It is a day like all the others here in Vienna, but in our courtyard, Wednesday is a special day. For some years now, in fact, we have opened our home to the homeless and the needy of our neighborhood who often also have medical needs. The lunch of Wednesday therefore is always populated by people from all over the world, especially those from Slavic countries.
For me, this moment has become the center of the week. I wait for it and I wait for them. We have started calling it “the Königstisch lunch” or “The table of the King,” because every Wednesday Jesus, the King, comes to visit us in the different faces that surround that table. And every time it happens, He invites us priests to stay at table with Him. We seek, therefore, to take care of every particular detail: a clean tablecloth, flowers as a centerpiece, fresh bread and, above all, good food.
Among the many encounters that we have had at the Table of the King, there is Daniel, a thirty year old man with a genetic illness that is devouring his legs and causing him to suffer. He always comes with his fiancee, Eva. Last Wednesday, he came in his wheelchair. I asked him what happened and he, all sad, responded that he is no longer able to walk due to the pain. He showed me his wounds: even though I am not a doctor, I understood that it was serious.
Normally, Daniel helps us get ready for things. Unable to do so anymore, he came near to me with Eva while I was preparing food to eat. At a certain point, I turned and saw that he was crying in silence. “Daniel, what’s going on?,” I asked him. Eva ran to him, hugged him and gave him a kiss. She whispered in Slovak to not worry about it.
“Daniel, I said to him, “What is bothering you?”. “I am afraid of the operation,” he responded. “I am afraid to die. This year, I already had twelve surgeries, and this would be the thirteenth. No doctor is able to heal me. And I don’t have any money…I am scared!”
Every Wednesday, He makes Himself present in these faces and shares a table with us
“Twelve surgeries,” “many doctors,” “no one is able to heal me”: the details of his story brought my mind to the Gospel, to the encounter of Jesus with the woman with hemorrhages. Many times it happens to us to think that the Gospel is something of the past: on the contrary, it is a life that still happens today.
And so I looked at him and I said: “Daniel, what you are telling me reminds me of the story of a person I know; can I tell you her story?”. “For sure!”. “It is the story of a girl who for twelve years had been affected by hemorrhages. Twelve years, Daniel! She had suffered greatly, she had visited many doctors and had spent all her money without any improvement. Actually, she was even worse than before. But one day she heard that there was a new doctor, my friend, who was healing people. And so she went to meet him. But that day, Daniel, there were a ton of people. And this girl thought, ‘If I even just touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed!’”. Daniel could not take his eyes off me; even Eva had stopped cooking to hear the story. “She arrived and touched his clothes, like this!”. And I touched Daniel’s shirt. “Healed,” I then said with enthusiasm. “She was healed after twelve years of suffering.”
I would not be able to describe Daniel’s gaze at that moment. He didn’t even let me finish the story and with a force that almost made him jump from his wheelchair, he said to me, “Will you introduce me to this friend?”. Moved by his question, I responded: “Certainly!”. And so I went to the sacristy, put on my stole and ran to him with the oil for the Anointing of the Sick. “Now, Daniel, Jesus, this friend, will touch you, will come to you and will heal you.”
In the parish hall, among the smells of food and the people who were beginning to arrive, we celebrated in this way the ancient and new sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
While I anointed him and he was recollected in prayer, I thought: “Thank You, Lord, who have called me to stay so close to You, to adore You in these faces, to serve You in these new friends. Thank You for the gift of the priesthood.”
Daniel is only one of the many faces of the King. Every Wednesday, He makes Himself present in these neighbors and comes to dine with us. In the Mass, and so too in this new table, God becomes flesh. For this reason, it is the moment that I look forward to the most.
