Philadelphia - Lower Bucks County

Country: United States
State or province: Pennsylvania

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Nancy Hoyt
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Recent Blog Posts

• Feast of the IHM at Sister Cities Park June 2025

• Suburban Station Phila 4-20-2024 and Good Shepherd Sunday

• Holy Saturday (3-30-2024) Downtown Philly

• Saturday at Suburban Station Philadelphia - February 3rd

• Suburban Station Philly with Encounter Ministry folks - 1/13/2024

Feast of the IHM at Sister Cities Park June 2025

July 8, 2025

The Lower Bucks / Philadelphia team got out last Saturday across the street from the Cathedral, near Sister Cities Park. It was the feast day of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a day after the feast day of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The day was a perfect one for a St. Paul Street Evangelization outing, sharing love of Christ and His sweet blessed Mother.

It was an exceptional honor for the team to get to introduce a couple of Philadelphia Archdiocesan diaconate candidates, Kevin and Dennis, and Dennis' spouse Amy to serving in street evangelization. We got out around 9:30 am and were fortunate to have lovely weather and many people strolling about.

One of the first persons we met was a man named James who was walking his bike on the sidewalk. We asked him if he would like a blessed medal and prayer. He explained that he could use prayers "in thanks for everything!". The team huddled in and prayed in thankfulness and also for James' wellness and safety, particularly with bike riding, and asked Jesus to ask the Father to send His Holy Spirit upon James and all of us. Upon this prayer James fell silent and still and became a bit tearful. We mentioned how it seemed he was moved by the Holy Spirit. He smiled and agreed and thanked us profusely, he told us how glad he was to have met us.

The team met and prayed with many other people. At two points in time we separated, with some team members staying by the sidewalk sign and others going to nearby park areas where many indigent and homeless spend time on the benches. We gave out waters and breakfast bars, blessed medals and rosaries, to those who wanted them and prayed and spoke with many.

One young man Josh noted that he needed prayer for a new job and that he was looking for a church to attend. Josh said that when he was very young his grandmother taught him and the kids in his family about the Bible and Christianity. Josh was open to visiting the cathedral for the first time. We told him about how the Catholic Church is meant for all, not just for people who consider themselves Catholic. They visited the tomb of St. Catherine Drexel, in the cathedral, and discussed how she was a Philadelphia heiress who left all of her wealth behind to serve native and African Americans. Nancy and Josh recited Psalm 23, The Lord is my shepherd, together, thinking about how great it is to have Jesus always by our side leading us on the path of righteousness. Josh stayed back to pray on his own.

Please join us in praying for the following people and their intentions.

Dion. Health
Billy. Health
Kevin. Health, doctors appt upcoming
James. Thanks
Jason. family
Anton and Greg Michael Smith.
Rakeem. For work and recent family passings
Denise and Alisha. Thankful - moved by our stopping and praying with them
Helen. Wellness
David. Family visiting from LA
Brian. For friend Tony to be in heaven
Benjamin. St Michael prayer against evil
Danny. Health and safey, needed a hug
Vaneel. Software engr, for his good work
Joe. Migrant, to find a home and new work as baker
Josh. New job that involves God and faith
Asheem. For God's abundance
Helen. For her safety
Visiting family from out of town at cathedral
Teresa. Health, comfort and faith, in hospital for cancer treatment

Also, we have some notes directly from the Deacon candidates about their experience with serving in the street evangelization ministry this day. Their witness reminds us well of our good God at work in the most wonderful ways, all of the time. Praise God!

1. I was amazed at how open people are to share a difficult situation they are facing and allowing us to pray with them in the midst of the world.

2. How friendly people were even when rejecting our gift.

3. The number of people that were willing to both accept the gift as well as talk with us.

4. How comfortable I felt approaching strangers - I expected to be very afraid of doing this.

5. Next time I do this, I would like to come with pieces of paper with the address of various shelters and food kitchens in the area that I can give to people who might be looking for those things. Also, being able to give out water and small food items Helped to start a conversation for those who were homeless.

6. We were really touched by how appreciative many of the people were with being asked to pray and with feeling the Holy Spirit at work. It was wonderful to see when some people initially responded no thank you and came back shortly after that to accept our offer.

7. Finally, as I reflect on this almost 24 hours later, I realize even more how many gifts God has given me and how blessed I am and how easy my Cross is to carry relative to many of those people that we met. And all I can feel is extreme gratitude to God.