While no effort of evangelization can ultimately be successful without a revitalization of our liturgical worship, neither will we succeed in a lasting way without performing spiritual and corporal works of mercy.
This morning I saw a great story about a cop in New York City who bought a pair of boots for a shoeless beggar.
A tourist took a photo of the probably Catholic police officer, Lawrence Diprimo talking to the guy.
Officer Deprimo, patrolling Times Square found the guy on the sidewalk with nothing on his feet.
‘It was freezing out and you could see the blisters on the man’s feet,’ the officer told the Times. ‘I had two pairs of socks and I was still cold.’
Officer Deprimo said he talked to the homeless man and found out his shoe size: 12.
He watched the man stand up and walk slowly, painfully, down the cold pavement of the sidewalk on the balls of his feet.
The 25-year-old officer went into a nearby Skecher’s store and found a $100 pair of winter boots that he believed would keep the man warm through the winter.
The clerk, moved to the story, gave the officer his employee discount – 25 percent off.
Officer Deprimo said he keeps the $75 receipt as a reminder that ‘sometimes people have it worse.’Deprimo, who lives on Long Island with his parents, joined the force in 2010.
The photo was taken by Jennifer Foster, a 911 dispatcher from from Pinal County, Arizona, who was in New York for Thanksgiving.
When she got home, she emailed the photo to the NYPD, which posted it to the department’s Facebook page.
She said she took the picture because the scene reminded her of her own father, a 32-year veteran of the Phoenix police department. She remembers as a child watching him give food to a homeless man.
‘He squatted down, just like this officer,’ she told the Times.
