Many would recall the famous Australian television soap opera “Neighbours”, which was created by TV excutive Reg Waston.
“Neighbours” focused on realistic stories and demonstrated how adults and teenagers can talk openly and solve their problems collectively.
The idea, although rosy in theory is hardly lived in practice. At least in some quarters. In fact, an interesting piece entitled “Everybody needs good neighbours ... but few seem to have them”, written by Jill Insley on “The Guardian” newspaper shows quite the opposite. What emerges from her contribution is that not only neighbour-related problems affect more than 10 million Britons but also that 10% of people tackled a problem neighbour by becoming a 'nuisance' themselves! Painful to believe and even more to digest!
Perhaps they should listen to Richard Stallman’s reflection: “Anything that prevents you from being friendly, a good neighbour, is a terror tactic.”
Me too have come to know an interesting Neighbour whom I am glad to introduce to you. My Neighbour likes to present himself through charming statuettes. I know that you have already understood on who I am referring to. Yes, I am speaking about the beautiful statuette of Baby Jesus which is currently adorning our little cute corridor at the Chaplain’s Quarters in Mater Dei Hospital. Jesus is lovingly accompanied by his mother Mary, who is constantly adoring him, together with her inseparable spouse Joseph, whom the Eternal Father has designed as the putative father of his Son Incarnate. Next to Jesus’ manger there are a donkey and an ox.
This Neighbour vividly represents God made man. He came down from heaven and was born from the Virgin Mary to save me. Contrary to some neighbours, at least those portrayed by Insley’s article, he makes himself present to me to the point of showing his vulnerability to me.
It is a joy for him if I manage to care for him.
Whenever I see this special Neighbour I am easily reminded of Pope Benedict XVI’s touching homily which he delivered during Midnight Mass of 2006 in Saint Peter’s Basilica. “Nothing miraculous, nothing extraordinary, nothing magnificent is given to the shepherds as a sign. All they will see is a child wrapped in swaddling clothes, one who, like all children, needs a mother’s care; a child born in a stable, who therefore lies not in a cradle but in a manger. God ’s sign is the baby in need of help and in poverty… God’s sign is simplicity. God’s sign is the baby. God’s sign is that he makes himself small for us. This is how he reigns. He does not come with power and outward splendour. He comes as a baby – defenceless and in need of our help. He does not want to overwhelm us with his strength. He takes away our fear of his greatness. He asks for our love: so he makes himself a child. He wants nothing other from us than our love, through which we spontaneously learn to enter into his feelings, his thoughts and his will – we learn to live with him and to practise with him that humility of renunciation that belongs to the very essence of love.
God made himself small so that we could understand him, welcome him, and love him. He became a child, so that the Word could be grasped by us. In this way God teaches us to love the little ones. In this way he teaches us to love the weak”.
Streams of tears emanate from eyes whenever I go out of my room and face directly my unique little Neighbour. Not in the statuette but in the patients at Mater Dei who constantly seek my priestly care!
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap