On Sunday, parishes in Richmond and throughout the country gathered for the blessing of the animals. Individuals and families brought their pets and companion animals to the ceremonies. The spirit of St. Francis inhabited the proceedings.

Picture this scene from New York City the following day. A visiting Richmonder parked himself in the delightful triangle in front of Cooper Union -- the site of Abraham Lincoln's "House Divided" speech. As he read during an afternoon of vivid sun and humane temperatures, several homeless men arrived to occupy benches they clearly knew as regulars. Two stored their possessions in shopping carts. All carried bundles.

Their attitudes, despite their circumstances, were not sullen but engaging. Eventually they unwrapped their lunches, which came from food banks or soup kitchens -- not from carry-outs for gourmets. They depended on the kindness of those who are not strangers to humanity created in the image and likeness, and there is no disgrace in that. Two fellows stood up and walked to the center of the park and spread morsels on the brick; birds arrived on cue, as though greeting friends at an event long-standing on the social calendar. The men whispered to them.

What was this if not a shared meal, a seder, a communion -- an incarnation of grace? Thus met evangelists on a Monday afternoon in early October, with material markets in a free fall.