Send to a friendI spent the afternoon sanding coconut shells. I think if I were to continue sanding for the rest of the day, through the night, and all week, I might manage to polish my spirit. It’s remarkable to see just how rarely we take advantage of small, daily activities to polish up our own insides.
But, as is to be expected, I didn’t spend the whole day sanding coconuts, nor the whole night, still less the whole week ...
From the other side of the street, the strains of a merengue reach my ears; my toes start to wriggle with pleasure. On this side, the dance music is displaced by Unlivia’s high-pitched voice—just a decibel too loud—and my heart wriggles in response to it. On one side of the street as on the other, life demands that we pay attention to it. These signs of life that ask for nothing, in fact, except to exist.
A fine rain is falling, a gentle rain we would say at home and here in the house of the Friends of Jesus (the name of the house is Jesus amigos), life goes on as usual. Unilvia laughs too loud, lovely in her clumsiness; Jésus looks for someone to comfort him; Heriberto takes a taxi driver’s business card out of his pocket and then puts it back. Life goes on as usual, and it makes me happy.
Have I told you about Luisito, who dances alone?
………………………....
 |
|
Jesus, L'Arche Santo Domingo |
Have you accepted Jesus in your life?
I know; the answer to that question is not simple. In fact, not only is it not simple, the question itself has become taboo in our society – it’s as if faith should only be discussed in the abstract, philosophically ...
I have discovered Jesus here; he is the charming young man whose photograph you no doubt admired above. A being clothed completely in feelings; his eyes are like pearls; that rare kind which pierces souls and leaves us feeling more at peace with life. Jesus needs a lot of attention, more than one prayer a day if you want my opinion. And, for him, words are not necessary, since everything happens at the level of the heart, the vital organ from which comes generosity, love, forgiveness. He falls asleep every night smiling like a child, and he returns to us each morning, completely resurrected from his dreams. This is a Jesus who knows the rejection of his peers, who looks someone straight in the eye and says: “I love you, and I forgive you for what you do, to me and to others like me.”
Might it be taboo to speak of Jesus in this way. ? His own world is composed of the touch of others, of love, and of the generosity of his friends. I heard an old neighbour standing in the street yesterday afternoon, telling the story of Jesus and the taxi driver. This is how Fran, an English assistant newly arrived in the community, translated the story to me.
It happened one morning in January, on one of those cold mornings when taxi drivers are nervous at the wheel and honk their horns for the simple pleasure of warming up their fingers. The streets in this neighbourhood are narrow; everyone knows that. But the taxi driver wasn’t from the area and was apparently unaware of this fact. In addition, when his car was blocked by a dead end created by two badly parked cars, he wasn’t warming up his fingers for pleasure. It was still early in the day, and a neighbour of L’Arche, Juan Pedro, who has a very Latin temperament, wasn’t at all pleased about having been awakened by a taxi driver with freezing fingers. He came out, barely dressed, to chew out the guilty party – the one making all the noise. Their argument, not always very orthodox, went on for more than 10 minutes, without either man apparently managing to say his piece. And voila! The whole neighbourhood was out in the street, watching them yelling at each other.
Then the miracle happened– and those without faith should read no further! Jesus, this young 16-year-old man who cannot speak, came out of the house; the assistants weren’t aware he had gone out. He avoided the neighbours in the street and placed himself in front of the two men. A silence, like that of the dead, fell on the group outside, even though all the radios in the neighbourhood continued to spit the notes of a merengue out of every house. Jésus, without a word spoken, opened his arms to embrace, first of all, the neighbour, Juan Pedro. Still no sound. Everyone waited to see how Juan Pedro would respond, so they could respond in turn. Juan Pedro didn’t respond. Then Jésus, never discouraged by people’s interior silence, let go of his neighbour and put his arms around the taxi driver. Silence still. Jésus smiled, then stood back. At that moment, the miracle happened. A laugh, coming from deep in the heart of Paradise, burst from everyone’s lips. A natural laugh, a happy laugh, a real laugh …
………………………………….
Sandra dances with Jesus to the strains of imaginary music, and in the grace of their movements, the rhythm of the music takes shape. Can you see them the way I see them? The great Jacques Brel * would be proud; it’s a waltz in three-quarter time, a waltz that only speeds up in the smiles of these people who walk a tightrope of joy.
Sandra is responsible for this house which shelters the snores of a man who is just a little tired – Dios con nosotros (God with us). A young woman of 38, who has lived in L’Arche for more than 20 years, Sandra is, to me, the perfect model of an assistant who might be able, all by herself, to carry the community on her shoulders so that it might move further. Her eyes reflect an intelligence of the heart and of striking humanity ...
……………………………….
I’ll close today by mentioning the names of the marvellous folks who make L’Arche Santo Domingo a welcoming family to an adopted Haitian like me. Thanks to you all.
Audry, Luis Rafael, Rossina, Emmanuel, Maria Elena, Sandra, Christian, Rafaela, Isabel, Dolly, Noellia, Fran, Anny, Luisito, Heriberto, Unilvia, Jocelyne, Jesus, Jiovanny, Lisa, Flor Maria, Yajaïra… and those whose names I have forgotten because, unfortunately, I have never been very good with names!
* Allusion to Jacques Brel and his song Une valse à trois temps
