‘He has sent me to bring good news to the poor’

This week’s column in The Kerryman newspaper.

Michael Commane

Patrick, not his real name, was standing on top of a shed when I shouted up at him not to fall. He jokingly replied he was thinking of jumping.  I suggested it would be a bad idea as he would probably break a leg or arm and feel and look like a right eejit.

It was lunchtime, he come down the ladder and we got talking. He was upset about something. Earlier that morning he had found a man lying in bushes and he simply did not know what to do about it. He asked me what I did, I told him and also said I was a priest. He took off his right glove, shook hands with me and said that it was seldom one meets a priest these days. I was embarrassed. We chatted and parted. 

The following day we met again and he brought me to where the man had been the previous day. There he was, in dire conditions, lying on an old skimpy sheet, his left hand shaking. He was well concealed from public view. It was the day before Storm Éowyn landed. Patrick was very concerned about the man. 

The three of us had a chat. It was clear something had to be done for James (not his real name). Patrick and I exchanged phone numbers. The day after the storm Patrick called to tell me that he had managed to get James into hospital and that he had surgery the same day. I was delighted with the news.

I have since visited James in hospital. He has had a second procedure and is on the mend. At least right now he is in out of the cold and rain. And he certainly looks a different man than the person I saw cowering under those bushes in miserable weather.

He told me his life story and we have kept in touch over the phone. 

Of course I’ve been thinking of Patrick and what he did for James. He told me he had a sleepless night over it. The next morning he went out and bought James a mobile phone and also brought him some food, which James didn’t eat.

The morning I met Patrick, whom I imagine, is in his early-to-mid 50s, was working away at his job but he had something on his mind, genuine concern about a fellow human being.

Was it telepathy, a coincidence, whatever it was, but reading the Gospel the following Sunday a line from St Luke jumped out at me: ‘He has sent me to bring good news to the poor.’

It’s so easy to read and talk about the mission statement of the Gospel but when you see someone living it in their skin it throws a whole new light on it.

And something else about the incident has crossed my mind. The accidental way how I met Patrick. I suppose we were both acting the clown and actually enjoying the moment. And just look how it all worked out.

I keep saying it, what’s it all about. Patrick’s goodness is surely part of the answer, indeed, a large part of the answer.