[Magdalen] Please pray for Daniel

[Jay Weigel]

Your priest was right, of course. And perhaps Daniel's friend will get him
to a doctor or the ER, or at least take care of him.

On Fri, Feb 20, 2015 at 2:05 PM, Ginga Wilder <gingawilder at gmail.com> wrote:

> When Jesus came to church
>
> Ash Wednesday, 2015.  Jesus came to church.
>
> He was already there when I arrived.  Several people asked me to go speak
> with him.  He was sitting in the front pew, the one without anything in
> front to lean on.
>
> A young man, around the age of my sons.  Handsome with thinning, black
> curly hair.  His name was Daniel.  When I shook Daniel’s hand in greeting,
> I noticed that he was feverish.  His nose was running and his eyes were
> bleary.  He wreaked of alcohol.  He called me ‘Mama’ and asked if he could
> stay here for church, near the altar.  Of course.
>
> Can we take you to a doctor or medical clinic or hospital?  Oh, no, Mama, I
> don’t want to go to the doctor, the hospital.  He cried.  Just let me sit
> here by the altar.  Sure, I said.  He had been on the streets for several
> weeks.  His mother had died and his wife had left him.  He asked for a ride
> to a friend’s house where he could stay.  He did not ask for money, just to
> stay at the altar for a while and to catch a ride.
>
> I went to the back of the church and sat with a friend.  Immediately, I
> remembered these words, “seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your
> neighbor as yourself.”  After a few minutes, I told my friend that I
> thought I was to go sit with Daniel on that front pew with no support in
> front.  He was still weeping.  When the priest began to read the liturgy,
> Daniel, assisted by alcohol, fell asleep.  I watched him through the
> service, paying little attention to the priest.
>
> I beheld Daniel.  It was then that I noticed how jaundiced he was but that
> actually did not register until later, after the service.   All I could do
> was watch him.  I wondered if he might awake and be sick, or become loud or
> violent, but I did not think that would happen.  He slept until the end of
> the service.  As the congregation left in silence, another parishioner, a
> man, and I questioned Daniel.  His nose began to bleed.  I found tissues
> for him.  No, he did NOT want to go to a doctor.
>
> I just need a ride to my friend’s house but first, may I pray at the
> altar?  Daniel knelt at the altar, weeping and praying quietly.  He was a
> Baptist, he said later.  I was compelled to kneel with him and to pray for
> him.  He stayed there as long as he needed.  We asked a final time if we
> could take him to a doctor.  No.  Just a ride to my friend’s…he will take
> me in.  So, the other parishioner took Daniel to his friend’s house about
> 15 miles away.  He learned more about Daniel while the rode together.  We
> know Daniel’s family, his parents are dead.
>
> Our priest said to me as he was leaving the church building, that was
> Jesus, the young man who came to church.  We have added Daniel to our
> prayer list.
>
> I wonder if we might have taken him for medical care.  I know he is sick.
> We did take him to a warm house where his friend lived.
>
> Please pray for Daniel.
>
> Seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself.
>