One long night at a bus station in a far country

   Some years ago I arrived at a port city without booking a room in a hotel. I was exhausted and hungry only to discover it was a public holiday. All the hotels were packed to capacity. I had no place to go but to spend the night at the bus station. It would be a long wait for my early morning connection to my destination. I blended into the station's regulars who began to claim their night seats with restless teens returning home from late night parties; workers cleaning the streets and policemen patrolling around. I wondered: "do we ever truly see God in the people around us, especially in the poor?" 
   Maximus the Confessor, a 7th century author, described God as visible in the tired and suffering around us. The measure of a person's suffering is not an easy reflection. In any given moment of any difficult experience we encounter, most of us find it hard to see a God who shares our lot. At a bus station, I certainly was not ready to think so. As Christians, we do acknowledge Jesus suffered and died for us. When opportunities arise; how hard it is to picture him in the poor and downtrodden.
   In a story about a blind beggar Bartimeus, St. Mark in chapter 10, recalls the words of the people surrounding him.
   "Take heart! Get up! Jesus is calling you."
Could I ever hear such words in this far country where I spent the night with the poor? Do I allow my selfish concerns and cares to blind me to the realities of others? As quickly as the night came; so did, the morning. I would be safe in my own world. 
   My eyes were opened; so that my faith could "make me well" (Mk. 10, 52) that night at a bus station.