The mainstream, the peripheral, the marginalized

We all know that we ought to love everyone, since we all belong to one human family, created by God to be his people meant to share his life in heaven and while here on earth. But given our human condition, this love has to be expressed in different ways since all of us find ourselves in different conditions and circumstances.

Though ideally, we consider ourselves one family, the reality is that differences and even conflicts will always be with us. There are natural differences and those considered unnatural since they are consequences of our sins and mistakes.

We have to learn how to handle this phenomenon such that despite our differences and conflicts, we manage to love one another. We have to see to it our love is universal and despite our differences and conflicts, we build and reinforce our unity.

This is where we can consider the fact that in any given society, there are those whom we regard as belonging to the mainstream, those in the peripheral, and those marginalized, edged out due to some cases of injustice, neglect, etc.

The Holy Father has been talking a lot about reaching out to the peripheries. It’s a call worth echoing always, because we cannot deny we have a strong tendency to be shortsighted and narrow-minded that we attend only to our needs and those of our immediate circle of relatives and friends.

But it’s a call that should not be done at the expense of neglecting the attention and love due to those in the mainstream and those immediately close to us. That’s because only when we give love and attention to those in the mainstream and close to us would we be properly trained and enabled to reach out to those in the peripheries and margins.

We should make sure, however, that our attention to those in the mainstream and close to us does not stop there, but should motivate us to extend and expand our concern to others until we reach the peripheries, the marginalized, and beyond. If our love is genuine, that is the dynamics it would take.

We have to steadily know and love others more and more. This is a task that should not stop. Despite the many things we may already know and that may show the enormity of our love, there will always be new things to know, new insights to learn, new issues to tackle. There will always be new demands on our love for others.

Every day we have to be aware of these new things and be ready to face and resolve them. Though striking us as overwhelming, these can easily be handled as long as we are with Christ, constantly dialoguing with him, asking for help, light, and strength. It would be as if we are on an exciting adventure, with a lot of suspense and excitement, but somehow assured that everything will just turn out right.

With our new technologies and, thanks to God, the many initiatives and living testimonies of people about how they reach out to others, this responsibility of growing in our love to reach out to the peripheries and the marginalized is immensely facilitated.

Every day we should make new conquests in this regard. Are we reaching out to more and more people? Are we approaching that ideal described by St. Paul that we have to be all things to all men? Are we progressing in the love shown to us by Christ, a love that knows no measure?