“…….to the least of my brothers……..”

If one were to ask randomly for another’s perception of the meaning of “religion” or “spirituality”, there is a high probability that the reply would center around Jesus’s teaching of “doing for others” or “as you would have them do unto you” or the “least” among us. Yet, much of religious writing, preaching, media, and publicity wallows in abstraction or faceless and lofty theologisms. Which few remember.

While obviously a sound theological base is essential for a sound spiritual life, most of us are hustling to make it day to day. We don’t care about debates in the back rooms of the Vatican or Canterbury or Jerusalem. The discussants might delight in the “fascinating” investigation of the number of angels dancing on a pinhead…but on a crowded subway car, who cares….

In my own WWII era, the scuttlebutt among G.I.s (I was told) was that the war, practically speaking, was six feet to the right of you and six feet to your left. What was happening 10,000 meters north of us was irrelevant. The human inclination seems to center around “How does it affect me right now?”

Humanly speaking, when someone ties my shoelace for me when I can’t, it opens me more to God than the strutting popinjay who startles us with fancy words and subtle insights. It is the little thing which often hooks me to God. We are body and soul and feelings and hurts, and little needs so often overlooked.

Rather than giving up delicious candies or relaxing documentaries for Lent to show my love for Jesus, I think I will look around to see if there is some teeny little thing I can do for ANYONE—a hello. A smile. A greeting. Something. For the ignored. The neglected. The lonely. The current “least”, of Christ’s Brood.

P.S. The fat old guy in the picture who can’t bend down to tie a shoelace is me. The baldy guy on his knees ministering to one of the least, is a priest, Fr. John Collins, CSP.