by Fr Jorge Crisafulli, SDB
As a Salesian missionary, I am convinced that the first task of the Church and the Christian community is to proclaim mercy. But it is not enough just to preach it in words. We preach mercy and at the same time we are extremely hard and rigid with the poor, with "sinners", with the ignorant, and the outcast of this world.
Here at Don Bosco Fambul we are in contact every day with the suffering of all kinds of young people. This is the story of Alpha.
A few nights ago, I was sound asleep when the phone rang at 2.00 a.m. Outside the cathedral there was a young man bloodied and unconscious. He had a broken arm, his face disfigured by punches, an ear cut in half and many wounds and blows all over his body. We took him to the hospital at full speed. The nurses and the doctor told us that, given the signs, he must have been a thief caught "in flagrante delicto" and that he was barely alive. Here, thieves are judged and sentenced to death on the spot.
The nurse said: "Father, why waste time and money on these people? They are a social evil. Let them rot in prison." I replied: "In Don Bosco Fambul we believe in young people. We know that in everyone there is a good streak, and that 'nothing is impossible for God'. His grace can turn a thief into a saint in an instant." She looked at me in disbelief and continued to sew back the severed ear with indifference and, moreover, without an anaesthetic.
At 5.30 a.m. we brought Alpha, the "hunted" thief, to our house and we gave him a plate of food, some medicine for pain relief, and a mat to sleep on.
Alpha is 22 years old. He is an orphan and has tuberculosis. Already he has started treatment. He wants to study to learn a profession and change his lifestyle. Today, his disfigured face is back to normal, and I am able to discover so much inner beauty through his eyes. When his arm is healed, he will begin studying to learn a trade in a workshop in Freetown and will continue his rehabilitation process.
As Don Bosco used to say, there are no bad boys. There are only boys that no one has yet seen the potential of love and goodness that exists in their hearts. What is the difference between Alpha and me? In his eyes I see myself. By his silence he is saying implicitly to me that in my heart there is also immense potential for good and for evil, for violence and for peace, for selfishness and for self-giving.
