Beggars – Sacrament of the Divine

I visited the supermarket, shopped, and exited.

While hurrying to escape the ants nests of pre-Christmas shoppers, I failed to secure by wallet in the back pocket of my pants. 

Precariously juggling two boxes of items in my hands, I neglected either to hear someone saying, “Your wallet is falling out”, or to recognize that it had fallen to the asphalted surface.

A beggar immediately retrieved it, ran towards me, and shouted, “Your wallet fell to the ground.” Ironically, this was the said beggar I had completely ignored at the exit of the supermarket.

I expressed gratitude, collected my wallet, deposited the two boxes in the car, and sat in the driver’s seat contemplating on what had just transpired.  

Thoughts emerging.

First, unmindfulness triggers tunnel vision and unawareness, unawareness of the Divine amid the rubble and rumble of human activities. 

Second, unawareness of the Divine in human activities and needs makes me like the Levite and priest in the narrative of the Good Samaritan, bypassing the real presence of the Divine in the chaos, disorder, broken, and wounded.

Third, I need the poor, the wounded, and the broken to be pedagogical/teaching tools to help me reach the Divine.

Response?

I disembarked my car.  Returned to the beggar. Gave him money and expressed gratitude.  Gratitude for what?  I didn’t express.  

But gratitude for being a sacrament of the Divine.