‘…knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives;’  Matthew 7:7-8

It’s 1.00am and a knock at the presbytery door alerts Mt Isa’s 24/7 Parish Priest Fr. Mick Lowcock to the start of a new day. Given the closeness of his bedroom to the front door it probably does not take much knocking to awaken Fr Mick. Nevertheless, given the undoubted workload of his previous day, I guess it is with weariness that Fr Mick stumbled towards the door.

A disheveled homeless man, anxious but obviously delighted, is relieved to see that Fr Mick has chosen to ‘open the door.’ With as much hospitality as even Fr Mick can muster at that time of night, he enquires into the purpose of the visit.

With trepidation but much urgency the visitor requests toilet paper! ‘What? You have disturbed my sleep at the midnight hour for a few sheets of toilet paper!’ one might well imagine to be the thoughts running through Fr Mick’s mind.

Nevertheless, he faithfully responds to the visitors request and gets the toilet paper. But as he is about to ‘receive’ what he has ‘asked’ for, the visitor grabs Fr Mick’s hand and kisses it with overflowing gratitude and I imagine, anticipated relief.

The delight / unexpected joy and gratitude of both recipient and donor surely exemplifies God’s unconditional love when the door is opened, regardless of inconvenience and purpose. It is the personification of God’s humanity / divinity that has so endeared this story to Fr Mick and the reason why he now slips it into many of his homilies and yarns.

When was the last time your begrudging response was greeted with the love of God?

Steve Jorgensen

(Image from Pixabay by PIR04D)