leela_ramdeen@hotmail.com

www.rcsocialjusticett.org

The journey after Easter

It’s the day after Easter Sunday. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. This has been an extraordinary Lenten season for me. It has led me to new insights and new ways of being. Through all the difficulties that we face in life we must hold on to the truth that Jesus, the light which gave hope and joy to the world, is the hope that never disappoints.

That light can live in each of us. Though shadows gather around and threaten to engulf us, we know that Jesus will come in all His transforming love and power in the Spirit to raise us up to newness of life. Lent truly is a season of dying and rising.

The Easter story is at the heart of Christianity—it tells us who we are and where we are going. Easter is a time to renew our faith; to reflect on the profound effect that the resurrection of Jesus has on our lives. Easter is the promise of our own victory over death. Death does not have the last word. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son to be our saviour. Christ loves our wounded humanity and only He can heal us.

“On this day of your victory over death, may humanity find in you, O Lord, the courage to oppose in solidarity the many evils that afflict it” (Pope John Paul II). I recalled these words as I listened to an amazing American woman, Liz Murray, tell her story on Radio 103.5 last week. I also saw the film, Homeless to Harvard, based on her life. It is a story of hope and success in the midst of degradation, despair and apparent hopelessness.

Liz’s parents were addicts who were hooked on drugs and alcohol. From the age of six years she realised that she had to take responsibility for herself. Social Services were aware of the plight of her family but seemed to have done very little to assist. For the days that she did attend school, Liz was isolated as she was seen by her peers as being smelly, dirty, lice-ridden, etc. She dropped out of school, became homeless but somehow, she never blamed her parents. Her love for her parents is very powerful.

When the family lost their home because they could not pay the rent, her father went to live in a shelter and he contracted HIV/Aids. Her mother also contracted HIV/Aids from using an infected syringe to inject herself with drugs. Liz kept in constant touch with her and helped to look after her. Not only was her mother an addict and a victim of Aids, she was also schizophrenic and in her final years she was almost blind.

Liz saw the world as being divided in two with a line drawn down the middle. On the left are people like herself and her family and on the right are those whom society seems to favour—the wealthy, those families that are not dysfunctional etc. When her mother died from Aids, something welled up inside of Liz and she decided that she wanted to be on the right side of the line. She realised that the only way to get there was through education.

She applied to a school for “special” children. With only 150 students on roll, and with a dedicated teacher to guide and teach her, she was on her way to success. At 16 years old she had not been to high school. She doubled her courses and by dint of hard work covered a four year course in two years. She excelled in her studies and placed first in her class with an average of 95 per cent. Throughout this time her teachers never suspected that she was homeless.

Liz set her sights high and was determined not only to go to college but also to Harvard. She had had an opportunity to visit Harvard on a school trip. Most of the scholarships available were insufficient to cover her fees for college. Then she saw an advertisement for a scholarship for US$12,000 a year for four years being offered by the New York Times. I believe that she was required to write an essay outlining her greatest achievement and to list some of the obstacles she had had to overcome in life in order to succeed.

Liz won the scholarship. She attends Harvard and has her own apartment, paid for by motivational lectures that she delivers. What an incredible spiral of human effort. Throughout her struggles, her hope was never extinguished. She kept the flame of hope burning.

In the book, Scarred by Struggle, Transformed by Hope, American Benedictine Sister Joan Chittister says, “Struggle is the gift of new life in disguise...there is beauty in the dark valleys of life. It is called hope.” She believes that hope is rooted in the past, but believes in the future, for God’s world is in God’s hands and hope is in the struggle.

What moved me deeply while watching the film about Liz’s life is a statement she made as she faced the media on winning the scholarship. When asked if she would change anything in her life, she said that she would give the scholarship and everything else up if she could only have her family back.

Families are the bedrock of society. We must do more to support and strengthen our families. Liz’s story is one of hope. I am on the executive of Credo Foundation—run by the Holy Faith nuns. NGOs such as Credo that run homes, care for many homeless children, eg at Nelson Street and Sophia House. Each child in these homes has a horrendous story of anguish and uncertainty. To meet the needs of children in such situations, society needs to meet the needs of their families. There are too many dysfunctional families in T&T and too little assistance available to deal with issues before there is a total breakdown of these families.

Easter Sunday gave us assurance, encouragement and hope. But we must become Easter people throughout the year. The events of Holy Week and Easter, the death and resurrection of Christ remind us annually of what we are called to be and to do everyday.

Today can be the beginning of a new awakening that Jesus is not dead. He lives for each one of us and can transform our lives. We are called to be witnesses of the risen Christ. You and I must work ceaselessly to build a more just and united T&T/world. Therefore, let us put on our apron of service and trust that His abiding presence will guide us as we journey through life, showing by word and deed that we love Him and we love our neighbour also. May the peace and joy that the Mystery of Easter brings fill us with new life that will bear fruit and enable us to live in peace, unity and harmony.

Leela Ramdeen is Chair of the Catholic Commission for Social Justice