The call within the call.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise. Psalm 51:17

Your eyes are like a window for your body. When they are good, you have all the light you need. Matthew 6:22

We can do not great things, only small things with great love. What is important is not how much you do, but how much love you put into doing it. –Mother Teresa

So yesterday I hitchhiked for the first time.

One thing God has been speaking to me about on this journey is the good humility that comes from receiving hospitality, to confessing need and to open up one’s hand instead of one’s front door. Which for me is a lot easier. I like opening up the front door.

But I don’t have one any more.

So I held up an assortment of signs and held out my thumb on the curve of the road suggested to me by the desk clerk, right next to the sign announcing the exit of Assisi, leaving the city of peace.

And honestly, it was not out of financial need that I hitchhiked. I had a pocket full of euros. It was more about the need to practice asking and receiving. And it gave me a tiny glimpse from the eyes of those who ask by the side of the road. Eyes that look with hope at each passing stranger. And a tiny longing of expectation, perhaps this will be the one…

Swish, swish, swish. Car after car zipped by, with barely a glance. Each car dangling a Francis cross from its rearview mirror. Swish.

And so many times I have swished past. And edged past with the anxious excuses and averted eyes of the priest and the Levite. And I also felt the weight of my God Bless America country and our collective closed fist.

And once a car slowed down and indicated with hand signals that he was not going in my direction.

And as time wore on, I had to move forward to keep standing in the shade. Later on there was no shade. Just the hot sun and the hot pavement.

But I made the decision. I chose to stand in the sun. It was an option that so many do not have.

And after a long while, a small black car pulled over and a kindly man opened the door. And he really wasn’t going to take me far. He took me to the train station. And gave me two euro to buy coffee. And asked for prayer for his mother-in-law who is having surgery today. And I drank an espresso and went to the toilet and greeted a fellow pilgrim who was returning to Munich.

And then I stood just a bit down the road from the train station. In just a bit, another man pulled over and opened the door. And I didn’t exactly understand what he was saying; I thought he was saying that he could take me half way since he was on his way to Milan. But really, he too wanted to find me a better place to stand, at the entrance to the highway to Milano.

The sun was quite hot now.

The cars were slowing down to take a right to Assisi or speeding up to go to Milano, when one last car pulled over. And he was a young guy, who tried to come up with lots of options for me to do anything but hitchhike. And finally we decided that the best thing would be for me to take a cheap bus to Bologna, the one his girlfriend always takes to visit her family. So he drove and drove way out of his way, to leave me at the bus stop at Perugia.

So I took the bus. In addition to receiving rides and coffee, I would also like to practice receiving advise.

And each of these men did small things with great love.

And even though this was just a morning in my very full life, I am hoping that it becomes a road marker in my mind and heart, and mostly in my eyes.

May I have the eyes of the one standing or sitting or even lying by the side of the road.

And may this light fill my body, and my hands and feet each day.

He said, “The one who showed him mercy.” And Jesus said to him, “You go, and do likewise.” –Luke 10:37