18/01/2007

Saving One Life Helps Save the World

THE EGIDIO COMMUNITY has been on my mind since November when the community�s spokesperson, Mario Marazziti, gave a talk at the �Languages for Peace International Conference� held at St. John�s University. The Community of Sant�Egidio is a non-governmental organization with offices at the UN headquarters in Geneva and New York and a charitable organization based in Rome, Italy.

Growing out of a prayer group of teenagers in Italy, the community was founded in 1968 and now is active in over 72 of the world�s poorest and disease-afflicted countries. It tries to wipe out social problems and implement initiatives to restore peace in troubled lands. It�s a non-profit organization which has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and has been honored with the Balzan Peace Prize, a prize which also was awarded to John XXIII and Mother Theresa.

Every time I recall that this community grew out of a group of teenagers, influenced by the Second Vatican Council, who gathered regularly to pray together, I am awestruck. I am wondering what impact Mario�s talk had on the St. John�s students who attended.

I was so inspired by his talk that I made sure that I obtained a copy of the text. At one point in explaining the Community of Sant�Egidio, Mario said the following:

�That is how the story began, a story no one could have imagined and one which, thank goodness, has not ended. It is the story of a group of friends who today are trying to save Africa from AIDS and to stop wars in many parts of the world. This group of friends is not looking for publicity, but believes, as Jewish wisdom teaches, that a person who saves one life saves the entire world. And every poor person on the street is a whole world. One must work to change laws, provide more opportunity, provide a sense of family, affection and education instead of holding out prison as the destiny of the poor. Each day, we try to reduce the needs of the poor, to ensure that we ourselves are not imprisoned by greed and selfishness. Sant�Egidio is the story of normal people, men and women of every age, in more than 70 different countries who have not given up the idea that the world needs to change and that it can be changed. If we work together.�

I know that I often feel overwhelmed when I consider problems in the contemporary world, even problems in my immediate experience. Some problems seem insoluble, too big, too complicated and I am tempted to think that I can do nothing, indeed that no one can do anything. The Sant�Egidio Community reminds me that this is a temptation that I should resist. As Christians, we are supposed to be people of hope. No one can do everything but each of us can do something. From its very beginnings, the Sant�Egidio Community has had an impact on the international scene.

Mario referred to a crucifix in the church of Sant�Egidio, where the group of teenagers came together to pray 40 years ago. Stressing that the community was born from weakness and that this weakness has been its strength, he noted that the crucifix was without arms. It has only the trunk of Jesus� body. Members refer to the crucifix as the �Christ of the impotence or of the weakness.� It presents an invitation to us to be the arms of Jesus and to love and embrace all people.

The talk has led me to think about two people whose lives were great witnesses to God�s love for all people: Mother Theresa and Dorothy Day. Each of these great women spent her life loving the poor and bearing witness to God�s love for the poor. Mother Theresa reminded us that God did not call us to be successful but to be faithful. Dorothy Day may have been the most influential American Catholic in the 20th century because of her loving presence to the poor. She influenced not only the poor she lived among, but countless others �priests, religious and lay people � who modeled her loving witness in numerous ministries.

Mario also referred to an icon of the Good Samaritan bent over the body of the half-dead man. The Samaritan has the face of Jesus. The half-dead man also has the face of Jesus. Perhaps that icon sums up the entire meaning of the Sant�Egidio Community. It can also serve as a sign to all of us of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.

(In Manhattan, the Community of Sant�Egidio meets for prayer on Tuesdays at 6:30 p.m. at Corpus Christi, 121st St. and Broadway, and on Fridays at 6:30 p.m., at St. Joseph�s Church, Greenwich Village. For more information, contact: 212-663-1483 or [email protected] or look at the webpage at www.santegidio.org.)

Robert Lauder