As I’ve mentioned on several occasions, our family had to relocate from Lima, Peru, to the southernmost part of South America (Buenos Aires, Argentina) in early 2022. To date, our oldest daughters, Mariana and Fátima, still live there, pursuing their university studies.

On this occasion, I want to share a story of helping and serving the sick and forgotten, which began as a joyful game, partly without measuring the risk, if that’s the right term. It began when my eldest daughter, Mariana, who was in the last quarter of 2024, participated in a pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Luján, patron saint of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

In this regard, on this pilgrimage called “for the sick,” my daughter had the opportunity to meet an elderly man, whom we’ll call Juan, who lived in a shelter for sick people with no known immediate family. She offered to visit him and bring him some information. For this reason, she asked him for the name of the facility where he lived and its address. Therefore, Mariana, along with a friend of the same age and from a parish, spread several flyers on social media requesting help in good condition (clothing, medicine, and other items). This, which began as a game, was very well received. I know this firsthand, as our house became the collection center. They received various donations, including wheelchairs and crutches. What they didn’t realize is that the place was in La Matanza, the largest and most populated municipality in the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Region. And that it suffers from many material, physical, and spiritual deficiencies, which is reflected in a growing wave of insecurity.

However, once the real shock of these two young women, having gone to an unknown place without any guide, was over, they returned home happier than a clam. Their words, and especially their faces, showed that they had shared moments of genuine joy and received far more than they had imagined and far more than they had given, in terms of material things.

In the wake of this true story from late November 2024, I want to bring some ideas for all of us to reflect on, starting with myself.

• From our place in society, whether as an employee, independent worker, entrepreneur, SME business owner, or large company, we can make a difference. We can’t just say, “I’ve paid my taxes, now it’s someone else’s turn.”
• Seeking to give meaning or purpose to your life, I encourage you to joyfully share whatever little or much you have with the person closest to you, whether in your family, neighborhood, club, or work.
• Our country and our capital city have many needs. I’m not suggesting you donate money; you can volunteer your time, or even do something as simple as say hello and smile at the less fortunate person you see on your walk.
• Giving your time joyfully, through service to others, is priceless. It fills your soul.

Today, I hear more and more people say that forty is the new twenty and sixty is the new forty. So, if this is true, I recall what Pope Leo told young people in Rome during the Jubilee of 2025: “Be the salt of the earth and the light of the world in your families, work, and surroundings.”

Finally, remember that salt has several properties, including keeping food healthy and giving it flavor. Similarly, light illuminates and eliminates darkness. For all these reasons, I invite you to embrace the values ​​associated with service, charity, sharing, and more, making these actions, which are good in themselves, contagious. I assure you that you will receive more, much more, than you can imagine.

Come on, let’s keep rowing against the current!