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New clothes of salvation

By Father Dennis Meinen
View from the scooter

There is a story called The Ragman. One Friday early before dawn, a young man, very handsome and strong, was walking through the alleys of our city.

He was pulling an old cart filled with bright and beautiful new clothes. As he pulled the cart, he called out, "Rags. Rags. New rags for old. I'll take your tired rags." I thought to myself, "How can this be?" This man looked very healthy and intelligent. Couldn't he find a better job that this-a ragman in the inner city? I decided to follow him just out of curiosity. And, I wasn't disappointed.

Pretty soon, the ragman saw a woman sitting by herself sobbing heavily into a handkerchief. She was crying 1000 tears. Her heart was breaking. The ragman stopped his cart and quietly walked over to the woman. "Give me your rag," he said, "and I'll give you another." Gently he took the handkerchief from her eyes and laid another clean linen cloth in her hands. The new cloth was so bright that it shone.

Then, he left her and began to pull his cart again. As he did this, a strange thing happened. He put the woman's stained handkerchief up to his own face and then he began to cry exactly as miserably as did the woman. The woman, however, was left without a tear. This is really something, I thought to myself and I continued to follow the ragman. "Rags. Rags. New rags for old." The ragman came to a little girl whose head was wrapped in a bandage and whose eyes were empty, a man with only one arm, a drunk, He was obviously very sick. The ragman took the blanket and replaced it with new clothes. The ragman wrapped the blanket around himself.

The ragman was now weeping uncontrollably and bleeding from the head and pulling his cart with only one arm. He looked drunk but was still going forward. He finally came to a landfill full of garbage. I wanted to help him but I stayed back, hiding. He climbed a hill and then he sighed. He laid down and put his head on the jacket and handkerchief and covered himself with the army blanket. And then he died.

On Sunday morning I was awakened by a violent light-a light so bright that I couldn't look straight at it. I could see, however, a miracle had taken place. There was the ragman folding the blanket. He was alive with only a scar on his forehead. And, besides that, he was healthy again. There was absolutely no sign of sorrow or age and all the rags he gathered, shined in cleanliness.

Well, I lowered my head in awe of all that I had seen. I got out of the junk car and walked over to the ragman. I told him my name with shame because I was some sorry figure next to him.
Then I took off all of my clothes and I said to him with a yearning in my voice, "Dress me. Make me new again." He did dress me, my Lord. He put new rags on me and I am a wonder beside him-the Ragman. The Ragman. The Christ. The Risen Christ?

So, my brothers and sisters, have you let Christ put new clothes on you? Or, are you still letting the world, the flesh and the devil clothe you? Please, let Jesus, our light, our life and our savior, clothe you in His new clothes of salvation. He suffered and died for us. But, the key question is, do you really believe that He is risen-that He rose for us? I surely do.

He has risen. He has risen, indeed. Thanks be to God.