By Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB –
Family is part of one’s life and living. It cannot be chosen. One is born into it. A larger family called a community becomes a deliberately chosen social structure, which can be a source of rivalry, of jealousy. Then it becomes a problem to live in. Just as one shares the same space in the family, one learns to manage conflicts in family and community. Brothers and sisters of blood prefer to exist for what they are, having their identity, role and respect in their family.
The first social nucleus is a gift from God that we receive, preserve and invest into. Yet, it has to be nourished by a certain form of friendship and closeness in order to commit to it as members. Often enough, the family or group of families can turn into a clan. We all are part of one community or the other, either chosen by will or born into. And here, we hear often the possessive pronouns – “my brother”, “my sister”. So often the priests address the congregation with these ‘dearness’; terms, expressing a common space, and a shared identity. This is true of the family, as well as of an “elective community, which creates a boundary, defines a belonging.”
Jean-Jacques Goldman, a popular French singer wrote: “You are part of my community, the one I have chosen, the one I feel, much more than that of blood.” Here then, is an opening up to the other, with a belonging that brings like-minded beings together. We become part of a family, a history, a country. In the midst of diverse communities, there is still that belonging, that unity. Different or distant, the other is still the same as us. This ‘difference’ makes life what it is. We begin to know, accept, acknowledge and appreciate the difference through knowing each other.
France as a nation has its motto: liberty, equality, fraternity. But fraternity is different from the rest. Fraternity cannot be imposed by law. It is built by all of us. But, why fraternity? In this pandemic period, paradoxically, we need to build human fraternity as particular cultures are closing in.
According to Véronique Albanel, a philosophy professor, fraternity is an intentional family build on solidarity, that is, “to live as a ‘family’ by welcoming others while respecting their person and their differences.” It is hospitality experienced on an equal footing. A community that engages in organizing and mobilizing as a family. Christian faith has to push us from Christian community to “community of the other”, holds Albanel. He says, a successful fraternity leads to others with solidarity, leaving extreme positions. It opens us to the larger unknown community, becoming truly the universal community (Catholic). This decisive and deliberately chosen enlarged community is at the heart of Christ intention – that all be one – not imaginary or ideal. It becomes a true and concrete human encounter. The encounter between Francis of Assisi and the Sultan at Damietta in 1219, or that between Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Ahmed El-Tayebin, in February 2019 in Abu Dhabi, signing the document on “human fraternity”, are true examples. A movement towards a universal community. Similarly, the spirituality of Charles de Foucauld lived a life of fraternity with the Muslim brethren, uniting all in one universal “everyone’s brother”, Jesus.
“The word became brother” (flesh), – Jesus, “the eldest of many brothers” (Rom 8: 29), whom all Christians are to follow, till the total fraternity is established, including all enemies within the family and outside. And the basis of such fraternal community is real contact. One cannot be a brother or sister unless another brother/sister relates that way. You need the other. Therefore, communal fraternity is an experience, lived with the neighbours, in daily life’s events. Quoting a Roman’s observation of the second century Christian community Tertullian, wrote, “Look, they say, how they love one another.” More than a community, it was “fraternity” (Greek word, adelphotès, fraternity being the proper name of the Church). In the words of Anne Lécu, a Dominican Sister, “To be brother and sister is to receive oneself from the same Father.” One cannot be brother or sister all by himself/herself. Fraternity engages in a relationship and recognizes the common humanity, – inclusive of all migrants, foreigners, neighbours and prisoners – of the same flesh. To sum it all, the only way to find the unseen God, is to recognize Him in all brothers and sisters.
Jesus said, “You are all brothers and sisters” (Mt 23.8). The call to universal fraternity requires openness to human beings who find their fulfilment in the sincere gift of self to others, with a love that calls for a greater ability to accept others and to reach out to the margins. A love capable of transcending borders for a greater good, is the basis of social friendship. This friendship for greater good, promotes values that advance integral human development. For, every person is valuable and “every human being has the right to live with dignity” (FT 107). This is achieved by: thinking and acting as a community; combatting the structural causes of poverty and inequality; the state being actively present and invest in assistance to the vulnerable; insuring that no one is excluded; establishing a lasting peace based on a global ethic of solidarity and service.
Next Week: Vision of an Open Heart, Open to the World
Fr. Soroj Mullick, SDB is a Salesian priest from the Kolkata Province. He has a Licentiate in Catechetics and a Doctorate (Christian Education) from UPS, Italy. He has number of years of teaching experience in college and in the formation of future priests. Besides, he has written number of research papers and articles, and has 25 years of Ministry in India and abroad as Educator, Formator, Retreat Preacher, Editor and engaged in School, Parish Catechetical & Youth Ministry. He is now an assistant priest in Bandel Basilica, rendering pastoral and catechetical ministry to the parishioners and to the pilgrims. He can be contacted at [email protected].