Being Christ on the Streets

The Anchoress has a moving story up about Catholic Sisters ministering to prostitutes - Being Christ on the Streets

A sister giving a prostitute a cup of tea might be laughable to some - it might seem like putting a bandage on a gaping, mortal wound. But what the cup of tea says is: “you are human, you are valuable to God and to me. You are worth loving.” And it helps restore, in a small but meaningful way, to the prostitute her dignity and humanity.

We cannot change every reality. We cannot make the fact that there will “always” be poor and “always” be exploited people go away, no matter how much we would like to. The world is broken, and as long as some humans are willing to treat other human beings as “things” first and foremost, then prostitution and other forms of exploitation will continue to be part of the world.

Jesus knew this. He did not just show up and clear the streets of the poor, the sick, the lame, the slave, the prostitutes, the soldiers and so forth. If he had, that would have been lovely for a few days, but it would have ultimately changed nothing, because the brokenness would still exist. He healed those who asked - many clearly did not - but also taught how to live in this broken world by being Christ for each other. In the Culture of Life, no one gets thrown away.