"If you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat with them... let them grow together until the end of the age."
The painting shown here is by Carl Dobsky, titled The Lotus Eater, evocative of the episode in Homer's Odyssey when the men became enchanted by the Lotus Eater's island. In this painting Dobsky reveals to us a homeless man lying abject, asleep on a threshold, surrounded by his spent intoxicants.
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I would call the painting, St. Alexis if it were mine. I expect that would baffle every one, since clearly this man doesn't seem to be exemplary or saintly. So why would I do that? Maybe because he reminds me of a former Jesuit I used to see outside St. Anthony's Shrine in Boston. He looked much like the Lotus Eater. He always begged for money and cigarettes, his eyes often watering - probably because they stung from dehydration. It made him more endearing however, since it suggested tears of repentance, and when he asked for 'donations' he frequently spoke about spiritual things, giving the impression he had once been very holy, and maybe still was, despite his apparent alcoholism and addictions. Perhaps he was wheat amongst the other weeds or homeless men who panhandled with him?
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Yesterday as I was leaving my house I noticed an old black man sitting on my front steps. He was just 'passing through' the neighborhood. It was hot and he had sat down to drink his 6-pack of beer and smoke a few cigarettes. He rushed over to the car as I pulled out of the garage, introduced himself and almost immediately started quoting scripture and informing me he was a Vietnam vet - all very good credentials meant to verify he was a good man despite appearances. Then he asked if it was all right to rest himself on my steps - I said, sure, go ahead! And then he had me repeat my permission to make certain he had a guarantee - just in case the police stopped by, then he invited me to join him and I told him I had to go because I was on my way to Mass.
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When I returned home he was gone. A neighbor lady had called the police to have him move on. She obviously didn't recognize that he was a distinguished guest relaxing on my staircase.
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The poor scare us. The indigent repel us. They could be us. I think their quoting scripture oftentimes mirrors our own quest for acceptance and approval - it proves, as it were, that they are us. I think when we say, 'there but for the grace of God' it isn't really humility yet, because we still secretly think we are better than them.
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"Who would not have judged that poor Lazarus was supremely miserable and the rich man quite happy and content? Yet such was not the case, for that rich man with all his wealth suffered more than poor Lazarus tormented by his leprosy. For the rich man's selfish will was alive, and this is the source of all suffering. But in Lazarus this will was dead and his will was so alive in me that he found refreshment and consolation in his pain. He had been thrown out by others, especially by the rich man, and was neither cleansed nor cared for by them, but I provided that the senseless animals should lick his sores. And you see how at the end of their lives Lazarus has eternal life and the rich man is in hell." - The Dialogue, Catherine of Siena
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What?
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Art: Carl Dobsky is represented by John Pearce Gallery, San Francisco.
