When I was a wet-behind-the-ears seminarian, I was sent for an immersion with the poor. For one month, I lived in a home for adults with developmental disabilities. It was a challenge for me because the residents had significant communication issues. A 30-year-old man there named Robin was totally deaf and mute. He had Down’s Syndrome. He looked like a Viking, with a shock of red hair and a fine beard. But I felt awkward and disconnected from him. All my normal ways of interacting failed. I resigned myself to the fact that we’d never connect.

Then one morning something amazing happened. He was on the living room floor quietly playing with toys. Watching him from a chair, I sensed Jesus’ words float into my mind, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me” (Mark 9:37). I thought, “Jesus, you must somehow be in Robin.” I sheepishly made sure no one else was in the room, and then I spoke in a clear voice: “Jesus, are you there?” Robin did not turn to me and say, “Hi, John. Yes, it’s me, Jesus.” He kept playing with his toys in silence.

But something changed in me. From that moment on, it was easier to just be with Robin, to joke around with him, to try sign-language with him, to let him be himself, and for me to be myself. His “disabilities'' were no longer obstacles to overcome. He became just Robin, my friend.
 
Who in your life seems awkwardly distant or uncomfortable to be with? Next time you see him or her, quietly invoke the name of Jesus, and see how the barriers disappear in you.