My mom recently traveled from the US to spend a week with me
abroad. It was an amazing week showing her some of my favorite sights in the
city- the elegant art museum where I like to get tea, my favorite little
restaurant that serves an American style brunch, and the best ice cream shop in
Paris. We even went to Barcelona for a few days to soak up the sunshine, enjoy
Gaudi’s fascinating architecture, and see our favorite musician perform. I
loved seeing my mom and spending time with her in my new European world. And nothing
showed me how many new Parisian sensibilities I’ve adopted than seeing how
“American” my mom was. I giggled and rolled my eyes as she smiled at strangers
and talked loudly on the metro. . But, in her short time here, she noticed
something in Paris that my aloof eyes hadn’t until now.
My mom was constantly pointing out not just the beauty of
Paris, but the poverty of Paris too. She would say things like, “Do you see
that area over there? Some homeless people are camped out over there” or “Gosh
Megan, I wish I had brought more money with me. Next time I come to Europe I am
just going to bring money to help people.” As we were taking a bus past another
homeless person, my mom said, “Why don’t you write your blog this week about what
it is like to see poor people on the streets?” And I replied in a super
charitable Christian way by saying, “Oh yeah I don’t actually pay attention to
that.”
To be very honest, in a city where pickpockets and con-artists
are an ever present threat, the beggars and homeless of Paris have become a
facet I try to ignore and avoid as much as possible. Especially as a young
woman often navigating the city by myself, I constantly worry about the threat
of being scammed. But it is also convenient to be ambivalent, and a lot easier
to pretend these people don’t exist than it is to think about how difficult
life in Paris must be for people who sleep in streets, don’t have a reliable
source of food, face a disability, or have the responsibility of raising a
child..
In this past Sunday’s gospel, Jesus’s followers fail to
recognize him once he had risen from the dead. They fail to believe that the
man in front of them could actually be Jesus. When we hear this gospel it is
shocking to us, because we can’t imagine having Jesus in front of us and not
being able to see him for who he is. And yet this is something we do all the
time. How often do we encounter people and fail to see the Jesus that lives in
them?
It is easy to turn away. At the beginning of this school
year, I wrote about how my experience working at camp helped me to see what it
means to love as God loves. After a summer of giving and serving, I had worked hard to see
and love everyone as endlessly as God does. But somewhere along the way that awareness
seemed to have faded away. What I wasn’t realizing was that loving as God does
and looking for that light in others isn’t something you can do for a few weeks
or a few months. And it isn’t just the poor people on the street that we need
to challenge ourselves to see Jesus in. Rather, it’s the kid in class who is driving
you crazy, the person who lives next door who plays his music too loud, and the
lady at the train ticket office who can’t seem to understand your muddled
French Everyone you encounter deserves for you to see the bit of Jesus that exists
inside them. Everyone you encounter deserves your patient and selfless love.
Whether it’s through monetary donations, bringing a person food or giving your
time and attention, each of us needs to make it a point to see Jesus in others
and give of ourselves selflessly just as he would.
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