“Mary, give me your Heart: so beautiful, so pure, so immaculate; your Heart so full of love and humility that I may be able to receive Jesus in the Bread of Life and love Him as you love Him and serve Him in the distressing guise of the poor.” – St. Teresa of Calcutta
As the Church in Denver continues to go out, encountering the Lord Jesus, present in the Eucharist and in our midst in the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, she also goes to the margins in search of Jesus’ lost sheep.
Following three days of travel in the Archdiocese of Denver, marked by visits to St. Ignatius Church in Rangely, Holy Name Parish in Steamboat Springs, St. Thomas Aquinas Parish in Boulder, St. Joan of Arc Parish in Arvada, the Augustine Institute, Light of the World Parish in Littleton and Holy Protection Byzantine Catholic Church in Denver, the pilgrimage headed to the very heart of Denver.
On the day devoted to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, overflowing with love for her children, the Denver Church, accompanied by the Perpetual Pilgrims of the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage, came together in loving service of the poor in Christ in the City’s monthly second Saturday Lunch in the Park.
The Denver ministry, known for its outreach, service and friendship with the poor and homeless, brought together dozens of individuals, including the Perpetual Pilgrims, for a time of community and fellowship during Lunch in the Park.
“It was crazy when I found out the pilgrims had started in San Francisco and came all the way to Denver! The fact that they were at Lunch in the Park was really special. Out of all the places they could have gone on their long pilgrimage they came to Lunch in the Park,” said Patrick Hall, a second-year missionary nearing the end of his service with Christ in the City.
The regular event, which occurs every Wednesday and second Saturday of the month, is the hallmark of Christ in the City’s outreach in Denver, creating a welcoming space for homeless and those with homes to encounter each other.
“Lunch in the Park has become kind of like a family picnic,” said Maria Seybert, an alumna of the Christ in the City program who is helping with their outreach efforts for the summer while Shayla Elm, the ministry’s community engagement manager, serves as a Perpetual Pilgrim with the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage.
“We serve the food and invite everyone to join and eat together. We usually bring sports or a different thing to have community together. Today, for example, we had line dancing, so we invited our friends to join us in that,” Seybert said, explaining the importance of building real community with their “friends on the street.” Through shared interests, time spent in friendship and genuine concern, the Christ in the City missionaries show the homeless that they matter, even in a world that often tells them the opposite.
This month’s family picnic included representatives from their more extended family: the family of the Church. With not only volunteers from various Denver parishes in attendance but also the Perpetual Pilgrims, Saturday’s Lunch in the Park was certainly special.
“Seeing the witness of these few that have traveled so far with Jesus was something that has inspired me to find Jesus more in the Eucharist, whether that’s through going to Adoration more or going to daily Mass. In my own heart, it rejuvenated my desire to be with Christ present within the Eucharist,” Seybert shared.
The Lunch in the Park volunteers, Christ in the City missionaries and she were excited to welcome the pilgrims and, through their witness, ministry and prayers, to encounter the Lord Jesus in a new way.
“I think a big grace of their visit was a rejuvenation of our faith through their witness of Christ being so present in the Eucharist, because they’re not just walking alone. They haven’t journeyed this whole way by themselves, but rather with Christ, present with them the whole way,” she concluded.
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(Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.)
(Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.)
(Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.)
The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, who have traveled the Serra Route with the Perpetual Pilgrims, were also present for Lunch in the Park on Saturday. (Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.)
June's Lunch in the Park featured line dancing, allowing the missionaries, volunteers and their homeless friends to have fun together in a new way. (Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.)
Lunch in the Park is always sponsored by a group of volunteers, often from a parish community. June's Lunch in the Park featured barbecue, a special treat for those gathered. (Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.)
Christ in the City aims to build a culture of encounter, in which each person is seen, known and loved. (Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.)
(Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.)
(Photo by André Escaleira, Jr.)
The pilgrims’ presence with Christ in the City at Lunch in the Park carried with it the very presence of Jesus Christ, with whom they had been traveling for weeks. They, as part of the Mystical Body of Christ and representatives and missionaries of the Eucharistic Body of Christ, gave testimony to Jesus’ own desire to be near his people, particularly the poor with whom he so closely identifies.
For Hall, it was that mystical reality that was most striking.
“It’s very eucharistic,” Hall said. “Encountering Jesus in the poor, where Jesus is veiled in a similar way that he is in the Eucharist. It requires an act of faith a lot of times to believe in Jesus’s true presence – in the Eucharist and in the poor. But, Jesus has told us ‘this is my body,’ and he’s told us ‘whatever you did for the least of these my brethren, you did it for me.’ So, he’s asking us to have that faith in his presence.”
In fact, Hall shared, the Perpetual Pilgrims somehow embody the invitation to a deeper faith in Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist. Through their commitment to the Lord Jesus, their extended travels with him and their time in prayer, the pilgrims literally and figuratively carry Christ to all those they meet. Out of all the places they could have stopped, for those pilgrims to make a stop at Lunch in the Park was profound, Hall said.
“To see the Eucharistic pilgrimage show this radical act of faith in Jesus’s presence in the Eucharist is really cool. To have them come to Lunch in the Park and really see what that means to see Jesus in the poorest of the poor, in the places where it’s hardest to see him in the ‘least of these.’ It’s also radical, I think. It was kind of an honor to have them there. It was just a really beautiful witness to the power of the Eucharist and the presence of Jesus.”
Where does that witness come from? What makes it possible?
The pilgrims’ ability to represent and share the love of the Eucharistic Lord must come from the ways the pilgrims themselves have encountered Jesus, said Nick Verdoni, an alumnus of Christ in the City.
“It was really moving at Lunch in the Park to see the pilgrims loving our homeless friends,” Verdoni said, reflecting on the time spent with the pilgrims. “It reminds me of how, whenever we find a movie, song or book that really moves or impacts us, we have this natural desire to share it with people so they can experience it as well.”
“It’s really cool to see the way that Christ has touched these pilgrims’ lives and how they share him, especially with the people in the streets who walk by the pilgrimage and processions, but also with the poor,” Verdoni continued. “The love that the pilgrims have received overflows and it’s cool to see that. It reminded me to draw from Christ, the source of life and love so you can give away to the people who need the most.”
The Mystical Body of Christ, in communion with the Eucharistic Body of Christ, met the body of Christ present in the poor Saturday, a day dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
Just as Mary’s Immaculate Heart overflows with humble love for her children, the hearts of the Church overflowed in loving service and gave testimony to the Lord Jesus in the Bread of Life, in the Catholic Christian community and in the “distressing guise of the poor.”
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