Over time we understood that he was singing to pay for a nightly room, and we noticed that he didn’t leave his corner until he made what he needed to make.
Eager to get back to work, Y. at first had to start to walk to work in the middle of the night to be there at 6:00 a.m., and when he worked double shifts, he would stay overnight by work because he didn’t have enough time to travel back and forth.
W. said he had stayed up all night praying that night, and at dawn, he got up and walked to the bus station to buy a bus ticket. He was now back at home, decades later, taking care of his mother.
…huge teardrops were falling from his face as he bent over in prayer. He showed me the crucifix he was wearing as a pendant, and he said, “I know Jesus. I know the Holy Spirit. I kiss this cross every morning, every day.”
…when I asked what I could pray for him, he immediately said, “A hedge of protection,” and started to cry. “Pray for protection for me,” he urged. “It’s getting harder out here every day.”
I started taking simple meals out, so as not to neglect the needs of these men and women without homes or a place to stay. And I always asked if they wanted to pray.