BIS #2961 BISHOP THOMAS DABRE CROSSES THE ROAD TO BE NEIGHBOUR

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BOSCO INFORMATION SERVICE #2961

BISHOP THOMAS DABRE CROSSES THE ROAD TO BE NEIGHBOUR

Oscar Lobo

PUNE, JUNE 06, 2012: In Luke's gospel, chapter 10 verses 25-37, Jesus narrates the story of the Good Samaritan, in response to the question: And who is my neighbour?  Instead of answering the question directly, Jesus ends by asking: Which of these three, do you think, was neighbour to the man who fell into the hands of robbers? (v 36).The neighbour, Jesus makes clear, is not the injured man but the Samaritan, who crossed the road, to help and give him the assistance he needed. My neighbour, then, is the one who crosses the road for me.


His Lordship Thomas Dabre, bishop of Pune, was motivated by this gospel teaching, when he crossed the road to visit the families of the victims of the tragic accident on the Mumbai-Pune expressway in the early hours of Monday May 28, 2012. Located in Nagpur Chawls and Laxmi Nagar both areas which come under the Sacred Heart Parish, Yerwada. None of the families were Catholic, but he reached out to them in their hour of need.


As His Lordship prayed and spoke words of comfort, laying his hands on their heads, one was reminded of the words of Fr Henri Nouwen, speaking about how joy and sorrow coalesce in human beings, like the sad-, and happy-faced clowns at a circus who bring tears and laughter: mourning and dancing are never fully separated. Mourning may turn into dancing and dancing into mourning without showing a clear point where one ends and the other starts.


The horrific accident - which claimed the lives of twenty seven persons, with several others critically injured, occurred when a wedding party was returning to Pune from Mumbai, in two mini buses and a SUV, along with the newly-wed couple. One of the buses had a flat, and the driver moved to the side of the expressway to change the tyre. The other bus and the SUV halted alongside. There was an air of joyful anticipation, as some got down to stretch their legs, recounting incidents of the happy occasion earlier that day. Others relaxed between the two buses.


Suddenly, a recklessly-driven speeding truck rammed into the buses crushing those between, and went on to knock down some of those ambling nearby. And the early morning skies were rent with screams and moaning. The media pictures of the crushed vehicles, the strewn bodies, captured the mayhem vividly, along with the dazed and vacant looks of survivors. So different from the chattering and singing of those same people a little earlier!

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