Winter. Cold. Hunger

 

“Faith is the virtue that allows me to feel the warmth of the hearth while I cut the firewood”

(Miguel de Unamuno.- Spain)

 

The cold months of the year are here. In spite of global warming and changes in the weather patterns, we see the need to make sure that we keep ourselves warm and ready to continue the flow of daily life.  

Preparation brings along a gratifying sense of anticipation. Just as the family of days long gone relished at the sight of a high and well stocked pile of wood, so do we as we hit shopping mall after shopping mall lusting after some much coveted brand name. The warmth of the hearth is at hand well before winter massages us with its piercing touch. 

We focus on ourselves. Our needs and our comforts they guide us through our shopping sprees.  As dutiful tour guides, they point their fingers to the signs we must follow: bargains, designer clothing, chic ads, catching tunes, fancy gadgets. 

And we forget those who do not have such comforts. In the past, landless peasants did not have a forest to go and get their wood unless they were ready to meet the fury of some feudal master and his henchmen. They could not afford the reassuring sense of faith that Spanish poet Miguel de Unamuno muses on. 

They still cannot. We do not call them landless peasants anymore. They go as a group by other names. Some feel tempted to stamp on them the label “heavy burden.” Therefore, they should be dealt with as such: a cumbersome load to get rid of. As for the rest of us, we just ignore them. We also drag our own excess baggage. Shopping binges have this tendency to metamorphose into weighty balances that transform themselves into endless sleepless nights. We do not have room for any extra burdens. 

However, climate changes are not making life any easier for those who have no place to go, no hearth to huddle by. The poor, they still are with us. To them the good news of God’s joy and salvation still is being preached, since Jesus’ days in Nazareth till today, “even with words, if necessary” as Francis of Assisi taught us. The disadvantaged, they should also cut their firewood and anticipate the warmth of a much needed hearth.