Mutual Dependence

I love the story told about Bro. Vincent Cook, a Dominican who was born blind. Once he went  to Liverpool, a city  he had never visited before.  Feeling his way along with his white cane, he came to a very busy road and asked if there was anyone he could cross over with.  Someone agreed eagerly.  They set off across the busy road to the sound of cars shrieking to a halt and horns loudly hooting.  When he got to the other side he thanked the man for helping him across.  The man replied: No, you helped me. I am blind!

We need each other and God blesses our mutual dependence.  God said to St. Catherine of Siena:     “I could well have supplied each of you with all your needs, both spiritual and material!  But I wanted to make you dependent on one another so that each of you could be my minister dispensing the graces and gifts you have received from me.”

Yes, the gift of love is given because somebody somewhere is dying for the lack of a kind word; mercy is given because somebody is cloistered in their own wrong-doing. These are gifts which create worth in another person.  The poet William Blake put the point well when he wrote:

“Love seeketh   not   Itself to please

Nor for itself hath any care,

                                                  And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.”    

( The Cloud and the Pebble)