The Daily Meditation: "Bridging the Gap Between People" for Sunday, 22 July 2018 from The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The Daily Meditation: "Bridging the Gap Between People" for Sunday, 22 July 2018 from The Henri Nouwen Society in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

DAILY MEDITATION: "Bridging the Gap Between People" for Sunday, 22 July 2018

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To become neighbours is to bridge the gap between people. As long as there is distance between us and we cannot look in each other's eyes, all sorts of false ideas and images arise. We give them names, make jokes about them, cover them with our prejudices, and avoid direct contact. We think of them as enemies. We forget that they love as we love, care for their children as we care for ours, become sick and die as we do. We forget that they are our brothers and sisters and treat them as objects that can be destroyed at will.
Only when we have the courage to cross the street and look in one another's eyes can we see there that we are children of the same God and members of the same human family.

For further reflection...
There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man's table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. (Luke 16: 19-21 (NIV))
Your response...
Can you discuss an experience you have had "bridging the gap?
Comment on this Daily Meditation.

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Text excerpts taken from Bread for the Journey, by Henri J.M. Nouwen, ©1997 HarperSanFrancisco. All Scripture from The Jerusalem Bible ©1966, 1967, and 1968 Darton, Longman & Todd and Doubleday & Co. Inc. Scripture chosen by L. Yeskoo.
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