This fellow has a unique look and expression — perhaps he really existed and posed for this painting. He's not wearing the oversized coat; it's simply thrown over his shoulders. Did it come from an old clothes bin? He's not old, but his pale face looks thin or hollowed out. I expect he hasn't had a good meal in some time. I get the feeling he's afraid, or maybe startled. Does he expect he'll be arrested or pushed aside?
Of course, he's got a story too. Who is he? Where is he from? Who are his family? How has it come to this — that's he's standing all alone and hoping for some kindness? Where does he sleep? Is he unwell? How does he get by? Why does it happen that in countries like our own, which boasts of greatness, people so easily fall into ruin?
It's said that the best kept secret of the Catholic Church is its social teaching. Social teaching is about justice. In four years of seminary, I never heard the words social teaching mentioned even once. Why should that be? I wonder if we're afraid of it? Afraid we'll have to give up something?
"We are all beggars, each in his/her own way."
Mark Twain
"True compassion is more than throwing a coin to a beggar.
It demands of our humanity that if we live in a society that produces beggars
we are morally commanded to restructure that society."
Martin Luther King Jr.
"When I give food to the poor, people call me a saint.
When I ask why the poor have no food, they call me a communist."
Dom Helder Camara
