Day 096t: Rejected & then Received … (July 19, 2019)
Well, it turned out that the Municipal Albergue would not honor the “church pass” I had been given without me producing some sort of official personal identification, which of course, I didn’t have. This somewhat callous rejection from the only hostel in town was highly disturbing to Bosco and the rest of my young friends, and yet I assured them that I would be fine – that maybe the church itself would indeed provide me shelter for the night, and if not that I could easily sleep outside. This assurance didn’t soothe them completely, and yet they realized that there truly was nothing else that could be done, so they once more invited me to dine with them in the hostel a bit later that evening, and then I headed back to the church to seek out Father Miguel. I found him straight away and he listened to my situation and (with both an obvious and – I found – an amusing reluctance) he agreed to do the Right Thing and gave me a place to stay. As it turned out, the church itself used to also act as a donativo hostel for wayfaring pilgrims (though it had for many years been shut down), and as such it was no problem at all for Miguel to find me a bed – seeing as how the church itself was filled with dozens of them! Yes, they were all dusty and dingy and smelled a bit of mold, and yet they were beds nonetheless, and I was immensely grateful for the same …
“Gratitude for me is waking up each day, and being able to make a positive difference in somebody else’s life … We are truly alive when we remember that every moment is a moment of grace, every hour an offering from above; and that not to share the same (or use them to further joy & harmony) would mean to betray them. We remember in such times of clarity that our lives no longer belong to us alone; they belong to all those nearby – many of whom who desire our kindness so desperately.” ~ via Charmaine Forde & Elie Wiesel
“We only see life as a miserable accident to endure when we refuse to see it for what it truly is – namely, a most astounding script that we have all been privileged to enliven with love.” ~ via Craig D. Lounsbrough
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