On the night of Christmas
African families had assembled on the Esplanade of the
Invalides in Paris while the night was illuminated by decorative
lights on this Christmas night.
City Hall officials had promised rehousing. These families had
believed these promises and dreamed it would come true. What
a wonderful Christmas present it would be to have a real home
for the holidays!
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Their deception was great. Because a roof is a right. What is being done for the right to housing? |
A woman expressed her anger: ''we have been waiting 12 years for housing. I have 6 children. We live in a two-roomed apartment. It is very expensive and we are not allowed to cook. All we hear are promises but nothing happens''.
| A Muslim organization ''la Chorba'' was offering tea and biscuits to the enjoyment of the children. |
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I had the feeling of being in a living nativity scene,
a real scene of Bethlehem. The families were outdoors because
there was no place for them.
Like today in Bethlehem, a wall was built, a wall of incomprehension
and division between the families and the authorities.
- The love of a first born
child
One after another I met two friends that became fathers of a first-born child. " I have to tell you that I am the most happy of men" told me Emmanuel. " Me, I did not want to have a child and I'll be soon be 38 years old, and I wonder how I could have waited so long! ".
" It is just incredible! " said Djamel. " I could not imagine such happiness; it goes beyond anything that I could imagine; it cannot be described in words ".
I am preparing the baptism for a couple that I had celebrated their wedding. For 5 years they had been consulting doctors to be able to have a baby. They had tried everything. When they were on the verge of giving up, the child came: the long awaited child!
You can imagine the place the child has in their hearts and in their lives. Nothing is as before. This couple is completely transformed. Their faces gleam with love.
During the celebration of the baptism, I told them my feelings: " I have been struck by the incredible love you both have for your child.You illustrate the way God loves each and every one of us. They were aware of this. Because of their child, they discovered another face of God: that of love. 
At City Hall
In the main hall of Paris City Hall, a woman city councillor wearing the tricolour sash greeted two men coming to pronounce their declaration of solidarity. I know one of them who works in an organization for the homeless. It is impressive to see them build their emotional future and their relationships. They make their own way. The important thing for them is the contractual relationship that unites them. Relations prevail over traditional models as if the natural order did not exist anymore, that one referring to the transcendental authority. They want authenticity and not conformity.
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Listening to the words of the city councillor, I learned what had been recently introduced in the declaration like the recognition of married homosexual couples. |
It is not a question of tolerance but of rights. In society, everyone can realize his objective right to happiness. Is it not the role of democracy to affirm equality of rights for all individuals? To value engagement and responsibility? It is a considerable cultural change. A revolution. The public, of course, applauded to these words.
Companions of the night
What a lovely name for an organization that comes to the assistance to people who have difficulties during the night. This organization desires to be a link between people of different social status. One night on being invited to talk about people being excluded from society, I was in front of an audience being composed of ''homeless people''. It was a joy for me to be amongst them. I had just begun to talk when one of them asked me a question that had nothing to do with my speech. Another one interrupted him to talk about something completely different.
I smiled to see them one after the other trying to speak out in the hope to continue on talking. Fortunately, the moderator, a man of experience, was there to calm them down. In their words, one could find pearls of great value. 
" When I am living on the streets, I resent people asking me: Where are you going to sleep tonight? That is no concern of theirs. For me, the question I am asking myself is: where am I going to wake up tomorrow morning? ".
" Me, I have been living on the streets for many years, and I do not consider myself as a poor; because I know people, I talk with them, I relate to them. But people who have no relationship with others are the poor ones".