Fighting Negligence

"Fighting Negligence"
Lent 2009 – Day 5 (Mar 2)

By Deshi Ramadhani, SJ

A very dear person whom I always cherish affectionately in my heart gave me a new rosary. But, there is more. She also gave me a small pocket to keep the rosary, and with her own hands she made on it simple embroidery of my initials T A D R. I was touched by her sincere care and love. From then on, the rosary inside the pocket has almost become inseparable “attire” together with my glasses, watch, wallet, keys, and handkerchief wherever I go. (Well, I should honestly confess, that the list should also include my two mobile phones!). I thought that I would keep it for the rest of my life, but I was wrong. On a road trip I lost the pocket.

I lost a very precious gift from a very precious person who had stamped her presence, care, and love on it. I know she was hurt, and I still feel an aching shame about it. However, she gave me right away a new pocket for my rosary. This time there is no embroidery, but knowing my tendency toward negligence, she had sewn a button to make it easier for me to keep the pocket safely closed. That experience taught me a great deal about the harmful effect of negligence.

Negligence, or omission, is not less serious than action. So we say at the beginning of Mass: “…in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do…” The final judgment in Matthew speaks precisely about negligence: “…in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me…” If I can clearly tell how much pain I have inflicted on the person I love by my negligence, so much more is the pain we can inflict on Jesus by our negligence. Sin is not only about “the bad we commit,” but also “the good we omit.” In other words, if I know that I have to do what is good and necessary, but I don’t do it, I sin before God. I knew, and I wanted to keep the pocket, but when I fell asleep, I neglected what I should have done with the precious pocket. People in the Gospel know and want to do good to Jesus, but they neglect because they do not recognize Jesus in the poor and the outcast whom they meet daily.

If you are a mother and you know that you have to give your daughter a medicine, but due to a long conversation on the phone with your pal you forget to do it, you sin! If as a priest I know that I have to prepare my Sunday homily, but because I was absorbed in my favorite TV show and forget to do it, I definitely sin! A long phone conversation or watching your favorite movie in itself is not necessarily a sin. Your negligence to do what is good (here, to give medicine to your sick daughter or to prepare a Sunday homily) is certainly a sin. And on, and on, and on…you can name your own negligence.

There is more. When we neglect to do what is good, we neglect to do it to Jesus. My negligence hurts Him who has stamped her presences, care, and love in other persons we meet, no matter how their appearance is. In this case, negligence is a negligence to love. My lost rosary pocket, your sick daughter, your desk where you prepare your Sunday homily, and many simple things and persons around us, if we are attentive enough, cry aloud to remind us of our call to love. The conversion in this area is possible. It is offered right into your heart by Jesus during this Lent.

For any hurts and wounds caused by my negligence, I beg your forgiveness, and I pray God to do the healing.