIOS AL RESCATE INC.