“Pope Francis has given a 17-year-old boy with Down Syndrome the ride of his life – sort of. Francis invited Alberto di Tullio up onto his open-top Mercedes at the end of his general audience Wednesday, letting him spin around on the pontiff’s white chair while tens of thousands of people looked on. The boy’s father, Celestino di Tullio, told The Associated Press he choked up when Francis approached his son.” (Huffington Post, June 19)
There’s a precedent for what the Pope did, and a precedent for every time today you’ll give sincere and special attention to another. The precedent is Jesus. “A leper came to Him, imploring Him, and kneeling said to Him, ‘If you will, you can make me clean.’ Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched Him and said to Him, ‘I will, be clean.’” (Mark 1:40-41) Open the Bible and you’ll easily find many more stories of Jesus one-on-one with people He did not know.
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2, referring to Genesis 18:1-15)
“Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers, you did it to Me.” (Matthew 25:40)
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