Homily 482 | 1st Sunday of Lent | Year B
“What do you need?” I heard these words over and over last night as groups of homeless people gathered at the door of the truck from Uplift Organization. “I need a hat… underwear… do you have some toilet paper… I need some pants… what about some food for my dog? As we begin Lent, you have probably chosen some things to give up. But how many of you are willing to give up things you think you really need? Would any of you choose to be homeless for Lent?
The things we give up for Lent are under our control. The greatest suffering is normally the suffering we do not choose. I think of the spouse that has been abandoned, the person who has lost a job unexpectedly, or is seriously ill. We don’t choose trauma. It happens to us, and often when we seem to least expect it. One of the women I meet last night had only recently been the manager of a major restaurant in Kansas City. Now she was living in a forest with her new homeless friends. No one would choose this, yet so many of the people I met, were so happy and grateful.
I got to be the “hot chocolate man” last night on my team. I’ve never been so happy to put a hot drink in cold hands as I was last night. “How are you doing?”… “I’m blessed,” one man said. “It’s been a beautiful day today… and now I’ve got hot chocolate. I’m blessed.” It was a “beautiful” day because it had finally gotten up to 30 degrees… beautiful compared to the below zero temperatures he had just weathered the nights before.
When you don’t have anything, it seems easier to be thankful for the little things. I certainly learned a lot about being thankful. But more than that, the great gift I saw in the homeless, was that they knew they were needy. “What do you need?” came from the truck, and they weren’t afraid to ask. The problem that many of us have is that we have enough stuff and money to mask our real need. We buy stuff, we binge movies, we go places… anything to cover the pain and need. You can’t do that when you’re homeless. You are truly needy and if you don’t get help, you’ll die.
You might think that helping the poor feels good because it feels good to give. As anyone who works with Uplift Organization will tell you, it is the team who truly receives. It was a long night, but after hours of delivering food and clothing, we ended the night tired, but also energized. I realized how needy I really am. I can get by pretending that I’m fine… but I’m not. And neither are you.
This Lent, don’t just give up trivial things that you’re going to take up again at Easter. When the Uplift truck pulls up the camp, we lay on the horn and the homeless come out. Give up hiding this Lent. Come out. Give up pretending that everything is OK. What are the real pains, sufferings that you didn’t choose that you can hardly bear? You’re needy! God is driving his truck into your life and is opening the door. Don’t be afraid. He is saying to you what we said over and over to the homeless last night… “What do you need?”