Universal Love without matrimony

We wanderers, ever seeking the lonelier way, begin no day where we have ended another day; and no sunrise finds us where sunset left us.
Khalil Gibran, The Prophet

The pattern of western movies
During my childhood, and adolescence, I used to like to watch western movies on the television.  Today, thinking back, it is clear to me that these films influenced, I would even say, forged in some way my future. What does a missionary have to do with a cowboy hero you might ask? They are really not all that different; in fact, they share the mystique that moves them, the love for justice and freedom; they only differ in the way they act.

The majority of western movies have a similar narrative: As the movie starts at the sound of a music characteristic of this type of films, we see the cowboy riding his horse in the direction of a town.  Upon his arrival, he quickly notices that there is something wrong happening in that place. The roads are deserted and the few people whom he sees are hiding in fear, behind their windows. Despite sensing a feeling of terror, which hovers in the air, the cowboy rides in, and after tying his horse, walks boldly with self-confidence and in a relaxed manner in the direction of the bar, which he opens with a kick at the swinging doors...

It is there that he encounters the villains who had already killed the sheriff, and all those who had opposed them, and instilled fear in the rest of the townsfolk. While ordering a whisky, from the bartender, he is approached by one of the bandits who challenges him; the whisky usually ends up in the face of the bandit and as soon as he reaches for his pistol, the cowboy has already shot him down and pointed his gun at the rest of the bandits. From this first confrontation it is evident that our protagonist is a tough guy and, unlike other men in the town, is not easily intimidated.

Upon leaving the bar, with the same ease he entered it, he meets the townsfolk and he learns about the seriousness of the situation. He inspires them with confidence and courage, and together they eventually come up with a plan and start to work on the liberation of the town. Oftentimes he teaches them self-defence skills, which they quickly learn, gaining this way confidence in themselves.

As in most movies there has to be some romance to awaken the interest of the viewers, the cowboy movies are no exception. So during the preparations for the final battle, a woman falls in love with the main character, thus starting a romance which unfolds simultaneously with the work of liberation.

Eventually comes the long-awaited day. With the help of the town’s people, the cowboy defeats the villains. Here the pattern of the western movies differs a little; in some movies when the people look for the cowboy to thank him, he is not anywhere to be found, only his silhouette can be seen riding at a gallop against the light of the sunset to the music that was played at the beginning of the film. In others the cowboy stays only long enough to say good-bye to those he loved, and to whom he risked his life, for true love, for truth and for justice, without asking for anything in return.  It is only fitting that the folks offer him to settle there, to be their sheriff, to marry the lady... To this day I haven’t seen any western movie in which the cowboy accepts the townsfolk’s offers and settles down which would be the happy ending everybody is waiting for: “married, had many children and lived happily ever after".

He was offered power, money and love... What more could a person want under the sun? Despite of it all he refuses and does not stay, because justice, truth and peace, to what he is committed, and for what he risks his life, are asking him to remain free... If he were to accept and stay in that town, other towns would not be set free.

Inclusive embrace
Like the cowboy, the missionary loves universally. The entire world is his homeland and humanity is his home. He hungers for Justice and thirsts for Peace. To them, and for them, he lives each moment of his life and is always ready to give everything up, at each one of these moments.

Throughout his life, the missionary strives to love all others, equally and freely, without exception. His objective is not to belong to any one, but to be one with all. In today's society, where so much emphasis is placed on sex and where masculinity became synonymous to sexual performance, a missionary, like Jesus in his lifetime, embodies a non-erotic manner of loving. In a world where so many seek sex without love, the missionaries strive to love without sex.

A closed embrace includes some people, but excludes many others. The missionary does not close his arms around anyone in particular, this is not to say that he loves less intensely. Like a parent with many children, in the here and now of his life, the missionary loves with all intensity the person who stands in front of him, without depleting his love on that person, because like a loving parent he never runs out of love.

Although today's society tends to place sexual instinct at the same level as other individual physical needs, such as eating and drinking, the truth, which few want to admit, is that, while eating and drinking are paramount to the survival of the individual, sexual drive is only paramount to the survival of the species not of the individual.

As in all living beings sexual intercourse is oriented towards the survival of the species. The urge is felt by all so that some will eventually transmit life. Entirely neutral, sexual activity adds nothing, takes away nothing from the individual.

Therefore, the individual does not need the completion of the sexual act to preserve, to affirm or to increase his masculinity or her femininity. Men and women are different as well as complementary to each other in all areas of their masculinity and femininity, not only in their genital organs.

Love can exist and subsist, without sex because there is an infinite number of amorous situations where sex does not apply, and should never apply; on the contrary, sex without love should never happen, it makes no sense, because it transforms and degrades a person into an object of pleasure. Even in the case of consensual sex between adults where one is the object of the other and vice versa.

To love, as St. Thomas Aquinas says, is to desire the greatest good of the other. For this reason the proverb which says "actions speak louder than words" asserts that love manifests better in deeds than in lip service, just like faith. Contrary to what is often said: having sex is not "to make love", because love manifests itself in deeds, grows or dies with and because of them.

Far from being the only way, sexual intercourse is just one of the many ways to say “I love you”; and it does not apply, nor is it lawful, nor moral in many situations to express love in this way. But, even in amorous situations in which the sexual expression is correct and adequate, by itself, it neither adds nor subtracts anything from the level of love existent prior to the expression.

The necessity is to love and be loved
"All you need is love" as the Beatles used to sing in the sixties. In fact, after the basic needs, which exclude sex, to love and be loved is the only necessity and condition without which human life neither exists nor survives. No one will ever reach full maturity, as a human being, if he is not loved unconditionally during childhood and loves unconditionally as an adult.

Whoever in adulthood seeks to be loved, more than to love, is essentially behaving like a child. And since society does not tolerate adults who behave like children, they will seek to be loved in a distorted way, with deceit, manipulation and psychological games; we see this portrayed in the soap operas that occupy the prime time TV.

Since for the one who is mature, to love comes before being loved, he can endure not being loved sometimes; what he cannot endure is not to have an outlet for all his love capacity. Jesus in his earthly life, sought always to love and to serve the poorest and the most marginalized, and he cried over Jerusalem because his love was not accepted…. Jesus did nothing in order to be loved but neither did he reject it when love came his way.

Universal Love, Universal Parenthood
Every man and every woman have a natural vocation to be a father and mother. The missionary is called to fulfill this, not in a biological or physical way, but in a psychological and spiritual manner. Even for those who are biological parents, the most important thing is not the brief moment of conception, but the long years of the educational process.

The missionary is not a father by bringing more children into the world, but by contributing to the education and humanization of those who are already here. His or her parenthood is not measured by the number of biological children they have, but by the lives they have positively influenced. Their mission is to inspire others to live in a more just, peaceful, and fulfilling way.

The missionary, like the solitary cowboy in films, never stays in one place. They continue on their path, carrying with them an insatiable desire for justice, their love for truth, and their thirst for peace. For them, life is not about settling down in one place but about moving forward, freeing the captives, and proclaiming a love that knows no borders or conditions.

And just like in cowboy films, their departure leaves an indelible mark. Although they don’t seek glory or recognition, the love they have sown flourishes in those they have touched, transforming hearts and entire communities. In this way, their mission continues, beyond their own life, in every act of love and justice they have inspired.

The missionary loves without expecting anything in return. They love in freedom, with arms always open, ready to embrace the next person who crosses their path. Because, for them, life is an adventure where love is the only compass that matters. Of the missionary, it can be said, as it was said of Jesus: "He went about doing good."

Conclusion - The missionary, like the solitary cowboy, is driven by a universal and selfless love, seeking justice and peace without being tied to anything or anyone. Their life is a continuous act of giving, where love is expressed through deeds beyond conventional relationships. Committed, but not attached.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

The real cause of poverty

Oxfam, the international confederation of 17 organizations that fight against poverty in the world, declared at the world economic forum in Davos 2015 that, at the present rate, next year the 1% of humanity will own more than the 99% that is 52% of the world wealth. Faced with this situation, we would like to ask Mr. Adam Smith, father of modern capitalism, where is the invisible hand that should seek the common interest when each one is seeking his own self-interest.

The contradiction of capitalism
While strolling along the beach a tourist, from a rich country, came upon a fisherman relaxing in his boat, peacefully smoking his pipe, as the sun started to descend into the horizon.
"Why are you not fishing?" asked the rich man.
"I’m done for the day," answered the fisherman.
"And why don’t you go again?" continued the rich man.
"Because I've already caught enough for the day".
"And why don't you fish more than you need?" persisted the rich man.
"And what would I do with so much fish?" inquired the fisherman.
"You would sell them and make lots of money; from that you could put an engine on your boat. So you could fish in deeper waters and catch even more fish, then perhaps you could have two boats and have people working for you and you could become rich like me."
"And what would I do then?" asked the fisherman.
"Ah then you could enjoy life," replied the rich man.
"And it’s not that what I’m doing right now?" concluded the fisherman with amusement.

This story is quoted, in one of the books by Anthony de Mello, with the intention of satirizing the capitalist ideology: first we create a surplus of goods; then, based on the deep psychology of human nature, through advertising and marketing we can create fictitious necessities, which lead people to consume more. The consequences of this ideology are:

• Immoral dilapidation of the planet's resources, especially in the poorest countries and without major advantages to them;
• Contamination of human ecosystem with unbreathable toxic gases resulting in greenhouse effect, causing an increase in global temperature and climatic changes, which are already being felt and are of major concern for the future.
• Deterioration of people’s health in richer countries, caused by pollution of the atmosphere, contamination of farmlands, seas and rivers, and by excessive consumption of genetically modified foods, produced with chemical fertilizers, treated with pesticides and processed with dyes and artificial preservatives.
• Widening of the gap between the rich and the poor; the wealth that ever fewer people possess is inversely proportional to the poverty that ever more and more people endure.

The world population has already surpassed 7 billion people. Environmentalists say that, if each one of these 7 billion people were to live like we do in Europe, North America and Australia, the planet could sustain the lives of its inhabitants for only 3 months; then there would be no more resources and the pollution to the sea, the atmosphere and the farmland would be such that life would not be possible.

We can conclude that our way of life is detrimental to the majority of people, who could never attain the same standard of living and is harmful to the planet in which we all live. How can this problem be solved? In order that all the inhabitants of this planet can live with dignity, and with the absolute minimum, the wealthy need to consume less so that the poor could consume the essential. As the wealthy do not want to lower the standard of living they've attained, nor do they want the planet to die, they’ve created mechanisms to make sure that the poor remain poor.

An unjust globalization
This last stage of capitalism has brought economic growth, at planetary level, but did not include uniformly all the inhabitants of the planet. There are mechanisms which make the wealthy nations even richer and the poor nations each time poorer.

The physical principle of communicating vessels tells us that if a reservoir full of water is communicating with one that is almost empty, the water level will eventually become the same in the two vessels. Globalization i.e. the intercommunication between all countries should bring about more equality, but this is not what’s happening; because at the present moment globalization, the flow of goods and people, is not free from impediments unlike in the principle of communicating vessels, but has a valve implanted. A valve is a mechanism that ensures that the flow occurs in only one direction. For example, the duodenum is a valve, between the stomach and the intestine, and its function is to make sure that food passes from the stomach to the intestine, and not return to the stomach.

If globalization followed the natural principle of the communicating vessels, it would be fair, but the existence of a type of "duodenum" between the wealthy countries and the poor ones makes globalization a modern form of exploitation.

Some years ago, the economy replaced politics as the controlling power in the world; now we are witnessing the moment in which finance i.e. making money with money without creating wealth, is replacing economy as the controlling factor. For politics, the world was a forum, a large parliament; for economy, the world was a large market; for finance, the world is simply a casino, where a few win fortunes at the expense of many others not so lucky who, even after gambling away home, spouse and children, were unable to avoid bankruptcy.

Economic-financial feudalism - We are marching blindly in the direction of an economic and financial feudalism. The fusion of large multinational companies, with the resulting monopoly of the entire sectors of the world economy, is threatening democracy; the enormous power, concentrated in the managers of these companies, escapes the criteria and scrutiny of politics and the rulings of the government in the countries where these companies are headquartered and operating.

In democracy the power rests with the people who delegate it, for a period of time, to the politicians; the people can always call them to account.  In this sort of modern feudalism the power of the people is fictitious; the true power rests on the managers of the large companies and corporations; the politicians have no real power in as much as the nowadays kings in constitutional monarchies: they reign but they do not govern. Financed and elected by endogamous elites, the politicians of today are only puppets who implement the financial interests of these managers who prefer not to show their faces and are accountable to no one, because money buys everyone and everything.

In the parliament of any country, sit members who once elected by the people are forced to prostitute for companies, groups and oligarchies so that when the time comes to pass laws, they look after the interests of these big groups, who have paid them under the table, and not the interests of the people who elected them.

Dematerialization of products - We are also witnessing a dematerialization of products. When we buy something we pay each time less for the cost of raw material and each time more for the cost of labour, marketing, advertising, packaging, trademark etc... For example, if the price of a cup of coffee is one euro, only two cents go to who picked the coffee beans, 8 to the owner of the plantation, 10 to transport, 10 to the importer, 10 to the bulk seller, 10 to the processor, 10 to the distributor and 40 to the one who sells it to the consumer. A large number of people who live at the expense of one product... Only this mechanism, by itself, makes the rich consumers live at the expense of the poor producers.

Denationalization of products - The 'made in', labelled on products, is purely fictitious and many products no longer come with this information. Each product is made from parts that are produced in different countries, especially in the poor ones where labour is cheaper and companies can run their businesses as they please without any supervision. For example, Nike used to pay 80 cents, a month, to children in India, who worked round the clock, and then sells the tennis shoes, they made, to United States for $150 American.

From the ecological point of view, it makes no sense that a kilogram of California grapes be exported to Germany by plane, generating in the atmosphere a kilo of carbon dioxide. But it happens... It is also not very logical that crabs, caught in the North Atlantic, be deshelled in Morocco, packaged in Poland and consumed in Germany...

Genesis of Terrorism
Needless to say that this situation, in the world today, is the breeding ground for the perpetual sort of terrorism we have been witnessing since September 11, 2001. Global disparity is fundamentally incompatible with global security. The fact that the "World Trade Center" was targeted for terrorism, is not a mere coincidence.

To fight against terrorism only through the army and police is to repeat, again and again, the legend of the dragon with 7 heads: for each head that was cut off 7 others emerged. The more effective fight against terrorism, throughout the world, is to work towards justice and peace.

Healthy economy at the expense of workers' health
We are starting to break away from the past balanced distribution of time: 8 hours of work, plus 8 hours of rest, plus 8 hours of social activities, when the hours of work are for many people 10 and up to 12 hours per day, we are returning to the same conditions of the first industrial revolution. The excessive production led to excessive consumption and to physical and psychological illnesses, because it reduced human beings to production and consumption machines.

This leaves little time for important aspects of life such as rest, family life, friends and amusements. Since now, to survive and pay the bills, both parents have to work and children are at school the whole day, and family only meets on weekends. The consequences are poor marital relations that end up in divorce rates increasingly higher each year and poorly educated children who end up in institutions.

Jesus said that the Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The economy is at the service of man and not the other way around. What is more important: the health of the economy or the health of the man, who sustains the economy? We could be a lot healthier, and existentially happier, if we were to work less and consume less. The economy is in fact healthy, in the western world, but at the cost of a man who is getting sicker each time, at all levels. To this concern, never sounded so truthful the words that Jesus once said: For what profits a man who gains the whole world, if he loses his life?” (Mk. 8:36).

Fr- Jorge Amaro, IMC