When in Rome

From October 21-28 I will have the blessing and opportunity to be in Rome, Italy during the Synod for the New Evangelization. Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinals, Bishops, and lay people from around the world have been meeting discussing the New Evangelization and the Catholic Church for almost 2 weeks. Next week, the last week the Synod is meeting I will be in Rome! I cannot express my excitement enough through blog! I'll be arriving in Rome 1 day after the canonization of 7 individuals, 2 of them American. I will arrive in Rome on the feast of Blessed Pope John Paul II- October 22nd and one of the sites we will visit that day is Blessed John Paul II's tomb!

I have this great opportunity to attend because the president and founder of FOCUS, the organization I work for was asked to serve as part of the Synod as a lay person. Less than 20 lay persons from around the world were invited and Curtis Martin, our president was one of them. When Curtis shared this with FOCUS staff earlier this year, he thanked us! It was very humbling to see a man selected for such an honor, to discuss the future path of our Church thank us campus missionaries and students for the work that we do day in and day out on a college campus.

The next 7 days will be a great opportunity for prayer, joy, fasting, and fellowship as nearly 100 FOCUS staff and family members will meet up in Rome for a time of pilgrimage and education. Each day we have trips or tours planned to several locations in Vatican City and Rome and conferences with Bishops and other members participating in the Synod to keep us up to date on what has been discussed during the Synod thus far. On Friday a Franciscan Friar is leading a number of us to Assisi to visit the grounds once walked by St. Francis and St. Clare. Fr. Conrad, the friar, will also be saying Mass for us while we're in Assisi.

I am very excited and equally excited to come back and share my experience. In the mean time please comment with any specific prayer requests you have or feel free to email them to me at aj.garcia@focus.org so that I may take them to the sites I visit while in Rome.

Ciao!

FOCUS is Legit




New and Veteran FOCUS Staff for 2012-2013



Since May 21^st I have been in Champaign, IL at FOCUS New Staff Training. I have been amazed and encouraged at the growth of FOCUS and the energy from all of the new and veteran staff in the past three weeks. It has been so interesting to learn about new missionaries and to hear about the path they have taken to becoming a missionary.

 I am very excited to be returning for my 3^rd as a FOCUS missionary and excited for the opportunity to serve Seton Hall University as the Team Director. During my first two New Staff Trainings the new staff here was, I guess you could say, “traditional”. Meaning that most of the new staff being hired were less than a month removed from their college graduation and were single at the time they joined staff.  But this year there are more new missionaries than just the “traditional” missionaries, although there are plenty of those as well.

Seton Hall FOCUS team for 2012-2013, new team members are in their brand new SHU shirts! Welcome Caitlyn, Tim, Megan, and Terry!!

I’m sure there are more stories than 3 I will mention but these are 3 that I think are pretty interesting. 1 man has decided to become a FOCUS missionary along with his wife and 2 children after spending a few years working in Colorado. He and his wife were involved with FOCUS as students at Colorado State. I asked him why he didn’t join staff out of college and he just said “we were scared” to fundraise their salary. Obviously that fear has faded as he will now be serving as a missionary this fall.

The 2^nd story I want to share is another married man who has 2 children and 1 on the way. This guy previously served on FOCUS staff 4 years ago. After spending a few years at “real” job, he decided that he wanted to return to ministry and that he wanted to return to FOCUS. He, his wife, and children will be on a college campus this fall where he will be a missionary.

Finally, a neat story about a man who went to college with someone who has served as a missionary for the past several years and has financially supported his friend’s missionary work. I asked him about why he joined FOCUS staff and he said “the newsletters got me”. At least 4 times a year FOCUS missionaries send out a newsletter highlighting some stories with pictures from their work on campus to share with our mission partners (those financially or prayerfully supporting us). This guy went on to say that he went to a FOCUS Conference as a donor and the Lord was continually asking him to give more, so he did. He said finally that the Lord made it clear to him that He was asking for even more. This man too, who is leaving a teaching job, will be serving next fall on campus as a FOCUS missionary.

A powerful and neat moment I experienced this last Thursday night, it was just such an odd scene as far as the secular world is concerned. The St. John’s Newman Center at the University of Illinois hosts all summer. We live in a dorm and use different rooms and spaces around campus for our training. Last Thursday was the first day that the new missionaries made phone calls asking to meet with people in a few weeks. They’re calling to ask to meet with them to share the mission and vision of FOCUS and to invite them to become a mission partner, a financial supporter of our work on campus. Last Thursday everywhere I went I saw several missionaries all making phone calls, some sitting, some pacing, some praying, some laughing, but it was beautiful to see. I thought, how bad do these people want to serve our Lord and be missionaries! Again and again I have been encouraged in the work FOCUS is doing for the Church in the name of our Lord and I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve in this way. God bless you.

Check out #focusislegit on Twitter for daily updates on the FOCUS world at New Staff Training.

Another Week on the job

Another great week at Seton Hall, God is so good!

On Monday night we had the 1st Student Athlete Mass of the semester. And there was record attendance! Almost 40 athletes were there, last year I think the highest attendance was around 25. And it was great because there were so many athletes that had never attended anything that Varsity Catholic had put on before. A great night of sharing the Eucharist with the student athletes.

On Tuesday, I had the chance to watch the #1 men's soccer team in the country play against an unranked Seton Hall team. Seton Hall really played their hearts out and played Maryland to a double over time 0-0 tie. It was such an exciting game, I enjoyed sticking around to talk to some of the players after the game to congratulate them on competing so hard.

On Thursday, I had my first Bible study of the semester. 12 men showed up, I invited probably close to 30, so not a bad turnout. For 4 guys it was their first Bible study at Seton Hall, so great to see new men desiring God in their lives. The other 8 were guys that were there were involved last year and it was great to. But we had a great discussion on John 3, talking about why Nicodemus questioned the teachings of Jesus and why we settle as men and humans to live in the darkness instead of stepping into and sharing the light, Jesus Christ.

This weekend I had the opportunity to share my work with a parish in Nutley, NJ. This is one of the ways that FOCUS missionaries develop their financial support teams, buy speaking at parishes and not asking for donations but asking to meet with individuals, couples, or families to intimately share the work of FOCUS with them and then invite them to play a crucial role in our mission by becoming a monthly mission partner. There was pretty good response and I am looking forward to meeting with those that were interested.

Please pray for the men on the baseball team that are committed to Bible study, for men in other sports to be open to Bible study, and that I will be able to increase my monthly support to stay on staff with FOCUS well into the future.

God bless you.

Praying with Pirates

What a great week for Melissa, my Varsity Catholic teammate and I at Seton Hall. The fun really started on Friday with the women's volleyball game which they won in 3 games. From there I went to the men's golf meet at Rutgers University. I got to see all 5 of the Pirates players out on the course, after day 1 they were tied for 1st and they finished in 3rd place, 3 of the men placing in the top 10! It was very impressive to watch them, I like to golf, but wow those guys hit the ball well and far!

I rushed back to the Seton Hall campus for a meeting at 4 that Melissa and I had with the softball team. NJ traffic had other plans. I didn't get back to campus until about 4:30, so Melissa waited outside of the team meeting room. We waited there for about 20 minutes as we didn't think it was appropriate to interrupt coach during his rules meeting. Just before 5pm the women's soccer team started showing up, they had a game at 7. They were a little loud so one of the softball coaches peeked out and asked them to quiet down and at this time Melissa and I were invited in to speak and share what we offer as FOCUS Varsity Catholic missionaries. We have been blessed to have shared ourselves with half of the teams here.

As we left the meeting one of the soccer players asked us if we could "pump" them up before the game. Melissa and I laughed and kind of hesitated and I said, "we could pray with you." The soccer player thought that was a great idea. Melissa and I were really surprised since last year no one on the soccer team was involved in our Bible studies or other events that we held, we really didn't even know more than a girl or two on the soccer team. We went in and prayed with them for a few minutes, many of the players thanked us as we left and we wished them good luck.

After that we went to the 2nd volleyball game of the day as the women took on Boston College. Melissa played volleyball at Pittsburgh so she is a volunteer assistant coach for the volleyball team and gets to sit with them on the bench. This match went to a 5th game and during a timeout in the 5th game Melissa got in the middle of the huddle and fired them up with a pep talk that really pumped the girls up. The girls went on to win the 5th game and the match.

Immediately after the volleyball game I rushed outside to catch the end of the soccer game. I got outside just as the Seton Hall women scored a goal to untie the score at 2-1. A few minutes later Georgetown scored a great goal on a cross pass to tie it up at 2-2 and the game went into overtime. Almost 6 minutes in to overtime the Seton Hall women scored a goal from just outside of the box, the girls rushed the field, it was really exciting.

I went home and got to bed because in the morning Melissa and I were scheduled to speak to the men's and women's cross country team before their meet in Delaware. We spoke to the team on the bus at 8:45am and prayed with them before we left. After that we grabbed breakfast and went to the park where the teams would be running.

We walked from the finish line back into the race about a quarter mile. We found a spot where they would run through just after they started. From there the track looped around but we cut across to where they would run through again as they neared the finish line. We had a lot of fun cheering on the men and women as they competed and I think that the team and coach really appreciated our support. We had a great time.

Just another tough weekend on the job!

My Saint BFFs

It has been an exciting first few weeks at Seton Hall and great first week back with all of the students and staff back on campus. It’s crazy what a difference a year makes. Melissa (my Varsity Catholic teammate) and I have felt so welcomed in by the athletic department this year. Not to say that we weren’t last year, I guess what I’m saying is that last year was a little intimidating approaching some of the coaches and athletic department staff. This year I have not felt that way at all.


My daily prayer has consisted of a crazy, legit, and zealous for souls combination by reading Visits to the Blessed Sacrament & the Blessed Virgin Mary by St. Alphonsus Liguori and Set All Afire by Louis de Wohl which is about the ministry of my new favorite saint, St. Francis Xavier. Let me tell you more about this combination.

St. Alphonsus totally gets me grounded and focused on serving and living for God only and completely, I get in the mindset that everything I do, everything must be done for God and for the furthering of His Kingdom. Then I read Set All Afire which is St. Francis Xavier demonstrating one of the greatest, if not the greatest, examples of doing everything for the glory of and building of the Kingdom of God in the name of His Son Jesus Christ. In this post I want to share a few excerpts from each book, share my thoughts and challenge myself and anyone reading to take a step further (or 1st step) in your daily evangelization, after all that is what we’re called to do as baptized Christians (evangelize/set all afire).

First, let’s get grounded. This excerpt is from the 19th visit, “Oh, if only I could remain in Your presence always to adore You and make You acts of love! I beg of You to arouse me from my lethargy whenever, because of coldness or preoccupation with worldly affairs, I neglect to visit You.” From the 20th visit “…to wash from our souls all the stains of sin that remain after the faults of the day. When any one of us commits a fault, is there any better remedy than immediately to go to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament?” And “No, it is not just or fair that one who is so good and lovable as You should receive so little love.”

And now, St. Francis, this excerpt is when he is meeting with a Brahman in India who believes in the idea that people are in a caste system, that there several gods, and that (if I understand correctly) people in a lower caste can offer sacrifices to this Brahman to improve their standing in the sight of the gods. The Brahman then attempts to bribe St. Francis with gifts (so that St. Francis will stop preaching to Paravas in this area). To which St. Francis stands right up to and says (through a translator) “I have no intention to be bribed by you or by anybody else. Truth makes no bargain with error. Take your presents. I cannot accept them. I shall not rest until all Paravas have become the servants of the one, true God. And I tell you that many of them whom you call low caste dogs are more pleasing in the site of God than those who strut about as you do, believing themselves to be so high and exalted. Instead of parading your arrogance before men, evoke in yourself humility towards God and you too will be pleasing in His eyes.” Then the Brahman again insists that St. Francis take the gifts. To which St. Francis replies, “all the wealth of India will not change the law of the one, true God and the will of His servant.” The Brahman then leaves and St. Francis’s interpreter becomes….well scared. But again St. Francis, unwavering says, “What else can there be between truth and lie? And what do we have to fear? If God wants us to go on spreading His holy law, all the Brahmans in the world won’t be able to stop us. And if God wants us to die, how could we possible live? They can do nothing?”

St. Alphonsus, just nails it every day for me. More or less that I am unworthy, I need to rely on Jesus (more), I need to visit Him in the Blessed Sacrament more (as the saints did so fervently while being so present and so committed), and I need to live in a way that is serving God only and completely. But as the first excerpt above from St. Alphonsus says, I too easily become lethargic, caught up in worldly affairs and somehow justify to myself that either I don’t need to visit Jesus or that it is ok for me to become distracted while I am with Him. It pains my heart when I see someone not reverently approach the Eucharist or when someone could be more reverent during Eucharistic adoration. Yet every day I fail and neglect Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament as well. The pain that I feel must be a sliver compared to the pain that Christ must feel when I (or anyone) neglect Him. Why are we so hesitant and reluctant to give Jesus as little as an hour of our time!

As a FOCUS missionary it is in our job description to attend daily mass and pray a daily hour of adoration. Lucky for us at Seton Hall, with 40 plus priests on campus, we get Jesus Christ exposed in the Blessed Sacrament every day. I’ve realized that early this year that for the past year I have approached this time of adoration too much like only a job requirement, not being as present as I could be, not truly honoring and adoring our Savior. St. Alphonsus Liguori and St. Francis Xavier have helped me to more truly and more deeply experience Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

St. Alphonsus and St. Francis Xavier, pray for us.

Year 2 Week 1 in NJ and a Nugget from St. Alphonsus L.

What a crazy week! Last Monday I left Wisconsin at 7am to return to New Jersey for another school year at Seton Hall serving the student athletes. It was a long drive, but an enjoyable one. The 16 hours and 42 minutes really did fly by as the excitement to return to Seton Hall outweighed the thought of the long drive. I arrived in South Orange, NJ around 12:30am, unloaded the truck, and was in bed by about 2am.

We spent Tuesday getting to know the new team. There are 6 FOCUS missionaries at Seton Hall, Melissa and myself work with the athletes and the other 4 Anthony, Katie, Mary, and Eric work with the general population of students. Anthony, Katie, Melissa and I are returning to Seton Hall while Mary is joining us after serving 2 years at the University of Nebraska Omaha, and Eric is joining us as a graduate from St. Mary's in Winona, MN. With one week down we have already grown close together and seem to really have gelled as a team. I'm excited to continue to grow with them as we share Jesus Christ with the students at Seton Hall.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday morning the six of us spent time together planning how we are going to welcome new and returning students to campus this next week and also some long term planning of events we hope to hold throughout the school year. Melissa and also spent some time around the athletic department visiting with coaches and other athletic department staff. Friday afternoon we relaxed along the Jersey Shore took in some rays and rode some waves. A great first week for FOCUS team Seton Hall, we are all very excited to welcome the FOCUS student leaders tomorrow and to welcome the freshmen to campus next week Thursday. Please pray for Seton Hall this next week as the new students will be faced with many choices that they never have been before.

As I mentioned in a recent post I've been reading a book by St. Alphonsus Liguori about visits to the Blessed Sacrament. Every day it seems I am given something new to think about.

http://ajgarciavc.blogspot.com/2011/08/visits-to-blessed-sacrament-with-st.html

Today I want to share with you an excerpt that I've been reading every day. That is how the book is designed, there is an excerpt for each day, meaning there is something new each day (the days are numbered). But it also has you read parts each day, meaning you read 3 sections every day that are the same. I really enjoy doing this. The excerpt is from the section titled "Prayer to Our Lady after each visit" here it is:

"And since you have such power with God, deliver me from all temptations, OR RATHER, OBTAIN FOR ME THE STRENGTH TO TRIUMPH OVER THEM UNTIL DEATH." (I added the caps lock for emphasis).

I really like this excerpt because it shows how that we as Catholics, as Christians must rely on Jesus, but also His mother. I also like the humility of this prayer from St. Alphonsus. He asks her to deliver us from temptations and then it seems he realizes the need to ask for more and asks her to not JUST be delivered from the temptations but to be allowed, to be granted the strength to triumph over the temptations until DEATH! What a beautiful prayer! I think of when we use the word triumph in modern times. I think of sports and I think the word may be used out of context, what does it mean to truly triumph something? When I first read this and many times since I often think why are we so eager to "triumph" in day to day tasks where we clearly achieve something, or "triumph" over something athletically, but why do we become so content and settle to not truly triumph over our temptations and struggles that keep us from holiness? Please, most lovable Lady do not only deliver us from temptations, but obtain for us the strength to TRIUMPH over them until death!! Our Lady of Good Help, Pray for us!

I've been curious, a number of you mentioned how you were hoping to "jumpstart" your adoration time, how has that gone for everyone? You're in my prayers.

WI Holy Family Pilgrimage 2011

What a week. Coming off of FOCUS New Staff Training I had mixed feelings. It's hard to leave such a strong, faithful, and encouraging community. It's easy to be faithful to attending daily mass and a daily hour of adoration while at training but it becomes challenging to stay committed to that during the summer once missionaries are scattered back across the country. But as I end my first week away from my FOCUS family I am very encouraged.

On July 5th & 6th I had the privilege of attending 3 of the most Holy and Catholic sites in WI. I was lucky enough to share my experience with 4 great people. Fellow missionaries; Nick (serves at Ball State University), Kelsey (will serve at North Dakota State University), Mario (serves at Ramapo College in NJ), and my girlfriend Janet whose mission field is at the Mayo Clinic as a nurse.

We began our adventure at about 10am on the 5th and began a two and a half hour drive to Champion, WI to visit the only Marian Apparition site in the United States. On our way we prepared ourselves by praying the Sorrowful mysteries. We also read about the history of the site in Champion, which is just east of Green Bay, WI. What a story. In 1859 a young girl, Adele Brise, had visions of Our Blessed Mother on her way home from mass, she had these visions only a year after the apparition occurred in Lourdes, France. At first many people did not believe Adele. Adele would become a sister and teacher of the Catholic school in Champion. Many local priests and religious thought she was crazy. These priests went as far as to deny Sister Adele the opportunity to go to mass. In fact she once went and the pews were blocked off for her use, so she knelt the entire mass in the aisle. What a witness! There was also a great miracle after Sister Adele saw our Blessed Mother. Here is a quote from the Shrine's website, know that the town the Shrine is in has changed names and here is referred to as Robinsonville.

"Much has been written about the great Peshtigo Fire, which claimed an estimated 2500lives; 10 times more than the great Chicago Fire, which occurred the same day. Our intent here, however, is to show how this tragedy played an important role in the events which occurred at Robinsonville.

In early October of 1859 Adele Brise received her first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. On the following Sunday, October 9th, when the Blessed Mother appeared to Adele for the third time, she warned:

“If they do not convert and do penance, my Son will be obliged to punish them.”

We do not propose to pass judgment on the reasons for this catastrophe, but, one day short of 12 years after the Robinsonville apparition, on October 8, 1871, the great calamity fell and a tragedy begat a miracle. The Belgian colony which embraced a large part of the peninsula and included Robinsonville, was visited by the same whirlwind of fire and wind that devastated Peshtigo.

When the tornado of fire approached Robinsonville (Champion), Sister Adele and her companions were determined not to abandon the Chapel. Encircled by the inferno, the Sisters, the children, area farmers and their families fled to the Shrine for protection. The statue of Mary was raised reverently and was processed around the sanctuary. When wind and fire threatened suffocation, they turned in another direction to hope and pray, saying the rosary. Hours later, rains came in a downpour, extinguishing the fiery fury outside the Chapel. The Robinsonville area was destroyed and desolate…except for the convent, the school, the Chapel, and the five acres of land consecrated to the Virgin Mary. Though the fire singed the Chapel fence, it had not entered the Chapel grounds. Those assembled at the Chapel, realizing that they had witnessed a miracle, were asked by Sister Adele to retire to the Convent, where they were made as comfortable as possible for the rest of the night."



Please see more for yourself here: http://www.shrineofourladyofgoodhelp.com/

We spent close to three hours on site at the Shrine and loved every minute of it. We began in the Chapel, which is not the large but beautiful and some stunning images and statues. From the Chapel we began towards the crypt where Sister Adele had the visions and we were feet away from Sister Adele's grave. Before we went down to the crypt, we sang the Salve Regina. Our first time down we spent maybe 10-15 minutes there, and it was 10-15 minutes of deep and meaningful prayer. When we left the crypt we went to pay our respects to Sister Adele, a few of her fellow sisters, and some of the children they taught who were orphans. On our drive up as we read about the history of the Shrine, we read that Sister Adele passed away on July 5th! What a day to visit! At her grave we prayed for her intercession and the intercession of Our Lady of Good Help. We prayed for each of our own ministries, the mission of FOCUS, for our families, and for the conversion of sinners-especially those in Wisconsin. I dubbed her the patron Saint of Wisconsin born missionaries, read her story and you will know why. (As far as I know the cause for Sister Adele's beatification is not in process).

Next we prayed the Rosary around the Rosary walk which was on site at the Shrine, we prayed the Glorious mysteries. As we finished it began to rain so we went into the gift shop, where we spent about a half hour and a good amount of $$. After this we met up with another missionary, Kyle (serves at the Naval Academy) who was there with a student he works with. Together we prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy.



As we got ready to leave we went through the Chapel again and visited the crypt one more time. This time we entered 5-10 minutes of intense prayer. Kneeling before the very spot that Sister Adele saw our Mother, we offered prayers up to Mary to go and beg her Son on our behalf. What a gift, that as Jesus was leaving this world, he would leave something so great and precious for us, His Mother. Telling his beloved disciple from the cross, to take this woman as his mother, as our mother. (John 19:26-27)

We left Our Lady of Good Help to go to mass in De Pere, WI to St. Joseph's National Shrine. We made it in time for mass and then explored St. Joseph's Shrine. We learned a lot about the Order of Norbertines and how the Shrine was established and recognized by Pope Leo XIII in 1892.

http://www.shrineofsaintjoseph.org/

We spent close to an hour praying next to this statue of St. Joseph and baby Jesus. There were about 6 relics at the altar behind the statue. Some of well know saints like St. Therese and some lesser known Norbertines like Blessed James Kern and St. Herman Joseph. St. Herman Joseph has a great story and I enjoyed reading this about him, "Feeling that the work had left him too little time for prayer, Mary appeared to him and consoled him with the words, "You have no higher duty than to serve your brothers with love". There were also about 12 altars surrounding the statue of St. Joseph with stories about several different saints including St. Augustine, St. Terese of the Child Jesus, St. Monica, St. Mark, St. John and several others. We ended our time in the St. Joseph shrine by praying the Joyful mysteries.

At this point we were ready for dinner. We went to a place that some Wisconsinites would consider a 'pilgrimage site', Lambeau Field. Lambeau has a few dining options and we chose Curly's Pub. We had a great time recapping the day and already planning another WI Pilgrimage for next year. On the 2 and half hour drive home we thanked God for our day and prayed the Luminous mysteries.

The next day and final day of our pilgrimage we went to Holy Hill and the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Help of Christians. I have been here several times before, but learned quite a bit about the Shrine on this visit. The Shrine is run by Discalced Carmelites.

https://www.holyhill.com/





Just as we were about to leave the Chapel we asked a visiting priest for a blessing. He spoke to us for almost 10 minutes, he did not know that we were missionaries, but he encouraged us to be bold, to love our families, to look to reconcile with our families, and to pray deeply to our Mother for her intercession. After this touching blessing we explored the grounds. We climbed 187 steps to the top of one of the steeples, prayed for the intercession of St. Therese, and prayed at the Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Then we were headed for the gift shop when we ran into the priest that gave us the blessing. Fr. Bernard spoke to us this time for close to 10 minutes. He told us that he had been visiting the United States for 3 weeks from Italy and he told us how much has noticed the sad state of our culture in the short time he has been visiting. He talked about the lack of faith in our culture as well as the self serving attitude. He shared something interesting with us about praying for signs from God. He said so many people look for signs, for their rosaries to turn into gold or to have visions instead of knowing, learning, reading, and living the Gospel. He just questioned why people don't turn to the the Gospel, why people don't turn to Jesus. This man had a great zeal for souls, he was so expressive and sad as he spoke to us. But he was so grateful that we did stop to talk to him.

Our 1st Annual WI Holy Family Pilgrimage was a success and like I mentioned earlier I am planning to do it again and pray that it will be even better.

Our Lady of Good Help, St. Joseph, Our Lady Help of Christians, Pray for us. Jesus, have mercy on us.

Here is a link to the Facebook page with other pictures" http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/media/set/?set=a.10150695713985394.705539.570665393

Sojourner

This last weekend I had the unexpected opportunity to go on a bit of a retreat. I found out that I would be going last Thursday and Friday evening I made the trip into New York City. I went with 2 Ramapo College FOCUS missionaries and 5 of their students to St. Crispin's Friary in the Bronx. The Friary is one of the homes of the Community of Franciscan Friar's of the Renewal (the friars are often referred to as CFR's). We were visiting to go on a "Jesus Run" or "Midnight Run", meaning we would preparing some food and then delivering to people living on the streets of New York City. I knew very little about where we would be going in the city but was very excited to experience this.

We arrived around 7:30pm and helped put fresh fruit and vegetables in bags that families in the Bronx are would pick up the next morning. At the same time some other volunteers were making sandwiches and preparing hot chocolate and some hot soup to take the homeless that night. We left the Friary a bit before 9pm in 2 15 passenger vans and a few other vehicles. One van had all the food and drinks and the other had winter clothes and blankets. Our first stop was in what is no dead place in town, the corner of 5th Avenue and 56th Street, across the street from Trump Towers. There is a church on the corner and many people without homes sleep on the steps of the church surrounding and protecting themselves with only cardboard boxes.

I spoke to a woman on the steps with one of the friars, she had a very interesting story. She had worked on Wall Street in the last year, but her husband died in August and left her nothing and thus she ended up on the streets with only her dog. She was very appreciative of the hot chocolate, winter hat, and rosary that we offered her. We prayed with her and left. I as was leaving I noticed some people stopped on the sidewalk watching in awe as about 30 of us moved around bringing sandwiches, soup, and hot chocolate to these people in boxes.

I walked back to the vans and found a woman standing there with an empty cup, I asked her if she would like some more hot chocolate and showed her to the van. Once we were there another volunteer asked the woman if she needed anything else, she asked if we had any clothes. I showed her to the other van and she asked for some pants. I asked her how long she had been on the streets, she explained to me that she had only been out there for a month or two after spending some time living in the subway, but left. She also told me and a bit surprised herself how much peace she has found in living on the streets, she said it is much less stressful and dramatic than living in a shelter. I was surprised and she agreed that it may sound a bit "backwards". She then asked about the group I was with, asking if we were religious. I pointed out the friars to her and then said that the rest of us were volunteers. Then I offered her a rosary but she said that she's not religious. She then asked what I was doing there, I had mentioned to her earlier that I worked at Seton Hall. I told her that I was a missionary and she was surprised, she'd only heard of missionaries going to other countries.

At this point, since she had mentioned that she had a lack of belief in God, I wanted to witness to her somehow of the faith of mine and that of the people I was with. She asked me, still surprised at what I do, what is the most difficult part of my job. I told her that it would probably be to continually trust in God to provide for me to work for FOCUS, I explained to her how my friends and family contribute so that I can serve at Seton Hall. At this point she was very surprised and impressed, she looked at me and said, "I want to help you, let me give you something." She reached into her pocket and I laughed saying, "I'm not going to take money from you?!" She said that a woman had given $10 to her and her friend earlier and they split it. She pulled out a few crumpled bills and placed them in my hand. Shocked I did not know what to say. Finally I said, "Thanks you soo much." She said you're welcome. I told her that I would be praying for her. I asked her to pray for me also and she said that she would be. I hugged her and left.

As I was headed into the city I sent a text message to a few people asking them to pray for me that night, for my safety and warmth. After I talked to this woman, Sojourner, I sent another text to those people asking them to not pray for me, but pray for the people on the streets. I couldn't believe how selfish I had been. The weekend was full of great moments and a lot of prayer, but no moment impacted me quite like it did with my new friend Sojourner.

I ask that you say a quick prayer when you read this for Sojourner. She was a legal assistant and willingly left her job, thinking that she would find something else. But she is in a program where she will be sending out some resumes, so please keep her in your prayers.

And also pray that we may all be as loving and willing to give as Sojourner this Christmas season.

God Bless you.