The Kindness of Strangers

I attended mass last night, as my wife was out of town and I was flying solo.  I kind of like Saturday evening mass - it is a nice way to transition into the night, and it's nice to have a leisurely Sunday with no specific place to go and no specific time to be there.  However, Mrs. YDP is just the opposite, so we just go at our usual 10:00 on Sunday mornings.

While we're active in our parish, folks do tend to congregate in their favored mass times.  Hence, one will typically see the same folks at our 10:00 service that we see every week.  However, with me going last night, I was in the mix with a bunch of different folks.  And that was fine.  I ran into a some folks I'd not seen in a while, and shook some hands.

Now the weird part.  During the sign of peace, one of the three guys in the choir (someone I recognized as a parishioner, but not someone I knew) worked his way over to me - two sections over - gave me a big smile, and shaking my hand and calling me by name offered me the peace of Christ.  

How did this guy know who I was, and why did he come all the way over?

Then as church let out, I walked up the center aisle, and a woman grabbed my arm.  She asked about my job at my former employer and where I was now working.  She was completely unfamiliar to me, but sure knew a lot about me.

I'm the first to admit that I'm terrible at remembering people.  I'm horrible at names, and equally as bad in remembering faces.  I don't know how many times I've introduced myself to people saying "It's nice to meet you," only to have them correct me that we met before at some event.  It has been that way pretty much my whole life.

That's why last night was so astonishing to me.  I viewed these folks as strangers, and they obviously viewed me as something entirely different.  

I've got a long way to go to show others the same kindness.