If and when you read this I will be in Jamaica with a group of men from Northern Kentucky, most of whom will have been there before. No, we will not be on some beaches of luxury, walled-in hotels.
Rather they will be constructing cottages at the Jacob’s Ladder Mustard Seed Community-Jamaica (Google it!) for persons 18 and older who have been discarded by you. (Yes, I wrote “you” because I wanted to get your attention and because it is true that I and you look away from reality so often!)
The people for whom the cottages are being built by these volunteers are discarded from their society because they have physical and mental handicaps and are not children.
I will be celebrating daily liturgy with some of the residents and with these men who have left family to serve strangers who are still brothers and sisters to all of us. I will be making a minimal contribution to their physical efforts to do the manual labor necessary to assemble and prepare for occupancy these “homes” for the residents and their caregivers.
The caregivers are the persons for whom I am writing specifically but they will never see this and you will, so perhaps you are the caregiver I am writing to after all. We, you and I, are so consumed by daily events in our little worlds that we can lose sight of the commitment of mutual human respect that so many unnoticed and unsung people give to others every day.
Perhaps you care for an elderly parent or a challenged child. Celebrate your sensitivity!! In Jamaica where I am now, the native caregivers give of themselves and also try to make a living caring for the least among us. How could I not be impressed? I am witnessing this reality also with those willing to give of their time and resources to be here. You do not know their names but they are your neighbors.
There are so many good people about us! They are you if you can see the importance of your role as caregiver!! Who of us do not or will not need a caregiver on our journey toward eternal life?? Whether in Jamaica or 6th and Sycamore, or at your home address, caregiving is our Christian call. Accept, enjoy, and celebrate caring for the caregivers who are YOU!
− Fr. Bob Ross, SJ, Assisting Priest