a parentis loci

In the movie Scent of a Woman, when Al Pacino became 'a parentis loci' to the student, Chris O'Donell, he simply returned the parental love he had been given the previous few days. Parenting may be a role but 'a parentis loci' is a choice and therefore, often a gift of Grace! When you give that gift to your old parent, your failing friend, the stranger on the corner, you have returned favor you have been given. We all have been given a spoon to take from the bowl what we need. To use your spoon to feed another, when you have been fed, is to take the step of faith that the bowl will be filled again! It's always a risk! The cynic in Al Pacino's role, smacked of, "Life is a series of missed opportunities, and then you die"! He was fed from the bowl and then found his spoon! He fed someone else. Then he could feed himself!