Commentary on the Gospel of
Every day, the nameless man sat by the temple gate, hoping that the people coming to pray would notice him and give him enough money to survive another day. Every day he knew the humiliation of being ignored or treated with disdain. Every day he faced the far of not receiving enough alms, forcing him to go to bed hungry, wrapped only in his cloak, with nowhere safe to sleep. But his encounter with Peter and John changes everything.
Peter and John not only restore him to health so that he no longer needs to beg. They treat him with dignity, looking him in the eye and offering a hand in assistance.
How often do we ignore the needs of those we encounter, averting our eyes so that we need not recognize them as human beings, fellow children of God? Even if we have no silver or gold to share, we can take notice of the dignity and humanity of our brothers and sisters in need, offering them what we have and regarding them with love.
