A Habit, A Bus Stop, A Community

The third entry in the Habit of Witness series over at Patheos is a tiny miracle of a story that gave me goosebumps, but the warm kind, and so it seems particularly well suited to this weekend, when we think about the people who have gone before, and the people who are with us now, and how our smallest reaching out toward one another may be precisely the movement by which the Holy Spirit wishes to travel.

Sr. Lisa M. Doty, FdCC, of Nunspeak, shares a one-on-one encounter at a bus stop that created brought home how truly we are, even as strangers, a community:

“Ma’am,” she started out saying, “are you a nun?” I looked up at her and said, “Yes, I am.” She sat down next to me and began to tell me her story.

She was a young woman who married just over a year before, and she had baby girl at home. She admitted to me her husband was a former drug dealer trying to get out of the business, and was having a difficult time finding work. She herself was on her way that morning for a job interview at an upscale furniture store. She was wearing, I’m sure, her best clothes, and in my heart I feared for her chances.

“I really need this job,” she told me, her voice betraying her own fear inside. “Would . . . would you mind praying for me?”

You’ll want to read the whole thing, and pass it around