Hands of Solidarity

Just the other day I left my class at the University of El Salvador to travel back to Santo Domingo de Guzman. I got off an inner-city bus at the Western Bus Terminal with my money in hand ready to board the bus to Sonsonate (the biggest town near Santo Domingo). I have been trying to foster the habit of having my money ready so I am not rummaging through my wallet, drawing attention to what I’ve got. So, as I faced an old man, emaciated, leaning against a pole with a crutch, I rationalized not giving him any of the money in my hand. He also did not have a hat in his hand or even a hand out asking for money. Then a few yards away was a woman, also emaciated, sitting along the curb. I also passed her by. If I gave her a quarter, then I would have to get my wallet out of my bag, which I didn’t want to do. Justification. Then, as I was about to round the corner into the terminal, I was faced with a man with a withered arm, shaking, with a hat in his lap to collect money. What to do?

I was reminded of the story of Peter in the Gospels after Jesus was arrested. He was asked by three different people if he knew Jesus, and he denied him all three times. In my case, I was faced with Christ, present in these three people, people with human dignity. As I approached the third person, could I really deny Christ a third time? There will always be people asking for money, in need of assistance. How do I respond to everyone as a Christian?

This brings to mind how after the mass for the patron feast, the priest in my community invited the bishop and several other people to have lunch with him. We had served them all lunch, but they had an uninvited guest at the table. His name is Juan. He is mute and drools, but he can fully understand what you say to him. And he is a human being. The others at the table, however, did not even look at him. He just sat there and watched them eat. If he could have spoken, I wonder what he would have said. His eyes said enough. Christ’s eyes, eyes of hunger, hunger for food and for inclusion. We women cooks decided to serve him food, so he ate on the benches near us, although we could have invited him to actually sit with us. Don’t we as a church preach that we are all invited to the Lord’s Table? We all failed Christ, present in Juan, that day.