FROM MY HEART TO YOUR HEART – A Walking Sermon

– Brought to you by Fr. Bernardino Andrade
(bernardinodandrade@gmail.com)

Reporters and city officials gathered at a Chicago railroad station, one afternoon in 1953. The person they were meeting was the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner.

A few moments after the train came to stop, a giant of a man, with bushy hair and a large moustache, stepped from the train. Cameras flashed. City officials approached him with hands outstretched. Various people began telling him how honoured they were to meet him. The man politely thanked them and then, looking over their heads, asked if he could be excused for a moment.

He quickly walked through the crowd until he reached the side of an elderly black woman who was struggling with two heavy suitcases. He picked up the bags and with a smile he escorted the woman to the bus. After helping her aboard, he wished her a safe journey.

As he returned to the greeting party he apologized, «Sorry to have kept you waiting.»

The man was Dr. Albert Schweitzer, the famous missionary doctor who had spent his life helping the poor in Africa. In response to Schweitzer’s action, one of the members of the reception committee said with great admiration to the reporter standing next to him, «That’s the first time I ever saw a sermon walking. »

After the Eucharist do I become a walking sermon? How? If worship is not transformed into service we miss a lot of our worship. Maybe we misunderstood our worship. Worship is a school where we learn how to wash feet.

Love and Peace!
Fr. Bernardino Andrade

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