Journeying with others.

I was looking for some bedtime reading last night (my current book was still in my luggage) and in my bedside cabinet found a book of reflections by Charles Ringma.  (Wash the feet of the world with Mother Teresa) I opened it randomly and came across this passage which expresses what I was struggling to say in my last post.

And in serving others the greatest blessing we can bring is often not the giving of things, but the gift of ourselves.

Mother Teresa underscores this in her words to her sisters, "Do not look for spectacular works. What is important is the gift of ourselves."

This may initially sound surprising. Don't the poor need food, housing, and health care? Should we, therefore, not give them what they most basically need? The answer is, of course, we should give as much as we can. But others can't be the recipients of only our welfare and generosity. They are people who need to be loved and known. They welcome our interest and friendship, not simply our giving. Journeying with others through the highs and lows of their daily realities is the great gift we can give. ......

To journey with people, rather than simply to give them things, has important implications. The most important of these is that we are invited to be an incarnational presence to the poor.....

While we may always want to do do more, we should not withhold the greater gifts - the gifts of companionship and solidarity.

Sometimes it is affirming to realise that someone agrees with your thinking, and can express it better than you can. :-)