People of sound judgement do not enjoy being ill-treated or humiliated; only a masochist will find pleasure in it. But we do tend to show it by what we do to provoke admiration and gratitude; we presume what we try in our work, in our family and of the things we have to bear with for others in our daily life. We lament not being recognized sufficiently. Our works and sufferings are our trophies.
On the other hand, a mother hides her pain from her children and husband and not making them suffer; she plays down the importance of what she does because she considers her work as her duty for them. All this is the fruit of her love. When she loves, she accepts the necessary renunciations and sacrifices. On the contrary, the very minimum contrary thing is converted into an unsolvable mountain if it is to confront some unknown or unwanted person. Selfishness is strong but it can be overcome by love, not by looking at oneself and the suffering person.
Often our lamentations become ridiculous if we don´t pay attention to the situations of so many people suffering without the basic needs for their survival. And if we face ourselves with Jesus, only then can we react as Gabriel Mistral expresses, “On this evening, Christ of Calvary, I come to you to pray for my sickly body; but on seeing you, my eyes are looking from your body to mine with shame. How to explain to you my loneliness when you are raised up on the cross and left alone? How to explain to you that I don´t have love, when your heart is torn? And I only pray not to ask you anything but to be here with your deathly image and continue learning that sorrow is just the holy key of your sacred door. Amen”.
Given a person in need, when you have to make some small sacrifice for someone who needs your assistance or help, do you think mainly in yourself or in what you can do (more or less) to answer his need or his problem?