Somerville, NJ
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The following story comes to us from student Thomas with our team in Somerville, New Jersey:
I’m currently a student of the St. Paul Online School of Evangelization. It was a pleasant surprise when SPSE recently hosted a training event in my diocese that was led by SPSE COO Adam Janke. Knowing that we’d go out onto the streets of downtown Somerville, NJ following some training at this event, I was excited to apply the material of Lesson Four to this opportunity.
About 37 of us left the high school hosting this event and we headed to downtown Somerville, NJ. Once I had disembarked from the bus, I joined two other men from our diocese, none of which I had known previously. We huddled together on Main St., with the cold wind blowing through us. We started with our arms wrapped around our shoulders, our heads cast down and we prayed together for the Holy Spirit to guide us in this endeavor, and then headed out. Seeing many other teams from the training, we walked east on Main St. beyond the county courthouse. I attempted to gift the Miraculous Medal that I’d received in my welcome package a few weeks ago from St. Paul Street Evangelization. Three times rebuffed, I admit that I was surprised when a woman finally accepted the medal. She took it and I explained the history of it to her. She looked at me and thanked me. I replied that she was welcome, and we moved on. Mission accomplished for the Lesson Four application. I shared my success with my two other team members. We moved on. There is a homeless shelter a block east of the Somerset County Courthouse. In front of the shelter we encountered a young Hispanic man named Anais, who was a bit wary of the three of us approaching him. One of my teammates asked him if he wanted a rosary. He replied, “No,” and explained that he was waiting for a ride. My teammate asked him if we could pray for him. He hesitated for a brief moment and said, “Yes.” “Was there anything that we could pray for?”, he was asked. He replied, “for my family.” We huddled together, our hands and arms extended around each other, and my teammate led us in a prayer for Anais’s family. When we were finished, he looked at us with tears in his eyes and thanked us. We moved on. During the rest of the hour, we gave out several rosaries and Miraculous Medals. We encountered many who expressed no interest in what we were doing, but encountered many who did. We prayed over a homeless man with a bicycle named James and two other homeless men, Thomas and Doc in an alleyway next to a supermarket. All in all it was a terrific opportunity and my team will continue to pray for Annais, James, Thomas and Doc this week and in the future.
Praised be Jesus Christ!