“Jesus!”
Yesterday Catholics celebrated Corpus Christi Sunday, and the U.S. Bishops launched a Eucharistic revival, aimed at witnessing to the power of the Eucharist. In Greenwich Village, the Dominican friars at St. Joseph’s Church processed with the Blessed Sacrament (which Catholics believe is the Real Presence of Jesus) with about 80 parishioners, including a few Missionaries of Charity (Mother Teresa’s sisters) and a choir.
At one point, about halfway through the procession, a woman excoriated a young priest who moved an orange cone outside the brownstone whose doorway she was standing in. “You are a liability to me,” she said, because he had moved the cone a few inches, as best I could tell. He explained that a procession would be passing by, and that’s why he moved it. She insisted a procession could not pass by because she had movers there. “I don’t give a sh** about any procession. I don’t give a sh** about anything.”
Also ahead of the procession, taking pictures, I whispered a prayer that there would not be an incident. As I walked on, I turned around and saw one of the movers standing by a desk on the sidewalk. He looked at the procession and exclaimed, “Jesus!” I’m quite sure he meant it as an expletive, but on Gay Street in Manhattan during a month dedicated to the deadly sin of pride (while that might not be the intention, it is), I saw it as a reminder that with God all things are possible and all of us blinded by every kind of sin can see in His light.
Peacefully, we walked around the block, which happens to include the Stonewall Inn and memorial. I often wonder if pluralism is still possible. Can we live together still? With Jane’s Revenge threatening domestic terrorism and all, I worry. But in a sea of rainbow flags, we took Jesus to the streets, and I know people were blessed. It was a tremendous sign of hope in an increasingly violent city.