I was eating lunch with a friend and we were sitting outside on the restaurant’s patio.  I saw a man approach people who were sitting at tables lining the sidewalk of a little park plaza nearby.  I heard him say, “Excuse me” and then he followed it with a request which I could not hear.  Table after table rebuffed him – some not even acknowledging his presence, some looking up but barely giving him heed.

It was almost as if he was hitting and bouncing off of people’s disgust and rejection – person after person after person.

He walked with a bit of a limp and it broke my heart to see him; his body language was complete dejection as no one gave him the time of day.  And he walked away.

Lord, help us not be so ignorant and cruel to those in need. May we remember their humanity. May we take heed of ourselves and our common link of our each being created in your image by your own hand and respond in a kind and acknowledging manner. Let us see you, Christ, in them. Amen.