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Editorial > Editorial Archive  Buenos Aires, Sunday, November 19, 2006
Keeping company with those who sufferWhat is there to be said in the presence of certain sorrows, trials, and crosses? Usually our words turn useless, many times they are just foolish and senseless. In the presence of sorrow everything may sound different, whatever is said and as valid as it can be, but “staying at one's side” keeping company and maybe even suffering ourselves inwardly is something different. It is very likely that the person who is experiencing a time of anguish also knows that it is not me who can provide a solution or who “by magic” can overcome this moment, and that what he really is looking for is feeling that someone who may not be able of much more than just “being there” will keep him company, but who actually is doing “everything” what at this time is needed by the person who suffers.One of the hardest things to do in the current world may be keeping the suffering company and comforting them. It seems to me that there is no more difficult task than giving comfort to people in great suffering. Well, maybe its not that hard. Probably we think of it as being so hard because we pay attention to which is the accurate word to say, if by our opinion we will be capable of “correcting” sorrow. This may be one of the main problems, we believe we are going to give the suffering some solution. What is there to be said in the presence of certain sorrows, trials, and crosses? Usually our words turn useless, many times they are just foolish and senseless. I think that in the presence of sorrow one of the most beneficial attitudes is “being quiet” and keeping company. We may say many words, which probably will be the best felt, the most accurate, but they will not change the reality of one who is living a very difficult time, and it is then when we must keep humble silence keeping company with the one who suffers, staying at his side. In the presence of sorrow everything may sound different, whatever is said and as valid as it can be, but “staying at one's side” keeping company and maybe even suffering ourselves inwardly is something different. Only God can “comfort” fully, because He is “the God of all comfort”, and although a very strong faith is needed in order to understand this, it is no less true that at those times it is God Himself who acts in the life of people who are suffering very hard times. Perhaps by our “keeping company” we are somehow able to transmit God's comfort, for He surely will provide for the transformation of sorrow into something fruitful and positive, but “in the meantime” it will happen that the one who suffers will even doubt. Maybe due to some kind of built-in haughtiness we think that every time we are close to someone who has a bad time, or someone approaches us with his problem, his sorrow, it is “I” who must provide accurate arguments, sound advice, or the exact solution to what is happening to him, and we know that most of the times we don't succeed. And it is very likely that the person who is experiencing a time of anguish also knows that it is not me who can provide a solution or who “by magic” can overcome this moment, and that what he really is looking for is feeling that someone who may not be able of much more than just “being there” will keep him company, but who actually is doing “everything” what at this time is needed by the person who suffers.
Father Oscar Pezzarini together with Fr. Leonardo Abregú makes us reflect on Saturdays from 8 to 12 AM (GMT-03:00)with "VENTANA A LA VIDA", the Don Orione radio program he conducts on FM PROVIDENCIA, 90.3 MHz together with some residents of the Claypole Cottolengo (Raúl Romero, María Laura Andrada, Alberto Zoroch, Américo Torres), with the production of Roberto Beluzzo and Ignacio Cavalli as technical operator. You can also listen to FM PROVIDENCIA by clicking here.
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