Sursum Corda

A disheveled drunk walks into an open church.  Sits down and stares at the altar in the front.  At what?  On the altar is a big white, thin wafer of bread.  It is displayed inside a luna inside a monstrance on the altar.  The church is not heated.  The pew is not comfortable, though better than lying rough on the street.  The drunk is not there for warmth or comfort.  The drunk has what is called subsum corda, an unmistakable longing of the heart.  Longing for what?  For the complete and loving attention of someone at that moment, with no judgment, no condemnation.  The visual eyes in the head may be blurry from a rough night on the streets, alcohol ingested.  But the eye of the heart is  clear.  This inner eye is not looking at a "thing."  The host is not a thing.  It is a presence, a personal presence, completely focused in unconditional love on the person who sits in the pew.  This person is not a drunk, a description given by the "better" people, but a human being in need of love and acceptance.  I know that person.