"Of Course He Would Do That"

I’d surprised myself with the prayer I prayed before heading out that day. “Lord, you know there’s nowhere else I’d rather be. Nothing I’d rather be doing. Give me the strength to do it.”

I’ve struggled with the ups and downs of street ministry, of going out to minister to the wounded, to those hostile to Christianity, easily discouraged in conversations with people on the streets who were on the point of letting their faith slip away. To add to that, it was a particularly difficult day for me—the steady, gray rain seemed to accentuate the personal struggles I’d been facing.

But with that prayer, I said yes to everything the Lord had planned for that day of ministry. I wanted to share the Gospel, and to just be with those outside, dealing with the first truly cold and rainy day of the season.

Marcela and I are always energized by the first encounter we have, and that day was no different, even though as I listened to this young man, I felt the weight of his life: growing up in the foster care system, describing the way he lived for nothing in particular but to keep going. We parted with a prayer and our assurance of God’s openness to him that felt like an arrow bouncing off a steel shield.

It was only at the end of our day that God would overturn my view of the day completely—when we met a beautiful young woman—let’s call her Julia—along the street we most often frequent.

As we offered her and her boyfriend coffee, it became clear that she was different. She asked us so many questions, making me feel at ease with her shy smile. “How long have you done this? Have you been outside before?”

When I asked her the faith question, she replied, “I believe in a higher power…my parents think it’s stupid to believe in God.”

Never before had I met someone on the streets who shared with me, verbatim, my own experience. I was able to say, “Me too,” as a friend. I wanted to give her every spiritual resource I had with me to satisfy her curiosity about Christ and the Church. She never stopped asking questions!

Julia described her experience trying to pray, but feeling like her words never quite hit the mark.

Coming from an atheist background, suspicious of religion, I could relate to her struggle. I knew: she needs to hear that Jesus is a person—that He can hear her.

I gave her my well-worn prayer booklet and a rosary, and told her that Jesus left his physical presence for us on earth, in the form of the Eucharist. Her answer to that absolutely amazed me: “Of course He would want to do something like that for us.”

What? This woman, who had no formal faith background and no Catholic context, who ten minutes earlier didn’t even know what Mass was, had just accepted the teaching of the Eucharist?

I will never forget how she said “yes” so earnestly to the Lord’s gift of faith that day. I left her with an invitation to Mass, to come and see for herself as I did.

And I walked away with the conviction that it is the Lord who opens hearts, the Lord who determines how each day goes.

I came back rejoicing to our street ministry debrief (where we speak to one another and pray about our day), amazed at all that the Lord had used me to do.

by Ariel Lewin