Why?

Someone came across me on the street, I was on my crutches because I suffer from MS and this flare-up was really bad this time around.  I was dressed in my best for this pleasant Sunday and armed with my rosary and missal; I headed to the little Catholic Church at the end of the road as this man came up to me.

He was dressed in a black trench coat and by the look in his eyes he was very tired, possibly from being overworked like so many people are in this crippled economy.  When he saw me, I smiled at him.  I saw that he noted the missal in my hand and gave me a look of distaste.

He asked, “You look like you’re in pain when you walk, yet you’re able to smile.   Tell me, why do you worship a god that has apparently treated you so?”

The sounds of the question told me he was an atheist, but I couldn’t just assume right off the bat.  “Sir, you misunderstand…” I replied, but before I could go on, he rebutted.

“Oh I understand everything…You are hopelessly brainwashed by other delirious people giving you false hope,” he retorted.  “You see this world and what it’s come to?  I can’t believe the things I’ve been hearing on the news lately… And people still carry on this shmuck.”

Hearing this really hurt me…Jesus is my lover, and hearing someone talk about him in such a way caused a little anger to build up inside.  The feeling was like a childhood friend wanting to stand up for another lonely child being picked on.  But before I spoke, I had to clear up the rage building inside me, lest I cause something more drastic.

“How is it you realize the mess I’m going through and fail to see the mud-hole that you stepped in?” I answered.  “All you see is the bad, never ever focusing on the good…and in doing so you plagued yourself in despair,”

The man scoffed and prepared to say something else, but before he could I cut him off.  “I’ll have you know, it was because of this Church and her people that I’m actually able to walk again.  I was confined to a wheelchair for several months before the church graciously gave me the money I needed for better treatment…”