In Red Tights, Star Wars Pajamas or a Coat, He Was Clothed Like the Flowers of the Field

Upon seeing the red mini skirt and matching red tights, I have to admit I was impressed. Where does a homeless man find tights that would fit him? My husband was less impressed. He moved in front of me in the Saint Louis Church parking lot in case the approaching man wanted to hurt us.

The man told us not to worry: he would defend us with his life. He said it again and proclaimed Mass to be a man-made tradition before wandering away.

I encountered him again a couple of months later, his voice piercing the external silence and my internal prayers as he commented to the sacristans on the beauty in the Saint Louis chapel. He was wearing Star Wars pajamas. And then he came back today, entering in a coat and in song to Jesus and Our Lady. This time, I had to join in, even if it was just in my heart.

I found out by experience of prayer the Lord was singing with us too. He carried me away, revealing to me the deep love He had for this man, homeless and poor and richly blessed because of his dependence on God.

Blessed are the poor, Jesus said. I was in reflection of that anyway because I had been plunged into another kind of poverty one year ago today. On April 30, 2017, I woke up expecting the weird dizzy feeling I had the night before to be gone. Getting out of bed and crumpling to the floor, I found out it was not. I would spend another two weeks bedridden and several months with therapists helping me to re-learn all the things I took for granted.

Blessed are the poor. They are the flowers of the field dressed more beautifully than Solomon. The man who comes to the chapel depends on the Lord every day for coats and pajamas and, apparently, lycra stockings. I am amazed at how he’s always in another outfit. There is providence for him.

The Lord provided for me in clothing too. My husband searched through my collection of t-shirts, pajama pants and socks, choosing things that made it easy for him to dress me. It was a very humbling thing for me to need help like that. And I admit that I didn’t always like what my husband chose. Later, when I could dress myself, I had to stop wearing the more feminine things I usually wear for t-shirts and shorts while I practiced my therapy exercises. I didn’t like it that much. But it was providence. I offered it to God as a prayer intention, bowing to God’s will for me in clothing.

Blessed are the poor. They are the birds who eat even though they store no grain. The homeless depend on handouts from individuals and from ministries. I depended on my husband, my parents and almost three dozen people who brought us meals. I didn’t choose what I wanted to eat. The decision was made by the one who felt called to give. Later, I made simple things that I may not have wanted, but I found easy to make. It was God’s providence. I made it an offering in prayer that we ate what He provided for us.

Blessed are the poor. They are worth more to God than many sparrows. They cannot depend on themselves, so they depend on others. Implicitly or explicitly, they depend on God. The world doesn’t view this as a blessing. But I found out for myself and was reminded again with the man today of how much the Lord loves the poor, whether they are poor materially, in health, intellectually, emotionally or in spirit. The Lord loves the poor.

Jesus, richest of all, came to earth in poverty. His parents were poor, only affording two turtledoves for the sacrifice at His presentation. And then Jesus traded what already seemed poor for homeless wandering in His three-year public ministry. Jesus, King of Heaven, said the Son of Man had no place to lay His most perfect head and depended for everything on the providence of His Father.

I don’t know the circumstance of the man who came to sing to Jesus and Mary today. But I know he is blessed even if it doesn’t look that way by outward appearances. One year ago today, the Lord cast down an arrogant Norine from her proud throne so He could make her lowly and lift her again in His providence. I became poor and richer for it.