An Emmanuel Story - What’s important?

Whanganui Bridge

When Emmanuel arrived back in town, he noticed a group of youth going into the church hall, so he decided to join them. He sat at the back to listen to their discussion. It turned out to be the first meeting for the new year. ''We had good meetings last year and really got to know each other,'' said Mary, ''so what shall we do this year?'' After some sharing, Peter said, ''I think we should start looking out and doing some good deeds for others.'' That caused a lot of talk, but no one came up with a good idea.

Then Emmanuel stood up and said, ''Can I say something?''  ''Sure,'' said Andrew, ''but first tell us who you are.'' So, Emmanuel introduced himself and said he had just been up in Jerusalem, on the Whanganui River, and was interested in hearing their conversation. ''But when I was coming into town, I saw a group sheltering under the bridge, so I went to see who they were. I met a single mother named Madalene and her three young children and her grandfather, and they have no food and just one blanket, so I wonder if you could do something to help them.'' ''That would be a good thing for us to do,'' said Susan, ''but there are a lot more homeless people, and it would be a big job to do something for them all.''  So, James said, ''Maybe we would have to involve the whole parish to donate some money and then we could get something done.''

Finally, as their enthusiasm grew, Philip, always creative, said, ''Let's wake everyone up. We could put a notice on the church door on Sunday, and when the collection comes around, we could put a letter in, asking that the money be used to help the poor this week.''

''Great idea,'' said Emmanuel, ''Let's write a letter now, and we can all sign it.'' So, they did, and next Sunday, Emmanuel and his 12 new friends went to mass and put the letter in the collection basket. After Mass, Father Jude was counting the money and read the letter. He tore it up and said, ''What a crazy idea! Don't they know that we need new seats for the church and each one costs a thousand dollars.''.

Columban Fr Don Hornsey lives and works in New Zealand.