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A “Holy Day” gift!Fr. Fred CHARPENTIER tells of a very special gift in his annual Christmas letter.
When you think you’ve seen it all, that’s when God springs something new on you to get your attention. Before Christmas, I went to the Foyer St. Etienne, home for the elderly, for a routine visit and as I was talking to Marie Marthe, our manager, a hand drawn flatbed cart, the kind used to carry supplies, pulled into the yard and stopped at our feet with some poor old fellow sprawled on it. The “chauffeur” told us he had someone to deliver here. From what we were able to find out, it seems that this poor man on the cart was a street person living on a porch and sidewalk off the cathedral rectory. He had just suffered a stroke and someone was trying to get him to the hospital for urgent care, but he was refused access (no next of kin to vouch for him), and so they decided to send him to the Foyer.
I could not stay because of another urgent case I had at the Fraternity Home for Youth, so I told Marie Marthe to see what could be done to get him to the hospital with references from our clinic staff. She would inform me about this the next day.
I went to the Foyer again the next day to check on the new arrival. What happened is that the man pulling the cart got impatient after I had left, thinking nothing would be done, and so, he just pulled out of the yard with the cart and the poor fellow still on it! When I heard that, I was more than upset and decided to go look for him myself. But before leaving, I told the staff that if we did not find him, there would be no Christmas party this year! “Don’t you see that this man is our Christmas gift this year? After all, this is what we’re here for! You should not have left him go away…” I then went immediately to the Cathedral Square, and there was our man, stretched out on the rectory steps; next to him was a friend on crutches. The lady street vendors who occupy the same space were watching over him and were sort of expecting me somehow to show up. They had wide smiles on their faces. They told me about his stroke yesterday, that they had tried to get him to the hospital, but were refused access, etc…
By now, our man was talking; he felt a little better, thanks to these ladies, pure strangers to him. I could see that his right side was paralyzed. He told me his name: Luckner St. Jour (family name translates HOLY DAY!!!). He had lost his job as a property caretaker years ago and he had to shine shoes for a living now. He spent all day living in the Cathedral Square, and slept on the rectory porch at night with other people like him so as to be safe.
After listening to him, I told him not to move; I would see the Sisters of Charity, and then I would send Yvenel to bring him to their urgent care ward; and when he gets better, he could come home with us to the Foyer where he will have his own place and lots of friends. He was happy to hear that. Finally, after all these years, someone saw him… Just then, the Assumption Cathedral bell tolled the mid-day Angelus prayer. I told him that was Our Lady’s call for him today and my call to go see the sisters. So, I went to see my good friend, Sister Genova, the Mother Superior, and told her my story. She agreed right away to take him in for urgent care at 3 p.m. that same day! When he gets better, they will bring him to the Foyer for us. Luckner is now in good hands and I’m feeling much better. We had a wonderful Christmas party, and, God willing, Lucker will be with us as God’s special gift to us this year.
