Pray and do...

We have an invitation to tear down the walls,

to bust through the fences,

and to get to know the names and the faces
of those who are suffering

outside of our comfort.

That happened for me in Philadelphia in 1995. I was going to college in the suburbs. We heard the story of a group of homeless families who were waiting for housing. They moved into a cathedral that had been closed in a poor neighborhood. The Catholic archdiocese gave them an eviction notice that said, "If you're not out within 48 hours, you could be arrested for trespassing on church property."

When we read that in the newspaper, my friends and I began praying, "God, why don't you do something?" We felt God saying, "I did do something. I made you! Now get out there!"

We began to see that we've got to pray for this situation but we've also got to do something. . . . We got involved in that struggle, and fifteen years later that struggle is still changing and transforming us. Many of those families got housing, and a group of us from the college ended up moving into the neighborhood. That made all the difference, because as we began to live there, it wasn't like we were choosing activism, but activism was choosing us.

Gateway to Silence Yes

~R. Rohr