The Parking Space

[Red Prudente]

A man was walking through a crowded parking lot outside the mall, going to his car when he tripped and fell flat on his face. As he was lying there, a woman stopped her car and called out, "are you hurt?" "no, I'm fine," he said. "Oh, good," she continued. "Will you be vacating your parking space now?"

Jesus, you asked us to love one another, to practice the virtue of charity. What is love? How do we practice the virtue of charity? First of all, I think you want us to be as aware of the needs of others as well as we are of our own. It means not concentrating simply on taking care of number one. You told us that love means being patient with others; it means not judging them; it means going out of our way to help others, especially the poor and the needy. It means trying never to hurt someone's feelings. You told us that love means forgiving those who have hurt us. Yes, Jesus, you told us a lot about love. Please help us today to put into practice what you told us.