With Pope Francis, We Must Ask, Who Am I to Judge?

Dear readers, I had such an emotional experience today that I want to share it with you. I usually go to Mass on Friday evening. Today, I arrived early and was reading the bulletin board when I felt - or rather smelled - someone behind me. I turned around and saw a tall gaunt man in very shabby clothes. He asked me for one euro...about $1.35. I said, you've been drinking. He answered, a little. Then he apologized and asked again. He was clearly not a professional beggar in a gang. He was French. And the pain and suffering in his eyes was difficut to look at. But I looked him in the eyes and said, you need to eat. He said, how? I got my wallet out of my handbag. How could I refuse anyone so vulnerble...and inside a church. I didn't have much cash because I had just been grocery shopping. But I had ten euros. I handed the money to him. I said again, promise me you will eat and not drink. He asked, where? There's a cafe behind the church, I said. He looked at me and said, I asked a woman for money and what I found was an angel for my shoulder. He touched my shoulder and then his own. I said I wanted to light some candles before service began and told him to go and eat. Actually, I was fighting back tears. I lit my candles and then sat in a pew to say a prayer. Suddenly, I saw him walk down the apse and stop to look at the candles. I went over to him and asked if he wanted a candle. He answered, yes. I lit it and went across to the side chapel where Mass was almost ready to start. He stayed behind looking at a painting of the Virgin and Child that has been a refuge for people with special needs for several centuries. ~~~~~ I know that you are thinking he went straight out and bought a couple glasses of cheap wine. That is probably true. But maybe he felt something that had been missing for a long time in his life - human contact. I'm not an angel. None of us are. But, Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist -- we all are taught to love and help our neighbors. Pope Francis is driving this home with his emphasis on mercy and caring for the poor. His "Who am I to judge?" ~~~~~ So, dear readers, whatever God you pray to, do me a favor and say a word for this poor French alcoholic outcast...and for all tbe world's outcasts everywhere. We are, after all is said and done for good and bad, we are our brothers' keepers.