The openness to the other which is the mark of the true disciple finds its authentic expression in Community. For Carmelites the times of solitude and silence were a preparation for coming together in Eucharist and meals eaten in common. When we live in a society that is fragmented, violent and suspicious, the reality of people living in a community of friendship is a potent sign. It becomes a source of healing and a reminder that there are alternatives to the scramble for power, wealth and money. In the post-Communist world there is a terrible hardness that flows from the philosophy of the unbridled market.
Capital comes before people and serious inequalities occur.
A booming economy is often at the cost of an underclass. If the market sets the agenda all too many can be excluded. In Britain today access to tertiary education is restricted as the poor cannot buy their way in, while in Ireland wealth in one area is on the back of an excluded urban poor. In all of this human relationships suffer as for some quality of life is seriously eroded. The stranger at the door, the refugee is feared and a new form of nationalism is quick to value difference rather than celebrate cultural diversity.