During the past six months I have biked more than 2,000 miles, much of it commuting to work each day. It struck me one day that I see a lot of people who cannot walk by themselves. I see people with canes, walkers, and wheelchairs. Some have no legs at all. Others hobble or limp as they try to get across the street before the light changes. Still others are on stretchers, being taken from a nursing home to the hospital, perhaps for tests or physical therapy. Their conditions may be the result of birth, injury, war wounds, addiction, or physical neglect.

I have a saying, “I find God on the bike.” It is a paraphrase of the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel, “For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.” The Kingdom of God is found among those who cannot walk.

Not long after this realization, I had occasion to celebrate the wedding of Catherine and Chris. My words to them in the homily, borrowing from my experience, were: “Help others to walk. There you will find the Kingdom of God.”

Help a refugee walk back home. Help a migrant worker to walk a path to citizenship. Help a young student, living in poverty, to walk up to the stage at graduation from high school and college. Help those trapped in slavery to walk to freedom. Help a person who cannot walk to get across the street. For behold, the Kingdom of God is among you.

—Ted Munz, S.J., Chicago-Detroit Province Jesuits