Lord, I cannot imagine what it is like to have no home. But for so many of your children, that is their reality. Tonight may we be able to reach out a helping hand to those who are often looked upon as downtrodden and weak. Many of the residents of the streets are overlooked as so many pass them by in the midst of their daily occupations. May we see them as you do, Lord. They are precious in your sight.

Who is hard for us to love? Are these men and women too much for us? Can their situation make us ignore their needs? Are they too hard for us to stretch beyond the limits of where we usually stay? Are they so far outside of “polite society” that we cannot see them as “one of us?”

The fact remains that you, Lord, were able to see beyond our weaknesses, our sins, to reach down to us and embrace our humanity and our death. In dying for us, in accepting our humanity, you gifted us with life everlasting. May we see you rising again in the work that we do today. May we see you rise in each person who gets a meal or a pair of undergarments or warm socks.

In gratitude for all your gifts in bringing us to you, Lord. We say and know that your love and your grace are more than enough for us. May that love flow through us and grace these people today so that they may be filled with that same “more than enough” in their destitution.

Let us also pray for our friends who join us from Long Island University and Fr. Ted Brown their campus minister who regularly serve the needs of the poor in the great city of New York.