We are slowly coming to the end of the summer season. This summer, for my family at least, has been a little difficult as we have had an elder who needed much care. The entire family has helped, and what a blessing this has been. Families and family members all have their personalities and needs. I have been thinking about the many souls who have no family to support them in a time of crisis or old age. They are so dependent on others for help and care. Often, this is an agency or a social organization that provides care for people. This is commendable, but can often be professionally institutional. In other words, cold and functional, the human side of conversation and interest in the situation is relegated to a HIPAA distance.

I look at our Christian community, and often, few outreach programs serve this group of individuals. As a hospice Chaplain, I have seen the needs of these persons and have found few who are willing to visit and care. Some congregations have excellent programs. I am thinking of the many cards that are sent as a ministry to those who have no family to visit, or whose family is too far away. Some churches visit their elders, but what about those who are not Church members but need a smile and a cookie baked just for them? As Christians, we are to SEE our neighbor, not just Church members.

Loneliness is at epidemic proportions in the industrial world, not just in the U.S. The British government has established a Secretary who sits with the Prime Minister. This person tries to deal with the social problems caused by loneliness. Loneliness is a state that occurs in a human when there are no others to attend, care, visit, or help those who have no relatives or immediate family. Another way to say this is that these people are socially isolated.

My brain jumps to a part of a poem written by John Donne (1572-1631). “No man is an island”. We are all dependent on each other. If you want to punish a human being severely, put them in an isolation cell for days or months. The mental suffering and lack of human interaction are more intense than any deprivation one can imagine. Solitary confinement is used in prisons as the ultimate punishment. Yet, we have elders, or mentally challenged individuals, or a long list of souls who sit day by day, ultimately, by themselves, and begin to think no one cares, and depression and anxiety set in.

Jesus tells us in a parable in the gospel of Matthew about the human needs that connect all human beings, regardless of belief, nationality, or race. We are all human persons, and it is our everyday needs that unite and allow us to see the “other”. To speak not just words but actions that speak for us. ”Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.  For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,  I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ ( Matt 25: 34-36). The rest of this scripture passage ends with the bewildered asking the question,” When did we ever see or realize others needed our help”? Compassion and a sensitive life lived in community know and see those souls. Christians are charged with this as a command. However, any human can see needs and respond to help. Why, because we share in a common humanity. We need others as they need us.

Today, our lives are mainly lived in a consumer society, and the last thing we are sensitive to is the needs of the people around us. We are all striving for things that make us look better, healthier, and richer. We often do not see the elderly in the apartment house who live alone and needs a cheer or a home-baked cookie. “Well, a cookie would take my time and mess my kitchen; I have other things to do besides think of that old man down the hall.” Really, is this really who we are? Maybe taking that time and baking those cookies would allow us a moment to see our neighbor, share a laugh, and grow richer in our humanity. Maybe for a brief hour in a day, we can recognize that we are here on this earth to learn love’s greatest gift, in giving of ourselves, we receive.

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:40)