A son took his father to a restaurant to enjoy a delicious dinner. His father was already quite old, and therefore, a little weak as well. As he ate, bits of food dripped from time to time onto his shirt and pants. The other diners watched the old man with their faces distorted in disgust, but his son remained completely calm.
Once they had both finished eating, the son, not even remotely embarrassed, calmly helped his father, and took him to the toilet. He cleaned the leftover food from his wrinkled face, and tried to wash the food stains from his clothes; he lovingly combed his gray hair and finally adjusted his glasses.
As they left the restroom, a profound silence reigned in the restaurant. No one could understand how anyone could make such a fool of himself. The son went to pay the bill, but before leaving, a man, also elderly, stood up from among the diners, and asked the old man's son, "Don't you think you left something here?"
The young man replied, "No, I don’t think I left anything behind." Then the stranger said to him: "Yes, you have left something! You have left here a lesson for every son, and a hope for every father!" The whole restaurant was so silent that you could hear a pin drop.
For any person, one of the greatest honors is to care for those seniors who once cared for us as well. Our parents, and all those seniors who sacrificed their lives, with all their time, money and effort for us, deserve our utmost respect. If you also feel respect towards the elderly, behave...
God has been taking care of you, each time you made a mess of yourself. He made you clean, he served you food –his Body in the Eucharist– to be strong. Shouldn’t you be patient with those in error, and give them formation? Shouldn’t you take care of those close to you, and help them get out from the mess they are in?
Thus, all of us, assisted by grace, should use charity towards those who do not behave as children of God, but rather offend him, because, in the words of St. Augustine, “No sinner, as a sinner, is worthy of love, but every man, as a man, is loved by God.”
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