Meet Justice

One issue I haven't yet come to grips with is how I should relate to the homeless people. Being in a big city, homeless people are everywhere. Walking through downtown Atlanta, you see them camped out, sleeping under bridges or in the middle of the parks while chatting mothers walk by with their babies and angry business men stream profanities through their cell phones. At night, we walked by what I thought were piles of trash, but soon found that they were people buried in rags and papers.

Someone once told me, "Whatever you do, don't give them money." But what do I do, then?

These forlorn faces have names and stories. How did they get to this sad state of life that they're at? What right do I have to pass them by and rob them of their dignity by refusing even to acknowledge their existence?

When I was in Sydney, Australia last year, I went to the beautiful Saint Mary's Catholic Church in the heart of Sydney. The ancient bells called the people to worship under the church's dizzying arches to the sound of rich Gregorian chants. Since I'm not Catholic and wouldn't be allowed to participate in Communion, I left church early. After I had walked down the stairs, I passed an old woman sitting against the wall of the church. She held her hand up to me and began to mumble, "Please...help..." but I barely even glanced at her and walked quickly away.

While I was waiting to cross the street, I looked back in her direction, then up at the church steeple.

"I hate myself" I thought and kept going.

I have no right, no right at all to do what I did. It's not like she was going to rape me and steal my money. What am I so afraid of? Living in fear of people while clutching our purses is not living at all. Perfect love casts out all fear, so for me to love perfectly I must stop fearing these souls Christ died for and be willing to reach out.

'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' Matthew 25:40

"There are no ordinary people. you have never met a mere mortal. nations, cultures, arts, civilizations-- these are mortal and their life is to ours as a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit-- immortal horrors or everlasting splendors." ~ C.S. Lewis

Technorati Tags: homeless poverty