Finding Christ in the City
By Fr. John Roderick, F.S.C.B.
March, 2024
In December, the young adult group of Nativity was invited to collaborate with “Christ in the City.” Founded in 2010 to respond to the growing problem of homelessness in Denver, “Christ in the City” invites young adults to offer a year or two of their lives to become missionaries amongst the homeless in downtown Denver. These thirty young people share life together in community, and each day, they walk the streets looking to befriend and share the needs of those who are homeless.
A few times a month, “Christ in the City” organizes a lunch at Benedict Fountain Park in downtown Denver for the homeless, known simply as “Lunch in the Park.” Many people from local Catholic parishes and other organizations volunteer to prepare and serve the meals, and many people simply come to have lunch with the missionaries and their homeless friends. The young adult group I accompany was invited to organize the Christmas lunch for our homeless friends from Christ in the City. I also invited a few friends from the Knight of Columbus and from Communion and Liberation to collaborate in our efforts.
Arriving at our parish in Broomfield two years ago, I learned about these young missionaries of “Christ in the City” from a friend who would participate in “Lunch in the Park” as a charitable work. I was deeply moved by his experience and decided I had to go and see it for myself. The first time I went to the weekly lunch, I was very moved by the proposal made by the missionaries to all the new volunteers. They invited us to view this experience, above all, as a gesture of friendship. We were invited to enter the friendships that they had grown with the men and women they had met over the years while walking the streets.
During volunteer orientation, they underlined that there were many causes of homelessness, but the greatest poverty that the homeless experience is that of solitude. The missionaries of “Christ in the City” understand friendship to be the privileged vehicle through which an encounter with Christ, with his closeness and mercy, can be concretely experienced.
After my first time attending “Lunch in the Park,” I noticed that I could not stop talking about it to my friends and parishioners. I would even speak about it in my homilies. I was very moved by the tangible charity and joy I witnessed in the young missionaries, the volunteers, and the homeless who come every week. I saw a beautiful friendship and love between the missionaries and their homeless friends. I felt like I was participating in a sort of family reunion!
The invitation arrived by email a couple of weeks later from the coordinator of the “Lunch in the Park,” requesting that I organize the Saturday lunch in December with my friends from the parish. With all that I had seen on my first visit in my mind and heart, I proposed it as a charitable work to the newly formed young adult group at the parish.
The young adults responded immediately with interest and enthusiasm. Since winters in Denver can be very cold, we decided to prepare a hot soup, as well as sandwiches, Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, and fresh fruit. Everyone participated in some way. A couple of friends made the soup, and another group met the day before to prepare the sandwiches. For the tables, we made nice Christmas centerpieces decorated with candy canes. Another of our friends brought his guitar, and we prepared traditional Christmas Carols to sing during the meal.
Throughout the time of preparation, I was really moved by the efforts and creativity of the young adults for this common project. Before leaving the parish to drive the 30 minutes into the city, I reminded everyone, and myself too, of the reason why we were going to serve lunch with “Christ in the City”: to learn how to love like Jesus by sharing our time gratuitously with the homeless.
When we arrived, a few of the young adults were asked to help with setting up the tables and chairs and a few more to serve the hot soup and sandwiches. Most of us were invited simply to visit and share the meal with the homeless and the missionaries. Near the end of the lunch, we were invited to sing our prepared Christmas Carols on a makeshift stage. At first, there was a little embarrassment, but in the end, we managed to get everyone to participate. As we sang our songs, many of the lunch guests started to sing and dance and have a grand time. It was beautiful to experience the unity of our group in the adherence to the common project of serving lunch with our friends from “Christ in the City.”
When the young adult group met the following day for our regular weekly meeting, almost everyone shared that this was the most significant experience they had had during the week. One began by commenting that he was blown away to see Christ present in the love the missionaries have for their friends who are homeless. Another shared that he was very nervous at first to speak with a homeless person but gradually felt more at ease and really enjoyed learning about this person’s fascinating story of overcoming drug addiction. A young woman wanted to share that she had never seen anything like this before and that “it was almost as if Christ was really present during the lunch.” Everyone had a need to share what they had seen and experienced.
As we were wrapping up for the night, I reminded everyone that the beauty, love, and friendship they experienced during the “Lunch in the Park” are what Christ is inviting us all to live every day. The purpose of our staying together and meeting as the young adult group has this sole purpose: to help each other recognize Christ in their lives and to beg for this newness of life. We ended the night praying the Memorare in thanksgiving for the beautiful experience of charitable work and asking Mother Mary to help us to be faithful to what we had seen at our lunch with our new friends.
Every month since the first Christmas lunch a small group of young adults from our parish attends “Lunch in the Park” to spend time with our new friends and learn how to love more gratuitously.
