|
By: Sal Lema
In February, as the snow and cold was taking its turn crossing the country with wave after wave of
blowing, drifting and biting storms, I sat comfortably in my office trying to cope without getting a case of winter blahs. The ground hog had predicted it; there would be six more weeks of winter. Oh how I longed to feel the warm sunlight of spring. It was during this past hard Chicago winter that I had a visitor, one that would change my outlook on life. The Carmelite who visited was Father Jerry Payea. Father Jerry is a priest who lives the Carmelite charism. He is an absolutely modest guy, who gives of himself graciously and is very dedicated to serving others. It had been about three years since I last saw Father Jerry. I asked him to stop by. I wanted to know how he was doing and a little about Lurin, Peru, where he serves.
Father Jerry is a novice director for the Peru Commissariat. Previously he had been pastor at a Parish in Lima, Peru. I asked how large was the parish that he had worked in? He said, about 50,000. I couldn’t fathom how he could handle such a huge parish. Seeing my shocked facial expression, Father Jerry stated, ”That’s why I could only be pastor for three years.”
If having a flock the size of a small city wasn’t enough to handle, other parts of our conversation told me what a dedicated man Father Jerry is. I asked him how the weather is there? “Not bad, except for the cold,” he said. Does it get real cold there, I asked. “No,” Father Jerry said, “but without heat the dampness makes it feel colder.” It was then that the space heater in my office cranked on. Hearing it Father mentioned that the temperature doesn’t get below fifty degrees but there is no way to keep warm. Electric, he said is very expensive, so space heaters are not used. The people just live with the cold. Peru has no heat systems at all. Some areas have air conditioners for summer, but none of them have heating plants.
I asked about other basics, water for example. “The water is good in Peru,” he said. “You just dig down three feet and there it is.”
When Father Jerry left my office, I felt ashamed. Here I was complaining about the cold, when I had a means of keeping warm. But Father Jerry continues to live in Peru and serve the thousands there and never complains about the lack of basic necessities.
That day, I shut off my space heater for good and vowed to never buy another bottle of water again. We talk about thinking Green and saving the planet. It was time for me to give up something that I really did not need. I had grown accustomed to keeping warmer and having the convenience of bottled water that I never gave it a thought as to the waste I was fostering. As spring comes to the United States, autumn is arriving in Peru with winter right around the corner. I ask your prayers for Father Jerry and the people of Peru and every country whose citizens live in poverty without what we consider as the basic necessities of life. I vow this summer to consider my wasteful practices, turn up the thermostat and pledge to work towards a Greener world. |
