Christ is here!

One of my favorite stories is by the famous Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. He wrote about a widowed shoemaker named Martin, who dreamed one night that Christ would visit his workshop the following day. Martin was deeply touched and wanted to make sure that he would not be like the Pharisee who failed to greet Jesus at the door. So he got up before dawn, cooked soup, and began watching the street carefully while he was doing his work. He wanted to be ready when Jesus arrived.

Shortly after sunrise, he saw a retired soldier shoveling snow. As the old veteran dropped the shovel to rest and warm, Martin felt compassion for him and invited him to sit by the stove and drink hot tea. Martin told the soldier about his dream he had last night and about how he had found comfort in reading the Gospels after the death of his young son. After several cups of tea and after hearing several stories about Jesus' goodness towards people who were in low spirits in life, he left the workshop and thanked Martin for feeding his body and soul.
Later that morning, a poorly dressed woman stopped in front of the shop to pack her screaming baby better. Martin went out the door and invited the woman to come in so she could feed the baby near the warm oven. When he found out that she had nothing to eat, he gave her the soup he had prepared, along with a coat and money for a shawl.

In the afternoon, an old peddler's wife with some remaining apples stopped in her basket across the street. She carried a heavy sack of wood shavings on her shoulder. As she balanced the basket on a jamb to roll the sack on to the other shoulder, a boy with a ragged cap grabbed an apple and tried to run away with it. The woman caught him, wanted to beat him and drag him to the police, but Martin ran out of his workshop and asked her to forgive the boy. When the woman protested, Martin reminded her of Jesus' parable of the servant, to whom his master forgave a great debt, but then went away and grabbed his debtor by the collar. He made the boy apologize. We should forgive all people and especially the thoughtless, said Martin. That may be, the woman complained about this young rogue who are already so spoiled. Then it's up to us, the Elder, to teach her better, Martin replied. The woman agreed and started talking about her grandchildren. Then she looked at the culprit and said: May God go with him. When she picked up her bag to go home, the boy lunged forward and said, "No, let me carry him." Martin watched them walk down the street together, then returned to his work. Soon it was dark, so he lit a lamp, put his tools aside and cleaned up the workshop. As he sat down to read the New Testament, in a dark corner he saw figures and a voice saying, "Martin, Martin, do not you know me?" "Who are you?" Asked Martin.

It's me, whispered the voice, see, it's me. From the corner came the old soldier. He smiled and then disappeared.

It's me, the voice whispered again. From the same corner came the woman with her baby. They smiled and were gone.

It's me! The voice whispered again, and the old woman and the boy who stole the apple stepped out of the corner. They smiled and vanished like the others.

Martin was overjoyed. He sat down with his New Testament, which had opened by itself. He read at the top of the page:

“Because I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. ”“ Whatever you did to one of these least of these my brethren, you did it to me ”(Matthew 25,35 and 40).

In fact, what is more Christian than showing people's kindness and kindness to the people around us? Just as Jesus loved us and gave himself for us, through the Holy Spirit, he draws us into his joy and into the love of his life with the Father and empowers us to share his love with others.

by Joseph Tkach


pdfChrist is here!