Thomas Merton wrote that it is not possible to live a meaningful life without faith, and I believe this is true, we all have our own ideas of faith. Walking in mid-town Manhattan yesterday, I passed a crowded Halal water and food stand, it was one of the busiest intersections in the city and it has just begun to rain.

I saw one of the Halal workers leave his cart, he was holding a square piece of cardboard. He lay it down next to the curb as literally hundreds of people, almost all of them on cell phones, thundered by, the smell of automobile  exhaust and honking horns and jammed traffic on the other side of him.

It is hard for me to describe the din and smell and noise all around him, he lay the cardboard down and faced towards Mecca, the direction in which all Muslims pray.

He knelt down on the cardboard several times, sometimes lying face down, sometimes sitting,  then picking up his soaked cardboard and going back to the stand to make falafel and other sandwiches for the long line of hungry tourists and New Yorkers. I went over and shook his hand and he smiled and thanked me for noticing his prayer and said he was thankful I took his photograph.

Some people have shouted at him when he prays, he said, but mostly, no one seems to notice.

I was touched by his devotion, so many people speak of faith and preach to others, but here, on this wet and crowded street, this faithful man found time and space for his prayers and so many people marched by him, sometimes nearly over him. His faith is an integral part of his life, it is literally women in and around his life.

And all he needs is a piece of cardboard and a bit of space on the ground.