Today I Saw The Face Of God.

Today I saw the face of God.

He smiled when we entered the room and his eyes lit up when we each bent over the bed to kiss his forehead and clasp his weathered hands. Though the walls around him and the wool blankets piled on his bed were shabby and thread-bare, he was dressed in a crisp white shirt and a grey sweater vest. When a bag of fresh fruit and fresh bread was placed gently in his arms, his tired face once more broke into a smile and his sad eyes shone with gratitude. We each grasped his hand once more and, with more strength than we knew he had, he squeezed our hands to say thank you.

Her glazed eyes stared, unfocused on the ceiling, hardly noticing the nine of us as we entered the room. She lay silently as we prayed and sang for 15 minutes. As soon as we were done, her husband entered the room to feed her milk through the feeding tube inserted in her nose. My host grandmother and the other members of her Church´s Ministry for the Sick praised her husband for being such a wonderful caretaker. She stirred for the first time since we arrived and mumbled, "He´s my husband." His eyes were sad and his face heavy, but her sweet words cheered him up for just a moment. "She´s been bedridden for 24 years," was all he said as he gently pressed his hand to her forehead.

He struggled to his feet when we arrived, standing on shaking legs and leaning heavily on a cane to steady himself. When his guests had taken their seats, he sat down once more, exhausted from the effort of standing. When we had finished singing to him, he asked if we knew a certain song but no one recognized the title. He began singing in a strong, clear voice - it was an upbeat, beautiful song from his childhood about the new beginning that each morning brings. We were mesmerized and promised to learn it for our next visit. He beamed.

She was perched on a rickety chair by the front door when we arrived. After we filed in to the bare, shabby room, she pushed the door shut behind us leaving just a crack of space out of which to watch the world pass by. A sliver of light shined into the room and fell onto her lined face. She leaned back, her face hidden in the shadows, as she sang and prayed with us in a slow, halting voice. Her calloused hands clapping along to our songs or folded gracefully in prayer. When she leaned forward to receive the Eucharist her face caught the sunlight once more. A single teardrop glistened on her wrinkled cheek.

Today I saw the face of God in the poor and the sick and I let my heart be broken by them.