Robert Not Bob

I want to run, I want to hide
I want to tear down the walls that hold me inside
I wanna reach out and touch the flame
Where the streets have no name

I want to feel sunlight on my face
I see that dust cloud disappear without a trace
I wanna take shelter from the poison rain
Where the streets have no name, oh oh

Where the streets have no name
Where the streets have no name
We’re still building then burning down love
Burning down love
And when I go there, I go there with you
It’s all I can do

The city’s a flood
And our love turns to rust
We’re beaten and blown by the wind
Trampled into dust

I’ll show you a place
High on the desert plain
Where the streets have no name, oh oh

I think have a called upon lyrics from U2 a time or two before, and these lyrics from Where The Streets Have No Name from the epic 1987  The Joshua Tree album seem fitting for my latest thoughts.  These thoughts are not literally about being on a street without a name, but certainly about streets where many of us forget there are names.

I recent spent a roughly 24 hour period walking around downtown Austin, TX wearing a yellow t-shirt with the word PILGRIM across the front of it in really large letters.  No I wasn’t part of a Colorado River based re-enactment of the landing at Plymouth Rock – I was volunteering as an adult leader for the St Dominic Savio Catholic High School (www.saviochs.org) junior class street retreat.

The retreat is designed to be a chance to learn through encounters and to briefly be immersed (slightly) in a different experience.  It gives the students (and the adults) an opportunity to learn more about the needs and challenges faced by our brothers and sisters who live on the street. And to see these brothers and sisters in a different light.  The retreat is not a service trip – in fact part of the retreat is to experience being served – something that is uncomfortable for many including me.

The retreat started with 60+ people – all wearing matching PILGRIM shirts – being dropped off near Zilker Park late afternoon and breaking into smaller groups of 6-8 people.  The groups then ate dinner off one of the Mobile Loaves & Fishes (www.mlf.org) trucks – the same truck stocked with the same food items (just extra stocked because they know we will be there) as a normal Wednesday run. The kids lined up with others in our community in need of food and they broke bread and engaged in conversation with those in our homeless community.

It continued with a 5 mile journey through downtown to the University area – but the goal of that journey was not to just reach the destination, the goal was to have the journey – to actually stop and talk to our brothers and sisters that live on the streets, just like you would talk to an old friend you saw walking down the street.  We learned each other’s their names, where we were from, how we ended up in Austin, what we did that day, and in some cases talked about loved ones we have lost.  The night ended with Adoration and a short night’s sleep on the extremely hard gymnasium floor at St Austin’s Catholic School.

Day 2 started with a 4:30 am wake up, and breakfast at one of the downtown soup kitchens (https://www.foundationhomeless.org/programs).  Again not serving but being served breakfast from the same line as 100’s of the homeless and poor of Austin.  Note these are soup kitchens that many of the kids and adults volunteer at on a regular basis – only now they are the ones being served.  After a short daily Mass, it was more encounters on the streets and chances to stop and reflect on and talk about those encounters throughout the morning.

It was inspiring to see these 16 year old kids actually stopping to talk to those that many locals currently vilify due to recent changes to camping/sleeping ordinances that have made the homeless population much more visible around the city.   It was also humbling for me as an adult to have those same encounters with people I myself have ranted about in recent weeks or to be served from a food truck similar to the ones I volunteer on once a month or to walk into a soup kitchen (https://austinbaptistchapel.com/index.html/)  I have volunteered at many times over the past 15 years  – but this time as a person looking for a meal.  Having those conversations and being served instead of serving reminded me that those on the streets or on the verge of being on the streets are no different than me or you – we are all imperfect humans yearning to feel God’s love through one another.

One of the most poignant moments of the retreat for me came as our small group walked past a man – visibly homeless and obviously high – on a sidewalk near one of the downtown churches.  He asked me what was up with the shirts, so I briefly told him what we were doing and we talked for a minute or two.  As we were walking away he shouted –  “I hope you find what you are looking for.” And I turned and shouted back “I hope you do too brother.”

‘The poor have much to teach us – in their difficulties they know the suffering of Christ.  We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voice to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them and to embrace the mysterious wisdom which God wishes to share with us through them.” – Pope Francis