In December I took a new job that would switch to a four-day work week and in light of this, I prayed about what to do with the extra day of availability. Two months later it became evident when a friend reached out to ask if anyone could spend time with a 22-year old who was dying of cancer and didn't want to die alone. The provocation was clear, but in front of this I didn't have skills that would help or any experience that would prepare me. However, I knew that all I had to do was say yes to the reality that Christ placed in front of me.

Me and my friend Bryan were each able to find two days a week to be with Anthony. I was every bit unprepared and then some, but my time with Anthony rubbing his feet, chatting, or taking him to the grocery store was an encounter. I found myself praying, begging as I drove to meet him each time, not knowing if I would be challenged or embraced as I walked in the door. Bryan and I would talk weekly if not daily, laughing at our own feeble attempts to accommodate Anthony. In the end, what we could provide was faithfulness, not satisfaction or relief or healing.

It was in these recent Fraternity Exercises and the reminder to reread the meaning of charitable work that I have been able to judge my experience with Anthony alongside Bryan. Anthony survived about four months longer than I was initially prepared to give and how grateful I am that my timeline was inaccurate. I am reminded of what Bishop Paccosi noted, "You love what does not last only in the name of what can last." Knowing my time with Anthony would not last I am able to experience the Hundredfold, my life being changed, I look at my wife, my kids, my friends, my coworkers differently...I am more myself...less the man who I want to be and more the man Christ meets me in.

Rick, Indianapolis