Be kind to that drunk

A Pastor used to tell of how he once answered the door at the end of a long day to find an obviously drunken man standing there and asking for money.

The Pastor was very tired and felt annoyed. He told the man something along the lines of “Come back tomorrow” and closed the door.

The Pastor had only gone a few steps when the following words came to him:

Inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me.

Oh my goodness, the Pastor thought to himself, that was Jesus!

He turned around, opened the door, called the surprised man back, and treated him with overwhelming generosity.

In today’s first reading (1 Samuel 1:1-20), another senior minister scornfully dismisses a woman he thinks is drunk.

It turns out to be Hannah, the holy woman who would become the mother of the great Samuel.

To be sure, people who are intoxicated can be dangerous and we must be prudent, but we dare not fail in our Christian charity toward any brother or sister, no matter how repulsive their appearance.

That does not necessarily mean we give them what they want, but it does mean that we must act as Christ would have us act, both to the nicest of his brothers and to the least.