This Sunday’s Gospel of the Transfiguration account reminds me of an experience I had with a group of men at the homeless shelter, Repairers of the Breach in Milwaukee, WI. It is Milwaukee’s only daytime shelter and resource center for the homeless.
Our parish church volunteers faithfully attended monthly gatherings at the shelter to share prayer with the membership of the shelter. We also brought brown bag lunches so that we could “break bread” together and the members could take the “twelve bags of leftovers” with them on their street journeys.
When you approach the shelter, you are greeted by a member who says, “Welcome to our living room.” We then are given chairs among the shelter members, who also have come for prayer, and we all are introduced. The Scriptures for the day are read a couple of times while we munch on our lunches. Then we proceed to move into groups for shared prayer – again the Scriptures are read a few more times; we hold hands, sing a little, and we are given the directives to share a word or phrase that is meaningful to us.
I recall Jerome, on my right side, who began to share how he was so grateful for the day shelter. He had been living with his mother for a number of years, but since her recent death he had to move out of the house since he could no longer manage its finances. His new house was his truck. He “drove truck” for a living and got by with very little comforts in life. After reading the Scriptures of how Jesus’ BFF’s wanted to hang out a little longer at the mountain of Transfiguration and erect themselves shelters – Jerome was moved by this scene and expressed that he would only desire one shelter and he would believe himself to be blessed by the almighty, loving God - and that he was truly most blessed by the shelter – Repairers of the Breach.
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