There is another group of people whom Francis admires, and
this one has nothing to do with social stratification such as marital status
or sexual preference. These are special people who go beyond the call of duty,
day in and day out, because they live on what Francis has described as the “frontier.”
Here, Bergoglio uses a very personal example to explain the
term: “The frontiers are many. Let us think of the religious sisters living in
hospitals. They live on the frontier. I am alive because of one of them. When I
went through my lung disease at the hospital, the doctor gave me penicillin and
streptomycin in certain doses. The sister who was on duty tripled my doses
because she was daringly astute; she knew what to do because she was with ill
people all day. The doctor, who really was a good one, lived in his laboratory.
The sister lived on the frontier and was in dialogue with it every day.” You
can’t lead from the back, Francis is saying. You have to lead from the front,
where the struggle doesn’t end just because the leader has left. So he lives on
the frontier himself….
Although frontier – or new frontier – were popular words and
phrases for John F. Kennedy when he campaigned for president, Francis has a
slightly different meaning for the word today. In American parlance, he means pushing
the envelope by doing courageous things on the front lines. Don’t be afraid to
push yourself beyond limits that are self-imposed or placed on you by society
or convention…
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