Last week, I got to spend 7 days and 6 nights at our Diocesan Work Camp, a mission trip where 200 teens and adults serve the Lord in the day by building wheelchair ramps and fixing bathrooms and in the morning & evening by attending daily Mass, listening to inspirational talks, and basically making the most joyful ruckus you've ever seen or heard. Normally, it's one of those trips that I look forward to and enjoy a lot but totally drains me - but this year was different.
When we left the camp's homebase on Sunday, I had 4 girls in the van with me. We were cruising through C'Ville on our way to the highway when we saw a homeless man on the side of the road, holding a sign next to the left turn lane. This is a pretty typical sight for us as people who live in Richmond, and I always say a quick prayer for the guys I see and will normally give them some change if I get the chance to pull up next to them. However, this time I had teens in the car with me, and the second they saw him, they immediately started screaming "WHO HAS MONEY? WE NEED TO GIVE HIM SOMETHING! KATIE, ROLL DOWN THE WINDOW AND WAVE HIM OVER AND GIVE THIS TO HIM!" Their enthusiasm was astounding, and as much as I agreed with them, our light changed just as I rolled down the window and we would have to make him cross a lane of moving traffic in order to give him the $5 one of the girls had in her pocket. But as I rolled the window back up, I promised that we would turn around and get over to his side of the street so that they could help him out.
When we got back to that same corner a couple minutes later, I rolled down the middle window so that the girls could be the ones to hand the man their money. When he came up to us, he had a tear in his eye as he put down his sign that said "Please help, God bless you." He thanked the girls for the generosity and then knocked on my window. When I rolled it down, he asked if he had just seen us turn a minute before, which I said yes. He was blown away that we would come back for him, and I told him truthfully that it was all because of the girls' persistence. He gave all of us high fives and told us that God loves us just as the light changed and "Living on a Prayer" got to the chorus (which one of the girls had pumped up the volume on, making the whole encounter more ridiculous and amazing). As we turned, I could see him smiling at us with a smile that lit up his entire face.
I think what stands out to me most is that this is exactly what we are called to do! Whatever those girls heard in their ears and in their hearts that week, it had come alive in them in a new way. It wasn't a big plan, and heck, it was only five bucks, but they did it with such a fiery, passionate love! We had an encounter with Christ that day, and it was joy-filled and fun. To see that man smile, to get to touch him and see their joy overflow and spread to him - THAT is what the mission of the Church is all about. That's what Pope Francis is talking about when he says to spread the Gospel with joy! Who cares if we had to try a second time in order to be close enough, or if he was a little dirty, or if we were awkwardly wearing matching t-shirts and listening to Bon Jovi? God wants to meet us right here, right now - the amount of time or the way we look is irrelevant, because it's all about us being present with Him and Him being present with us. Get out on that road of life and start proclaiming the Good News with the exuberant and persistent joy that it brings to you!
And the money the girls gave to that man? We realized later on during the ride home that it was the $5 one of them had won for memorizing the Bible verse the work camp's theme of Chosen was based on and being able to recite it in front of the whole camp. She didn't even think twice when one of the other girls was screaming about who had money to give him - she just handed it over without a second thought. Talk about embracing that whole idea of being chosen by God and letting Him work through you to glorify His name!
"It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit that will remain, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you." -John 15:16
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