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Bearing One Another's Burdens

by Bro. David Brokke

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Today we stopped by Ecce Homo Church in Jerusalem for Mass and then went to the Israel Museum filled with fine art, history, archaeological discoveries, and ancient texts. But something else caught my attention today.

I surprised myself today. While walking in the market in Old Town Jerusalem I was stuck in a line of people outside a store, when the store clerk kept nudging me forward telling me to get out of the way. Because he kept pushing for me to go forward, my bag got caught on one of his displays and it made it move a bit out of place. The man then accused me, raising his voice, "See, look what you did!" I snapped back, "Well, maybe you shouldn't have been pushing me!" He reacted, I reacted once more with a snide comment. Nothing horrible, but certainly nothing that was kind nor patient. I looked around to see if others were laughing at what I had said, and when I saw no laughter or smiling faces, I realized my mistake. The thing that surprised me was that my reaction was not my own typical reaction, it was someone else's.

Community living is funny like that, I should know, I live in a small community of four brothers and three priests at our SOLT House of Studies in Mexicantown Detroit. When you live in such close quarters with people day in and day out you begin to pick up their mannerisms, their catchphrases, their reactions, their sense of humor, their habits, the good as well as the bad.

This pilgrimage is no exception to that rule. We all have gotten along really well and have had many blessed times in growing in our friendship and fraternity with one another. This isn't to say that there haven't been times of small annoyances or small disagreements, but by and large, we've really come together as a class in a more united way.

Yet with that growth in unity comes a sharing of graces as well as a sharing of burdens. When someone makes a big deal about something it can easily become a big deal for everybody. When one member suffers because of the death of a family member all suffer together, like when Perrin's uncle passed away, we all carried that with him. When someone reacts in anger or snaps back with a demeaning or sassy attitude rather than responding with patience and charity, it can begin a dangerous cycle of reactions rather than thoughtful and charitable responses. When your roommate loves to sleep in and you do too, it makes it that much harder to get out of bed in the morning (Love you Rodney!) But on the other side, this also means that when I see my brother kneel with devotion and such deep faith, I too cannot but help grow in faith with him. When I see a brother reading Scripture on his own, I am encouraged to bring my Bible with me to read a verse here and a verse there on the go. When I see a brother constantly fingering his Rosary beads throughout the day, I am encouraged to offer up a Hail Mary or the Jesus prayer more frequently. You see, we are our brother's keeper. This is what it means to be members of the one Body of Christ. This is what it means to grow as a family, for all of us are products, in one way or another of our environment, of our families, of our friends. But still we do not have to be completely controlled by our environment, our surroundings, our background, or our friends. And this is the challenge: to rise above others' faults and reactions as well as our own, and to chose virtue when our habits have continually chosen vice. Others force me to make a choice: to sink down into my reactionary self or to rise above myself, to come out of myself, and to go beyond what I would normally do. I must therefore, if I am to follow Christ, become better not only for myself, but also for my brothers. Because everyone here has shown me by their example, in one way or another, that when you live virtuously, it will inspire others little by little to become that person they know God has always called them to be. This is the beauty and challenge of community. This is the beauty and challenge of family. This is the beauty and challenge of relationship.

Bro. David Brokke

Brother David Brokke is a graduate seminarian and a member of the Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity (SOLT).

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Sacred Heart Major Seminary is a Christ-centered Catholic community of faith and higher learning committed to forming leaders who will proclaim the good news of Christ to the people of our time. As a leading center of the New Evangelization, Sacred Heart serves the needs of the Archdiocese of Detroit and contributes to the mission of the universal Church.