The Barefoot and Hungry Christ

Africa, like all the countries that have been looted, has the Greatest Treasure - the Barefooted and Hungry Christ, Whom the plunderers had abandoned, for their dimmed eyes could not see Him...

The Ascetic of Love: Nun Gavrilia. pg.111

Sometimes words leap off a page, dodge past defense mechanisms, and land in your heart. I've always wondered why some people are drawn to work with the poor, the sick, the disenfranchised, the marginalized, etc. It has never appealed to me very much because it just seems so depressing. How does a person help in those situations without being taken under themselves? If not by poverty or sickness, then by mental illness brought on by seeing such suffering up close. My eyes are dimmed, but I think I finally got a glimpse through Mother Gavrilia as I was reading at lunch today. She saw Christ in the poor, wretched people she cared for. I don't mean that she "saw Christ" like some mental trick that helped her "stand the stench" - but in reality. I get it. It is Christ Who loves - loves and identifies with the humbled, the miserable, the sick. Mother Gavrilia was attracted to Christ and being drawn to Christ inevitably means being drawn to the humble souls among us. God, be merciful to me, because I'm afraid I still prefer the company of arrogant egomaniacs like myself.