“He was denied help”

Sometimes God sends people your way when you expect it, but most of the time he sends people unexpectedly and we just need to remember to Listen, Befriend, Proclaim, and Invite. When we are open to listening and asking questions, we can touch hearts through our love of God and our neighbor.

Last week we talked to a young man, Jose, who was living in his truck. He had a job, but with no GED, he didn’t earn enough for affordable housing. He had really been struggling to find a sense of dignity through his circumstances. In fact, he had just gotten enough courage to meet with a government group for assistance and when he didn’t understand how to fill out the forms, he was denied help. He felt pretty worthless at the moment. We were able to connect him with a local St. Vincent de Paul group for financial assistance,

We then asked him about his relationship with God and if he went to church. He said that he had grown up Catholic but had drifted away from the church. He couldn’t even remember why, he just stopped going. He told us that sometimes, he just walked into the local Catholic Church when no one was there because it gave him a sense of peace.

We shared with him that being in relationship with God and following his plan for our lives can bring us that sense of peace always and that God wants to be part of our lives. God created the church so that we would be part of his body and we would live in community with each other. We prayed for his needs and gave him a Miraculous Medal. We talked to him about how much God loved him and his face lit up. We were able to connect him to our contact person at the church to begin the process of accompaniment back to full relationship.