These words were written by one of the 21 students from Marshall McLuhan High School who came to Sacre Coeur parish on a cold rainy day to participate in a street retreat in the heart of downtown Toronto. An area which has been described as, “a patch of inner-city Toronto plagued by addicts and drug-dealers.” Led by their chaplain, Ms. Linda Izzo, and members of staff from the school, the students had prepared 200 care packages of toiletries, food items, and notes of encouragement, to be handed out, with a personalized note of love and prayers.
The day started with prayers and reflections, and the students were asked their thoughts about what could cause homelessness to so many people, many of whom were highly educated and were once settled into prestigious employment. Some of the many suggestions were mental health problems, addiction, family violence, and the need to escape war.
We then set out in groups to distribute the care packages led by Sr. Sarah Rudolph IBVM, Dominican Friar Prakash, Vanessa Mackenzie, and myself. For many, the experience was life-changing, and these are some of the reflections that the students shared with us when they returned.
“I was really moved when I met a man in need who was a physics teacher in Afghanistan. He was so gentle and grateful for a care bag and some conversation. It broke my heart to know he left a war-torn country only to wander into another war: the war of financial and cultural battles in the midst of our city. He just wanted to know where he could learn English, even though he was speaking English well and apologized that he could not speak it better.”
“I found God on this street retreat by having the eyes of my heart opened to see that the unhoused people I met were people just like me, filled with hopes and dreams just like me, and who said ‘God bless you’ when I handed out care bags. The homeless aren’t distant strangers. They are children of God. Just like me.”
“In the cold and wet of Sherbourne Street I realized that there is such need: a need for food, for shelter, and for compassion. I will admit that I turn my gaze away from the homeless people I tend to see. But talking to some today made me understand that we are all connected, that the God that lives in me, lives in them.”
“Several street people politely asked if they could have one more bag for a friend, and one lady we met, said, ‘Thank you, you are our future.’ Kindness is everywhere, even in the most unlikely dangerous intersection of Sherbourne and Dundas.”
Pope Francis said that when we leave the eucharistic table, we are all walking tabernacles, carrying Christ to a hungry world. In a beautiful, moving reflection at the end of the retreat, Ms. Izzo reminded us that our retreat day not only took bread to the hungry, but also invited everyone we met to “come to the table.”
“There’s no one unwelcome here, that sin and shame that you brought with you, you can leave it at the door and let mercy draw you near. Just come to the table, you have been redeemed, take your place beside the Saviour, sit down and be set free, come to the table. “All who hunger, all who thirst, all the last and all the first, all who fail, you’ve been forgiven. All who suffer, all who loved and lost another, all the lost you have been found, everyone who hears this song just sit down and be set free. Come to the table, you’re welcome here.’