Day 35…Thanks to St. Matthew Parish, Holy Trinity Ukrainian Church & Our Wonderful Volunteers!

The Household of God…

I really hope that what I am going to write about is not stupid. I don’t know if it will be meaningful to anyone else but me, but the Lord has been putting an image in my mind that I want to share. The image is of a beautiful, polished marble wall. It stands tall and proud, unscalable. At the top of this high wall is a beautiful Cathedral…a place where anyone who can scale this wall can find rest, peace and eternal joy and salvation. But…how to scale the wall?

Today’s first reading says:

Brothers and sisters: You are no longer strangers and sojourners, but you are fellow citizens with the holy ones and members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the Apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the capstone. Ephesians 2:19

This high smooth wall represents those of us who, by God’s mercy and grace, have discovered His love for us, and who continue to try our best to live for Him. We have found the Way, the Truth and the Life that is in the Person of Jesus Christ…thanks be to God! We are strong, tall, polished. We point to salvation, which is represented by the beautiful cathedral above us. But what the Lord is showing me, I think, is that there are many who are standing at the bottom of this wall, looking up to the beautiful cathedral…and have no way of attaining it. The walls of our Christian lives are just too smooth for them to be able to climb.

The Lord gave me an image of a mallet and chisel…chiseling away sections of our smooth wall…in order to make footholds so that one would be able to climb. I think that represents our sacrifices. Every day, we have a choice to make: Do we live as comfortably as possible, or do we choose to make a sacrifice for God? It certainly is not a sin to live comfortably. The tall smooth wall is certainly beautiful and is not doing anything wrong. And it is true, that when we take to that wall with hammer and chisel, we will be making the wall less beautiful on the surface. But for those poor unfortunate souls at the bottom, who wish to attain citizenship in this glorious household of God…how beautiful will those footholds be!

I am writing this at the PCUC office, and just finished reading a note from Jeannie (owner of the Little Lamb Resale shop next to PP), which brought me to tears. She wrote about a recent encounter between a homeless man and a young seminarian in front of Planned Parenthood. The young homeless man was shirtless, and it was cold. He asked the group that was praying in front of PP if anyone had a t-shirt they could give to him. The seminarian offered to give him the t-shirt that he was wearing under his clerics, but he needed a private place to undress in order to remove it. He was brought to Jeannie’s “Little Lamb” in order to do that. Jeannie was there, and when she heard what the young seminarian was offering to do, she gave a shirt to man who needed it. But the fact that this young seminarian was going to literally “give the shirt off his back” to this man, brought tears to my eyes.

This is an example of what I am writing about here. Those of us who bring the beauty of Jesus daily into the dirtiest, nastiest part of Pittsburgh, are like those who are chiseling away part of the wall of their lives…in order to make a foothold for those who wish to climb.

This is my final blog reflection for these fall 40 days, so I will leave you with this encouragement: If you are feeling God’s call to continue whatever sacrifices you have been offering during these 40 days, and would like to be part of Pittsburgh’s year-round 40 Days for Life 365 program or our Sidewalk Advocate program, please reach out to let us know. We especially need help on Friday mornings after 10am and early afternoons, and on Saturday afternoons. Contact me or Jen to get plugged in. nbruni@40daysforlifepgh.com or pghsaland365@gmail.com. God bless you! Nikki

Nikki

Tracy & Bill

(From Tracy) – A bit brisk today, BRRRRR! Just us four amigos (Jackie, Anthony, Bill, and Tracy) on the sidewalk this morning. Traffic wasn’t heavy going in, but still, ANY decision to pass through the doors of death is a tragic one! About four couples and two singles went in. I’m happy to report most took some of our info in with them.

Beth & Linda

(From Beth) Busy as usual on a cold morning. Construction vehicles and working guys on the block.

 Thanks to Holy Trinity Ukrainian Church for sending Mary Beth to be with us. Presence and prayers always needed and appreciated 

Sheila

(From Sheila) – It was a fairly busy shift on the sidewalk.  Anthony led the rosary and I could see how passers-by were touched by the prayers.  Several people made the sign of the cross. Others bowed their heads. Some thanked us for our presence there.  One young man wanted to apologize for getting in someone’s face a year or so ago, insisting that women had every right to abort in the case of rape.  He said, “I was being a “$?!$%#@” and I know better now.”  God is so good!

Sandy, Kim & Mike

(From Mike) Tuesday’s 1 to 3 shift in front of planned parenthood with Kim Sandy and I was busy. Sandy and Kim were able to hand out over a dozen fliers to passersby and some people coming out of pp. Sandy was able to talk to many women after she gave them a flier. Kim and I prayed for a girl who just walked out of pp who asked us to give her wisdom, a highlight of our time today. Prayers were offered up to everyone in pp and those walking in front of us.

Virginia & Bill

(from John) – We had a lot of women in and out today. We tried to hand out literature with no success. My dad met his old friend Laura in the wheelchair. She lives on the street. God bless her. We prayed a lot and sang church songs. Neelie helped a homeless man sing amazing grace. I am blessed to be around all of these good folks.

(from Virginia) – PRAY FOR THIS WOMAN taken out of PP today by ambulance!!!

Walking back toward PP (toward the T)  after putting away camera, signs, etc, there was an ambulance in front of PP and a girl on a stretcher was being put into the ambulance.  She was sitting up, looked totally alert, the doors were shut but the ambulance was still there (with flashing lights) when I could no longer see as I headed to the wood Street station.