Encounter Talk 2006 ON THE ROAD TO HUMANITY…

By Hélène Kelly

 

Intro: (Sound effects of being human – approx 1min)

 

Human beings share a common humanity. We laugh, we cry, we joke around, we have goals, we study, we work hard and become good at our jobs.

Shared everyday events is often what is found in the ordinary, everyday lives of people that we know and meet. As we heard – there are many different sounds that a human make. It is common that people: get tired after a long, hard day at work; we worry about paying bills, we stress over exams and getting work in on time, we get frustrated when our brother or sister annoy us, and we are happy when its our birthday.

 

There are many examples we come across in day-to-day living which have a strong influence on our humanity and they can determine how, what, when and why we are what we are. Consider these: (Power point of these human beings below)

 

• A human being is Eliza, a wealthy woman in a mansion with antique furniture, oil paintings, and notable appointments that distinguish her as a woman of upper-class status.

 

• A human being is Terry, a twelve-year-old who lives with his mother in the city. His father abandoned the family, and his brother was put in jail for stealing.

 

• A human being is May, an elderly women in a nursing home who is fearful of life because she is unable to control her body movements and now her memory is fading. Lonely and depressed, she faces each day with less hope than the previous.

 

• A human being is Susan, a university student studying Law and Medicine. Majority of her time is occupied with study and she is afraid that one day she may loose her friends because she does not spend enough time socialising with them.

 

• A human being is the unborn foetus a mother carries while she decides if she wants to continue its life; the decision is made difficult because she does not have the means to care for the child.

 

Human beings are all of those many ordinary people – they are the regular, unremarkable, everyday average Joes facing issues of everyday life. They are the mail man, the car mechanic, the student, the nurse, the priests, the teacher, the flight attendant, and the taxi driver. They read the morning paper, hurry off to work or school, get stuck in traffic, listen to the 6pm news, they watch sports, take their kids to soccer and hope that their next pay check will cover the electricity bill.

 

All of the human beings mentioned above are unique and ordinary, and share a common humanity. Their physical builds, their ages, their personalities; genetic traits, personal histories, and environments make them unique. In their uniqueness they are “precious in the eyes of God” because they were created as singular individuals to reflect God’s creation. These people are ordinary in that they share basic traits with other human beings: basic physical needs for food, shelter, clothing, basic psychological needs for belonging, love, social relationships, attention, security, and self-esteem; basic religious or transcendental needs for meaning, hope, and fulfilment of ultimate desires. Most people are ordinary like the people mentioned above; however these persons are also incomparable, interesting, and unique in their personalities, character and appearances.

 

Peter To Rot from Papua, New Guinea, was a married man chosen for beatification by Pope John Paul II. When the daughter of Blessed Peter To Rot was asked if her father had any extraordinary religious experiences, his daughter replied, “He was extraordinarily ordinary”. By simply being an ordinary human being, one can share life to the fullest with the divine. To realise the profound depth of this reality, one is lead to ask, “What does it mean to be an ordinary human being?” and “How can a human being come to share life to the fullest with the divine?”

 

It is simple: We are all creatures of God, and with the commonalities of human beings, we share uniqueness and have the potential for holiness.

 

Take a good look around at the people in this room. We are all extraordinary ordinary people. We are people with talents, gifts from God and are chosen by God to share in His humanity. Jesus who was born human, had a mother and step-father, he was a toddler, a teenager, a young adult. He laughed, he had childhood friends, he ran off to the temple to learn about the scriptures and he became angry at his parents, who did not understand the meaning of why he needed to be there, he became disappointed at the disciples who did not stay awake while he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus, who was born human, born just like us, had experienced the same occurrences that we experience today. At times we all feel happy, sad, sorrowful, and disappointed. It is sometimes difficult to be human. And it is sometimes hard to stop being human. And for that reason, God granted dominion to humanity over all the earth, so that Jesus could come, to be human and experience human life before becoming divine.

 

In the narrative we heard in today’s Morning Prayer, we hear that the story begins with two disciples experiencing (or talking about) the loss of Jesus. They were quite disheartened by Jesus’ crucifixion and so left their friends in Jerusalem and headed for the town of Emmaus.

 

On the road, the two men were heavy in conversation about Jesus, and were totally oblivious to the situation, that they did not immediately recognise Jesus who was present to them. Their eyes were kept from recognising Him.

 

We interpret that the disciples were not actively seeking Jesus because they understood, according to their instincts, that Jesus’ recent death meant the end of his human life, as well as the end of all their own hopes and dreams for the future.

 

The disciples even made fun of Jesus when he asked what was going on. “What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?” They stood still looking sad. “Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?”

This is exactly the same response we might give to a parishioner who asks innocently, “Why are there so many Oblate Youth in Melbourne this week? Haven’t you heard? Everyone knows”. But even after all this, and even after he had shared the scriptures with them, the disciples experienced a lack of Jesus. They still didn’t recognise Him.

 

Today my talk is titled “On the Road…to Humanity”. And relates to the first part of St Eugene de Mazenod’s challenge to help people become human, to make them Christians and to make them Saints.

 

The disciple’s flight from Jerusalem is a natural human reaction in the face of death, in the face of losing their dream or in the time of chaos. The common thread “running” between the story is recognising Christ.

 

See if you can recognise Christ here… (Forrest Gump…children throwing rocks).

 

As we see in this footage, Forrest who had a strong influence from Jenny and could trust her, ran from the three boys on bikes, who threw rocks and teased him because he was different. Because he was stupid.

 

In the face of humanity, the disciples too ran away in the time of chaos. There was upheaval in the town and so ran away from the misfortunes. They too couldn’t cope. This episode is very similar to Jesus being lashed like at the scourging at the pillar, and crowned with thorns on Good Friday. The disciples were promised the Messiah, and he came and died. Their dreams were shattered. They were running! Running like Forrest, to escape the terrorism.

 

What would be our human reaction? How would we cope in that situation?

Many of you would have come across something similar to that movie scene in your childhood or teenaged years – whether you were someone who bullied other children or a child who was teased. As children, we do not fully understand or have the coping capacity to deal with torture or misfortune. Children are so innocent, that they take it on the chin. It’s a natural human reaction. It’s human nature.

 

What is it that makes us human?

What does it mean to be human as opposed to animals?

A human being is first of all a creature of God. It all comes down to this: Ultimately “We love because God first loved us” (1 John 4.19). The Bible teaches us that God formed the universe as a joyful, free, creative expression of his love.

God made human beings, creatures that are more like him than any other created thing. We are different to animal because we have greater free will and must live with our discissions. And we are able to obtain knowledge and use it. We can consciously choose good or evil; we can choose to believe in God or not to believe. And we can choose our journey in life. God did not create us as robots who have to be good, or who even have to believe in Him. When we struggle to believe in God, or struggle in making a choice, we are being exactly what God created us to be – a creature that must make choices.

 

Within ourselves, we are dependent on the divine for life itself and for every breath and movement of our bodies. Without creation, we would not exist. No person could live one minute without land, air, sun and water. How blessed we are! We were created in relationship with other human beings and are dependent on them, on the natural environment, and on God.

 

In giving us freedom, God also gave us the ability to give and receive love. Any being that cannot make its own decisions about what to believe in or how to act is not capable of self-giving love. We are too easily fooled into believing sinful choices are good choices. This limits our ability to love. Having true faith means believing everything that God reveals; it doesn’t mean picking and choosing the things we want to believe, and the Scriptures and Tradition teach that God wants us to be part of a church, a community of believers.

 

One-Tooth Story:

I would like to tell you this story: There once lived a man. His name was One-Tooth. He had blue eyes, and grey bushy hair. He was short in stature, as his legs had been disfigured since birth. He had an iron-will, strong like the wind. He was named One-Tooth because he only had one tooth.

 

One-Tooth lived in a village, about 30 minutes from the local hospital. Everyday, One-Tooth would wake up early, just as the sun was rising, and walked to the hospital. One-Tooth knew the route quite well, as he would make his journey to and from the hospital everyday, even on special holidays like Christmas and Easter.

One-Tooth was well known to all the hospital staff, as they would greet him with “Good morning One-Tooth”, when he walked the corridors. One-Tooth would give a friendly wave and continue on with his work.

 

One-Tooth did not hold a paid position at the hospital. He would volunteer his time, walking up and down all the wards, entering every hospital room. He would visit patients who were waiting surgery, who had come out of surgery, those who were ill, and especially those who were awaiting God’s call for eternal life.

 

On visiting these patients, One-Tooth would get out his beloved bible and read the scriptures to them. They loved hearing One-Tooth. They loved his expressions and his characterisations. One-Tooth would do this everyday, day in and day out.

One day, One-Tooth wasn’t feeling very well. He felt quite ill. Not knowing what it was he visited the doctor at the hospital during his lunch break. The doctor spent many hours examining One-Tooth and finally came to a diagnosis. The doctor said to him, “One-Tooth, You are not as young as you used to be. You have a condition that can not be fixed. This may even debilitate you even more”. And with that, they spoke at length about his prognosis.

 

The following day, One-Tooth was nowhere to be seen. He did not make his 30 minute journey to the hospital. He was not seen walking up and down corridors. And he did not visit any of his patients. The patients started asking questions about the whereabouts of One-Tooth. They even asked the doctor who examined him, and he too had no idea where One-Tooth was.

 

Many weeks and even months had passed, and One-Tooth was still nowhere to be seen. Then one day, One-Tooth arrived at the hospital, at his usual time and walked up and down the corridors, visiting every patient that was sick. He did the task what was intended of him to do.

 

At lunch, he was approached by the doctor who saw him in the hospital gardens. He asked “One-Tooth, why haven’t we seen you these last couple of months? How is your health?” One-Tooth replied, “As you mentioned the last time we meet, you said that my sight was fading and that I may never see again. So on my way home that day, I decided to do something about it. I realised that if I couldn’t read the scriptures to the people of this hospital, I would be sitting at home doing nothing for the rest of my life, wasting the Lord’s time, and I would be a very miserable man. I decided to go home and memorise the bible, front to back, and back to front before I totally lost my sight. I memorised all Jesus’ parables, His miracles and all His life events. I couldn’t see myself not reading to God’s people. It has taken me many months to memorise all these things, but here I am. And here I am to stay”. This is my life.

 

 

This “One-Tooth” story clearly demonstrates the difference between living life and merely existing. It is a sign of a balanced relationship: people use their own creativity to care for others and to let others be themselves. One person cannot exist without the other but must rely on the other to define who one is. We are reliant on others to help us know how it is to be our own human being, to know various dimensions of ourselves: intellectual, physical, psychological, spiritual and social.

 

Living life is important. It is important to make time to live out our humanity. We have to nurture the potential that we have, even-though like One-Tooth, we heard that his legs had been disfigured since birth and he lost his sight. He knew he had a talent: to talk to people and to give them God’s message. He regarded himself as God’s messenger, characterised by tenderness and compassion for the suffering and delivering his love to the sick and the dying.

 

The dignity of the human person is important also. We are formed in the image and likeness of our God. We reflect God, and God is reflected in us.

 

We have all seen on telly or have experienced ourselves, people with a fatal disease, illness or disability. I have seen through my nursing career, young adults or children, that despite having cancer, they live life to the fullest, even though they might have a few months or years to live. It’s amazing to see the livelihood that these individuals have when they know that they are unwell. They live out their humanity as best they can with the time that available, and despite having a disease, illness or disability, these people live life to its full potential, just like other people. They are a good example to strive in leaps and bounds and we should follow their lead.

 

We too can live out our humanity! Life is the existence of being human. Humans are not isolated beings but in relationship and in community. We all have the freedom of will and the ability to make choices. Some choices can be easy. Some choices can be challenging. The road is long, but the journey is rewarding.

 

I would like to show you another clip from Forrest Gump.

Have a look at Forrest’s running journey on the road? (Running Journey)

 

What does on the road mean to you?

Where are we heading in life?

What is the result of living human life?

 

The concept of recognising Christ and having the awareness of our creator is present through experiencing the actions of others around us. When we hear the words that describe Christ and experience the actions of members of our community, we are able to “see” the presence of Christ because we are living a human life.

 

Other people can be Christ for us. Their actions become the catalyst by which that person is seen. It is as if Christ rises up between me and the one who initiates the experience. It is possible to be Christ for another person. It is a possibility to be the source of the action that will lead another person to “experience” the resurrection and see Christ for him or herself.

 

Take a look at this footage: (Forrest reflecting on the past with Jenny)

Greatest example is Christ:

The road to Emmaus is a road of companionship and hospitality. It is a road of unmasked relationships and the reality of our every day interactions with each other. The Emmaus story draws us back into the presence of Christ. Emmaus declares to each of us that The Risen Lord walks with us. It is a mirror into our souls that pulls us back into relationships with Christ – and with each other. It forces us to look at Jesus squarely in the eyes and say “hello”.

Whether it is in our friendships, in our workplaces, or in the deepest part of Africa - the Lord is there. He is with us in everyday life. When we are ready, and invite Him in, he makes himself known to us. Each one of us wears a mask at one time or another. And when we are asked "How are you?” we each have probably said: "Good Thanks". Not thinking of a more true response – because it’s just human nature! But when we risk divesting ourselves of our disguises, and when we say to one another with a more thoughtful question, "No, how are you really?" that's when we invite Jesus into the conversation.

 

 

In conclusion, we share a common humanity while maintaining our individual personalities. We are ordinary in the way that we each share the struggles of daily life across the community. We look to that community for support and answers in order to move on. But we are extraordinary in our differences, each being precious in the eyes of God. Blessed Peter To Rot was extraordinarily ordinary. We are essentially no different to him. There is no reason to expect that any of us will not be called blessed too one day, if we can recognise Christ wandering through our busy lifestyles. One thing for sure is that we know he’s always somewhere. While we run from the daily pains or amid the many joys of our lives we can see Jesus in aspects of our humanity.

 

We can recognise God in all created things: in the plants and animals and God is good in these things. With the extra gifts humans have over the rest of creation, we have the amazing gift to recognise God so much more deeply in our fellow human beings. Let One-Tooth be a model of using the talents we have to give dignity to our humanity. A broken man, he did what he could. His humanity restricted him further with the loss of sight. He moved on after what would’ve been terrible pain in learning that he couldn’t read – his favourite use of his gifts. While running and enduring the pain after his dream was shattered, he discovered a way to adapt and use other talents to bring God into the world. And the greatest example is Christ, who, in the face of pain brought new life to the world by enduring the suffering of human nature. Extraordinary things happen in times of darkness and pain. Don’t be afraid then: Be on the Road with Christ.