Strangers

Something happened in our garden last night. Four youngsters did it. Two were caught and two managed to escape.
As one Sister was explaining to us this morning what happened, I heard a spontaneous question from somewhere: "Are these boys Italians?"
(Please note that I live in Rome.)
My instant reaction to this was to say to myself, "what a stupid question!".
And yes, I believe i t is. Our spontaneous remarks reveal what is in our heart. Jesus says, "words flow out of what fills the heart" (Mt 12:34). I suddenly thought that this Sister has a very negative view of foreigners, which is somewhat the case in many societies. But I could be wrong.
Anyway I was led to reflect on our tendency to think of others either as a threat or as inferior to us.
Again, I could be wrong.
But if I look closely in my own heart. This tendency is really very spontaneous. The other is always seen as wrong, as a threat to eradicate, as an inferior to subdue. This is the initial tendency. But we can always make the journey and not allow our lives to be conditioned by this initial reaction.
It is only by God's grace that we can be sincere in looking at ourselves and seeing our prejudices. It is only God who can convert our hearts and turn them from stone into flesh.
But we've got to do our homework too.
I think that the first thing to develop is "awareness" of what our heart tells us, of our feelings, of the sentiments that something or someone stimulates in us. We have to be very honest in naming them.
Another thing would be to hold our tongue. We don't always have to say what is in our mind, excusing ourselves in the name of freedom.
Still another thing to do would be to interact more with people without any agenda in mind; that is, relate just for the pure joy of relating with people. This will help us to see others not as competitors to crush but as human beings just like us, with their own fears, joys, dreams.
Lastly, pray. Pray Our Father that He may give us a magnanimous heart like his, "who causes his sun to rise on the bad as well as the good, and sends down rain to fall on the upright and the wicked alike" (Mt 5:45).
When we learn to see the other no longer as a stranger but as a brother or a sister, then the night is over and the day has begun.