Dear pilgrims of hope,
will you let others live on your journey?
I love kids. And I love teaching catechism classes. There is just something special about forming a bond with these young minds, to be able to answer questions that they might not ask otherwise and to offer them a safe place to explore their faith.
This evening at Mass when I listened to the first reading for the weekend and Nehemiah read the laws and everybody wept, I was reminded of something from a First Confession class I taught a few years back. The topic of the day were the Ten Commandments. I believe that just as important as it is to know what not to do, we also need to know what we should be doing instead. If we are doing the right things, then we need to worry less about doing the wrong things.
I gave the kids a piece a paper to write down the Ten Commandments in the positive form. So, instead of saying, “Do not covet your neighbour’s goods”, they could write “I am grateful for what I have.” One of the answers that impressed me the most, was from one a young boy in response to the 5th commandment: You shall not kill. His answer was: “Let others live”.
What a profound statement. Because it covers letting others live from conception to natural death as well as not killing their spirit with gossip and our anger that we might unleash onto them. To “let others live” requires a positive action, like saying no to abortion and euthanasia. Life is precious but the culture of death demands the sacrifice of the helpless on the altar of so-called freedom and independence.
Our journey here on earth is together and every interaction with others either leaves them better or worse afterwards. This does not mean that we should keep quiet and let others live however they want to, when we see that they are living in mortal sin. Truth spoken out of love and kindness instead of wanting to be right, is necessary when we desire salvation for our friends.
What does it mean for you to “let others live”, dear pilgrims of hope? Stop every once in a while to smell the flowers on your journey and to consider what it is that to believe and why you believe it.
