“It’s December 24, around 11 p.m. I celebrate Christmas mass. It is the time of consecration. The church’s only glass door, crossed by car headlights, opens. A tramp staggers into the church and walks down the central aisle. I wonder what’s going to happen. Will it disrupt the smooth running of the mass? Start shouting into the microphone? Break things? He advances more and more.
Au 3th row, I glance at one of my parishioners, a former legionnaire, who immediately understands and is ready to intervene if necessary… I am reassured as the man continues to approach a little closer. At the end of the aisle, there he is climbing the steps towards the altar. At the foot of the altar is the nativity scene. He stops, puts his hand in his pocket. Everyone is wondering what he is going to do… He takes a small candle out of his pocket. He reaches into the other pocket and pulls out a lighter. He lights the little candle. And, painfully, he gets on his knees and places his candle in front of the nativity scene. For a few minutes, he prays, indifferent to the mass that continues around him. Once his prayer is finished, he gets up with just as much difficulty, walks down the central aisle and sits on a chair at the back of the church.
Intrigued, at the end of mass, I went to see this man and struck up a conversation with him. His name is Roman. I ask him why he came to light this little candle in front of the nursery. He then tells me something extraordinary: “I never knew my parents, I am a child of the DDASS. This morning, I, who never receive mail, received a letter that said: “We are your half-brothers, we have just found your trace and we are sending you, with this letter, a photo of mom who died 10 years ago. »
This tramp, certainly drunk but very spiritual, then said to me: “It’s magnificent. The day God finds a mother, I found my mother. »
This is the grace of Christmas! This man discovered his mother’s face, even though she had already died, and was able to reconcile himself with her story. He didn’t come from nowhere, he has a mother like the rest of us.
