Living the Gospel: “Set you mind on things that are above, not on things that are on earth” (Colossians 3:2)

For a Christian, the Resurrection really happened. It was  an encounter that changed every human perspective; it is the event that reminds us that our home is in heaven and it is there that our life must aim, giving witness to the values that Jesus brought to earth.

The other is someone to love
I am a fourth year medical student. When we go to the hospital, the patient can be treated just as an object to be studied. Each one is a “case”, they represent an illness. Usually during practical classes each patient is examined by thirty students. I quickly realized that this can be uncomfortable and often painful for the patient so when it was my turn to do the examination, I said: “No, I think this patient has suffered enough. I wouldn’t want to be treated like that. I’ll go first the next time.” My fellow students said that in this way I would never learn and would never become a good doctor but then, without my knowing it, they suggested to the professor that each patient be examined by only five students at most. The whole class was behind the idea and the professor agreed. The result is that in this way you learn better and the patients feel respected.
(Regina – Brazil)

Open a window
I had a fall and ended up with a broken shoulder. Suddenly my life changed. All my plans for the holidays, taking care of our grandchildren, doing the shopping etc. fell through. Now everything landed on my wife who, since she retired, has stopped using the car. One day my granddaughter, with whom we often play a game that consists of looking for the positive in the negative, asked me where the positive in this forced immobility was. I replied that my new condition was making me discover that I used to do many things automatically, without thinking about them very much. Now I was beginning to see that there are can be other ways of doing things, like a new window that opens in your room and shows you a landscape that you did not see before. My granddaughter was quiet for a while. Then, as if awakened by a discovery, she said, “Grandpa, I have a classmate who’s not very nice. She swears and is always cross with everyone. We all avoid talking to her and now there is a kind of wall around her which isolates her. Maybe I should open a window to her, too.” I was very happy to hear my granddaughter say such beautiful words.
(H.N. – Slovakia)

Compiled by Maria Grazia Berretta

(taken from The Gospel of the Day, New City, year IX – no.1- March-April 2023)