Jan 18

One of our neighbors let the children in our physical therapy program come ride his horses!

Wendy, Christine and Ashley are amazing physical therapists. 

                This past week Omar and I went with Padre José Maria, a Franciscan priest, to give Communion to three of our elderly neighbors who are suffering.

                The first man Ignatius was a complete contradiction to his health. The way he knelt down and worshiped God physically present in his living room was beyond any of our years of understanding. Ignatius was very feeble in what we could see, yet there was a reality in him that cannot be divided, measured or muted. The idea of death does not apply to him. His soul stands very tall.

                The second man we visited was José. He was incredibly thin. He wasn’t wearing a shirt and said that he hadn’t eaten in eight days because he couldn’t keep any food down. José cannot be reduced to his physical state. “Man does not live by bread alone. (Matt. 4:4)”

                I was sitting on the floor next to him. He put his hand on my shoulder with fingers that no longer straighten and looking me in the eye said, “I’m sorry I cannot offer you a chair.”

                The third house was on a dangerous street. There were two young but tough looking guys sitting by a wooden fence. Everyone else was giving them a wide birth, not Padre. He starts getting closer and closer and I’m wondering if he picked up on this social safety discretion. The third house was their house. When they realized Padre was there to visit their grandma, they changed, stood up and waved us in. Maria’s suffering brought out the best of everyone in her family.

                One month ago, as I was lying sick in the mountains in the bed of a woman I had met two days before, I read this and sat up.

                “If you will make me no return for having suffered for you, at least have pity on my poverty. If not that, be moved at least by my sickness and imprisonment. If none of these elicit your compassion, at least grant me this, because it is so small a request. I want nothing expensive, just a little bread, shelter, a few kind words. If all this leaves you unmoved, at least improve your conduct for the kingdom of heaven’s sake, for all the rewards I have promised. Or is this too of no account in your eyes? Well, at least out of natural pity you might feel upset when you see me naked; and remember how I was naked on the cross, which I suffered for your sake; or, if not this, then recall the poverty and nakedness I endure today in the poor. Once I was in fetters for you; I am still in fetters for you, so that whether by those earlier bonds or by these present ones, you might be moved to show some feeling for me. I fasted for you and I go hungry again, still for your sake; I thirsted as I hung upon the cross, and I am thirsty again in the poor of today. In one way or another, I would draw you to myself; for your soul’s sake, I would have you compassionate.
                “You are bound to me by innumerable favors, and now I ask you to make some return. Not that I demand it as my due. I reward you as though you were acting out generosity; for your trifling gestures, I am giving you a kingdom.
                “I do not say:  ‘Put an end to my poverty,’ or ‘Make over to me your wealth, although it was for you that I became poor.’ All I ask for is a little bread, clothing and a little comfort in my hunger.
                “If I am in prison, I do not ask you to set me free of my chains and release me; all I ask is that, for my sake, you should visit someone in prison. This will be favor enough; in return I bestow upon you heaven. I released you from the heaviest chains; it will be enough for me if you visit me in prison.
                “I could, of course, reward you without any of this; but I want to be in your debt, so that, along with your reward, you may have confidence in yourself.” – St. John Chrysostom, bishop. Homily on the Letter to the Romans. (Homilia 15,6: PG 60, 547-548)