“There is a better place where our Father awaits, and every tear He will wipe away. The darkness will be gone. The weak will be strong”. Lyrics from song, “There Will Come a Day” by Faith Hill

Today, we had the privilege of serving 33 people.

• We were happy to hear another friend of the street (Jay) went into treatment.  We dropped off some clothes to the detox he went to.  He had called earlier in the week and was very grateful for the closes.  This is only possible through the support of our donors with clothes, snacks, money, Dunkin Donuts cards.  Thank you!  When we relayed to our friends (Shane/Kathy) how (Jay) went into treatment they were shocked.  We told them they can do it too by taking that leap of faith.  Liz suggested we do a group prayer with our arms around each other.  This is what it's all about – gathering together in Jesus’ name.

• Our friends witnessed a shooting the other day of a man who died and another who was seriously wounded.  I think our friends become numb to the constant insanity of this lifestyle.  We tell them you don’t have to live like this.

• We ran into our friend (Sally) and her friends that we refer to as the wheelchair gang.  We then got swarmed with people who saw we were offering our packet of $10 bill/$10 Dunkin Donuts card/prayer card.  We were worried we didn’t have enough packets, but we ended up having had enough to distribute to everyone.  When I mentioned we might not have enough, they looked at us with those empty eyes.  Some of them with bruises and scrapes on their faces.  Sometimes it’s heart wrenching to witness such sadness in their eyes.  Luckily, everyone got something.

• On a brighter note, we ran into (John/Chrissy) who were going into an apartment on Monday.  They had mentioned they needed some pots and pans.  We told them to reach out to My Brother’s Keeper.  Every time we meet up with them, they are so grateful for us continuing to be out here.  It’s these little success stories that make it all worth it.  I remember having a conversation with a Franciscan Brother who does a mobile ministry in Boston, and he said doing this type of work is hard because we most times do not see a positive result other than the gratitude of our friends.  Their situations of health, addiction, hygiene worsen as time goes on.  We just need to be true to the mission of Jesus and leave the results to him.

‍

Sunday’s gospel spoke about Lazarus the poor man who sat in front of the rich man’s gate desiring to be fed from the scraps that fell from the rich man’s plate.

‍

We have changed our location for Donations for OSM from Holy Cross Retreat House to My Brother’s Keeper.  We currently have a box in the main stairway on the 1^st floor of MBK.

‍

God Bless,

Liz Londergan

Shaun Teed and Tito

‍

“Who executes justice for the oppressed, who gives food to the hungry, the Lord sets prisoners free”.  Psalm 146:7

‍