responsibility

[redrosetea]

I heard a compelling homily on responsibility at mass…It had a bit of a twist in the tale…It boiled down to responsibility being the ability to act

I thought about this a bit thinking how sometimes God challenges us to walk the talk in quiet ways with unlikely opportunities to respond

While eating at our local pub a person we know to be on disability just happened to be there when we were seated…My husband looked at me and whispered should we buy him lunch…many times you must do things like this very carefully, not to look as if you are playing the Lord of the Manor…You don’t want to take what small amount of dignity they have by trying to show how benevolent you are…My husband whispered to him are you going to be here for a bit…he said yes…My hubby then quietly told the manager who helps him read the menu that we were buying another lunch

This guy must have been famished…he wolfed down his lunch before we were halfway though with ours, and happily waved goodbye to us as he left…

I have been wondering if I should tell him about the food cupboard at our church? Right now we are feeding about 24 families…I know this person doesn’t drive but we could bring him to the pantry and take him home with his parcels

We don’t see him very often…He does have people near him who take him to church…He isn’t Catholic, so I don’t want to look like I am trying to convert him…I don’t know him very well

At Christmas time I secretly arranged with the manager to buy him a hooded sweatshirt and tell him it was from St Nick…We have bought him lunch unknown to him for at least 6 months, when he was at the restaurant when we were…He goes in a drinks gallons of ice tea and sets there…but now he has moved we rarely see him

How can I handle this in a sensitive manner?

 

[Claire_from_DE]

I think you are doing pretty well as it is. If the opportunity presents itself, it wouldn’t be out of line to tell him about the food pantry and offer transportation if needed.

 

[r4j]

How can I handle this in a sensitive manner?

Hi redrose tea - I think you’re handling this beautifully - don’t worry about what he might think of you - you don’t seem like the kind of person who is over-zealous or arrogant. I don’t think he’d be offended if you said something like ‘hey, I don’t know presume to know your whole situation, but I just wanted to let you know if you ever need xxxx, there’s an xxx over here that has xxxx.’ I think all too often, people suffer needlessly because someone hasn’t had the courage to approach them. And I just realized, at least one of those people is me. I’ve got to share something with my mother in law. Thanks for your help.

 

[redrosetea]

Thank you for your opinions…I chatted with the restaurant manager today and asked if I could leave a letter for him in her care…she agreed…I will tell him about the pantry and offer him transportation to get the food…I will also leave our phone number for him to call us

The rest is up to God