Posted by The WORD in other words (2009) by Fr Joseph Miras SVD – Canada
Monday 20th Week in Ordinary Time
In order for a student in the primary level (Gr.1 – 8) to graduate from a school run by the Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB), the educational body that owns and administers all Catholic schools in the primary level in Ontario, Canada, he/she must render a 10-hour community service spread out through the school year in Grade 8. A high school student is required as well to perform 40 hours of community service in the secondary level (Gr. 9 – 12) in all schools (public, private, and TCDSB) before he/she graduates. The aim of this requirement is to inculcate in all students the value of helping the community, to be more caring, and to be generous with one’s talents and treasure especially to those most in need.
Even newly arrived immigrants get an added merit in the processing of their legal statuses if their papers (résumes) mention that they did volunteer work.
This is an example of an institutionalized way of forming the citizens how to become caring individuals as no less than the government supports it.
But why institutionalize this practice? It is this context that would help people realize the Gospel message today – that we must let go of our individualistic predisposition and become more concerned of others, that we must let go of our cumulative tendencies and become more generous. We should never forget that to be excessively possessive is often accompanied by greed and avarice, although having less does not necessarily mean that one is freely predisposed to God (John Sheila Galligan).
To go back to the question posed by the rich young man to Jesus in today’s Gospel, to gain eternal life, one does not need to live a “perfect life” but living the “perfectly focused” life (Jerry Goebel). As followers of Christ, the focus should always be about caring for neighbor as well as for our self.
We are foremost a community of people who are linked by our common humanity and as such, must share responsibility for the care and welfare of others. Interdependence and not independence is the key to our relationship with one another. The wisdom imparted in the following African proverb says it so well, “It takes a whole village to raise and educate a child.”
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