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The client
I manage a banking agency. One evening, leaving the office, I was weighed down by a big, unresolved problem: it regarded a client who had misused his savings account. I could see only two solutions, which made me suffer: seriously damage the client, starting the legal processes, or risk shirking my duties. I had an appointment to meet my wife, to return home together. Usually I try to free myself from all my worries, but that evening I couldn’t. She immediately understood and said to me, “Difficult day today, right?” I began to confide in her. Mary did not know all the problems of the bank, but she listened attentively, in silence. After telling her everything, I felt relieved and more confident. The problem remained, but it was no longer only mine. The next day I was able to imagine a third solution that permitted me, in respect to my duties, to not harm the client. (G. K. – England)
Hearing problems
I had serious hearing problems, and urged by my parishioners, I went to a specialist. After asking me to which religious order I belonged, he began to list his resentments against the Church for all the inconsistencies and contradictions which had made him lose the faith. I listened to him with love, realizing that I found myself in front of a person who wasn’t satisfied with superficial Christianity. In turn, I responded that there are no arguments for defending the Church except a coherent life. I added, “God loves us as we are.” He asked for my address and phone number. That same evening he came to visit me, and he told me that he had been in the seminary until the age of 18 when it seemed to him that Marxism responded better to what he was seeking; now however these certainties had broken down. After a few days he confided to me that, entering a church, it seemed to him that God was telling him, “I have never abandoned you.” Now both he and his wife have returned to the sacraments. (P. G. – Italy)
Layoff
At the factory they recently distributed letters of termination of employment, one of which was addressed to Giorgio. Knowing his precarious economic conditions, I went to him and invited him to return with me to the personnel office. “I’m better off than he is,” I stated. “My wife has a job. Fire me instead.” Our boss promised he would have a second look at the case. When we exited, Giorgio embraced me; he was visibly moved. This event naturally spread by word of mouth, and two other employees, more or less in the same conditions as I am, offered their places to two other terminated employees. Management was forced to rethink its methods of choosing layoffs. Our parish priest, who came to know about the episode, told the story during his Sunday homily, without saying names. The next day he told me that two students brought him all their savings for the workers in difficulty, saying, “We too want to imitate the gesture of that worker.” (B. S. – Brazil)
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