Tuesday, October 22, 2019 – St. John Paul II Rom 5:12-21; Lk 12:35-38 ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Blessed are those servants whom the master finds vigilant on his arrival. Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself, have the recline at table, and proceed to wait on them. And should he come in the second of third watch and find them prepared in this way, blessed are those servants.” Lk 12:37-38
In 1945, Edith Zirer was thirteen years old. After three years spent in the concentration camp, from her last forces she miraculously climbed the coal train. She wore nothing but striped pajamas she got when she came to the concentration camp, just like everyone else. She was found by a seminarian at the railway station, curled into a ball. He came to her, held her hand, and asked her name. She realized that after three years he was the first person to call her by name, not by number. The man in cassick brought her something to eat and drink and gave her his brown coat. On the way to Krakow he told her about his parents, the death of a single brother and the need not to be beaten by sadness. At the end, she asked him his name. She could never forget it: "Karol Wojtyla." She heard that name again 33 years later in the headlines: "Karol Wojtyla, Pope."
How do you call the people you meet? By their name? Whom did you embrace with a selfless love today?
“ No technique and no institution can replace the human heart and human effort when it comes to encountering the suffering of our neighbor. Respect for human dignity is thus associated with love for the suffering person.” St. John Paul II
The Words of Pope Francis