Like Jesus with the Samaritan woman, an Islamic man breaks down barriers with kind gestures.
By Sr. Rebecca Conlon

Many of us believe that what happens on New Year’s Day sets a pattern for the whole year.

This keeps us alert to see how the new year greets us.

On January 1 this year, I sat with a friend in an airport lounge in Lahore, Pakistan. A stream of activity and a buzz in the air surrounded us as we waited to board the plane.

Even though Muslims have their own Islamic calendar (which started on February 23 this year) they still understand the effect of the arrival of New Year’s Day.

As we waited, we ordered coffee. When it arrived I realized I had no place to rest my cup. It was then that I noticed our neighbor, who had placed his tray on a vacant seat between us. This seat was a cultural dividing line, because it is not customary or acceptable in Pakistan for strangers of the opposite sex to sit beside each other.

Perhaps finding myself in an international airport would somewhat dilute this norm. But having lived and worked in the Sindh province of Pakistan for 13 years, I accepted this norm and even made sure it was upheld.

Columban Sister Rebecca Conlon was greeted by some of the Pakistani women she has worked among during her 13 years in the Sindh province of Pakistan.

To my surprise he indicated that I should put my cup on his tray. “What?” I thought to myself. “Me, a Westerner, a white person, a Christian and, above all, a woman, and you, a maulvi … do you know that you should never do this?”

Here I found echoes of the meeting by the well of the Samaritan woman and Jesus. The invisible cultural chasm between us was the same as in Jesus’ time. Feeling uncomfortable I hesitantly accepted his hospitality and placed my cup on the tray.

It was like a cultural barrier coming down. Soon a mother and her cantankerous baby passed by looking for a seat. No seat was available, so the maulvi stood up and gave her his seat. Flabbergasted, we watched him walk away.

Our flight was called, and the person who served us coffee came with our bill. The maulvi reappeared and paid our bill. We were shocked, but thanked him as he moved away and avoided eye contact, which is a mark of respect in this culture.

From our hearts the most appropriate thanks we could offer him was to send him a blessing as he boarded his plane. Our blessing was from the Scripture reading for January 1:

“May the Lord bless you and guard you; May the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; May the Lord look kindly on you and give you peace” (Numbers 6:24-26).

It is always the right time to listen to our hearts and check out our assumptions. Scripture reminds us that division, intolerance and prejudices are all born in our hearts.

When I reflect on the Samaritan woman’s story, I see that it is Jesus who broke the ice, broke down the woman’s preconceived notions about Him, broke through the cultural taboos and offered life.

It was the maulvi who did likewise for us on New Year’s Day. He was the one we least expected to give us a vision of reaching out across invisible barriers that tend to hold us back.

In 2004, let us offer life to all people of all faiths and nations with a blessing. Perhaps this is what our fragile world needs more than ever. Let’s sprinkle our world with blessings.