Mind vs. Heart

 As I parked my car in the church parking lot to attend the Saturday 5 p.m. mass at Spirit of Christ Catholic Community, I saw a man slowly getting out of his car. I noticed that he was bent at the waist and had trouble walking. My first thought was to see if he needed an arm to hang on to. Then I thought I was going to be late if I walked with the man, and my heart asked if it was better to be late or to help the man. I thought that if I helped him and he fell down, I would go down with him! I noticed the man had reached the row of parked cars and he was holding on to each car as he made his way to the entrance of the church. Again, the thought briefly entered my heart that I should go help the man, but I didn't.

As bent man walked holding on to each parked car, I noticed that he walked over to the handicapped area to cross over to the sidewalk. Again, my heart thought I should probably go ask if he needed help, yet my mind said, "He's almost at the door, if you were going to help you should have done it when you first saw him." I entered the church, found a place to sit and about ten minutes later the bent man walked down the aisle to a pew a few rows in front of me. 

Again, the feeling of guilt passed over me and I wished I had offered an arm to the man when I first saw him. The homily was about seeing people, really seeing them by giving eye contact. An example was when we see a homeless person at an intersection with a sign asking for help, how we look every which way and try not to see the homeless person. It's if we do not see him, he isn't there! The bottom line was that we should look at people, eye to eye, and not dismiss them because they are not invisible, though we wish they were! The words the priest was saying made me realize that I had tried not to see the bent man!

If we look at someone eye to eye, we acknowledge they are a person made in the image of God. When we do not, it is sometimes called an evil eye and that is not a good thing. It is dismissing the person as if he or she is not there. I had seen the bent man, and ignored my heart when it suggested I help, so I had not been a good person. What I do know is that the next time, if I see a similar situation as the bent man I will listen to my heart!

Later, when I was at Mother Cabrini Shrine, I saw a small sign, "Let all that you do be done in love." Corinthians 16-14. I need to remember that quote!