With the Jubilee Year of Mercy coming to a close on Sunday, November 20th it seems fitting to highlight a man of extreme mercy, Father Daniel Egan from New York. Father Egan entered the Friars of Atonement in 1935 ( O'CONNOR), but when preaching to a church in Manhattan in 1952 he did something that would forever change his life and the lives of countless others around the world. He noticed a woman in the pew who appeared to be in great distress. It turned out that this woman was a struggling drug addict in need of help ( PACE). Rather than dismiss her and so many others like her as a troubled criminal, Father Egan saw a need and started his life mission to help fill that need. He realized that “each one of these persons was Jesus Christ crying out for help” ( O'CONNOR) and most had no where to turn. Thus he began his work counseling, befriending, listening to and helping those who were suffering from drug and alcohol addiction.  

In 1962 he opened a halfway house for women struggling with addictions,  that was located directly across the street from a jail ( Ellsberg). ''These women face a crisis the moment they are freed,'' Father Egan said in a 1963 interview. ''The simplest things become their deepest need -- a place to eat and sleep, a job, a coat to wear, a friend.'' He went on to open centers around the world, including in Calcutta, India at the request of Mother Theresa ( PACE).

Father Egan lived out the Works of Mercy day in and day out, reaching out to those in need, those in prison, those whom society dismissed. ''If we had the vision of faith,'' he once wrote, ''we would see beneath every behavior -- no matter how repulsive -- beneath every bodily appearance -- no matter how dirty or deformed -- a priceless dignity and value that makes all material facts and scientific technologies fade into insignificance'' ( PACE).

Pope Benedict wrote, “Seeing with the eyes of Christ, I can give to others much more than their outward necessities; I can give them the look of love which they crave” ( BENEDICT). But before Pope Benedict had coined that phrase “look of love,” Father Egan was giving it. He took Matthew 25:40 to heart and sought out his brothers and sisters in need and gave them that look of love, that friendly ear that we all crave. There are these needs all around us in our daily lives. All we have to do is look…..but do so with the “look of love”.  Reaching out to others like Father Egan, living out these works of mercy, doesn’t have to take a great deal of money, specialized skill or years of schooling. What it does take is an open heart, compassion for the Earth and those with whom you share it. Every one of you is capable of having a loving open heart if you choose to! Look around you as you move through your daily life. Start really seeing those around you….start seeing like Father Egan, put mercy in motion and see Jesus Christ in them!