A few notable highlights from Michael:

Tonight was an outdoor movie night in downtown Somerville, NJ, so there were many people on the streets. We encountered a couple, Alyssa and Ed, who have been sleeping on a train floor at night and are looking for housing. Alyssa said she is struggling with her relationship with GOD, but still has faith. We encouraged her to continue on this journey and to remember that GOD loves her. She took a Rosary and a guide on how to say it, and we then prayed with and for Alyssa and Ed: for finding housing, for Alyssa’s deceased mother and for their faith.

We also encountered Mary, who had a sad and emotional story. She recently escaped from a domestic abuse situation. While crying, she conveyed how she left another state with her two children and is living with a relative now and feels that GOD helped her through this ordeal, and she wants to reconnect with her Catholic faith. We assured her that GOD wants the best for her and wants her to come home to the Catholic Church. We prayed with her for her healing, and talked with her about her spiritual healing through Confession. She was receptive and was very thankful that we encountered her! The Holy Spirit was certainly on the streets of Somerville tonight! Praise GOD!

A few highlights from me:

A family from Colombia stopped and when we spoke to them, the woman said she was Catholic and went to mass some Sundays. When I asked her why she didn’t go all Sundays, she said due to her work schedule she wasn’t able. I told her about a nearby Spanish mass that starts very late and she gave me her phone and asked me to bring up the website so she would have it. The man also started getting interested and showed us a picture of Our Lady of Carmen that he had carried in his wallet for the past 30 years. We spoke to the young girl (who sometimes aided us as translator) about her sacraments and if she had received her First Holy Communion. At this, Albert brought out our most recent church bulletin detailing our newly assigned priest, who spoke Spanish and who was also from Colombia, which this family really loved. They were happy to take the bulletin and they thanked us many times over.

A woman was with her husband and two children. Her family walked by us, but she stopped to talk about her faith. It turned out she was a very devoted Catholic but her husband, although a practicing Sunday mass going Catholic, did not frequent the sacrament of reconciliation. We said we would pray for him and she took a brochure about the sacrament.

We spoke to a woman who accepted a rosary. When we spoke to her, she told us she was a Baptist, and she was open to God. We prayed together and I asked her if she ever considered the Catholic faith, since she was open. She said she hadn’t. I told her why I was Catholic and gave her a “why be Catholic” brochure.

A young man stopped by to talk with us. It turned out, he was an artist and homeless. We prayed together and he spoke with us about his broken home life as a youngster. He said he really liked the art on some of our holy cards and took the Sacred Heart card. When I showed him the other card with the crucified Jesus and the gospel message, he said he had a very hard time with looking at Jesus suffering on the cross. Albert and I both spoke to him about how Jesus willingly suffers out of love for us, how he longs to be close to us. He thanked us as he walked away.

A mom and son stopped to take a rosary, and we asked about her faith life. She said it had been a while since she had gone to church. When we asked why, she said she was very busy. We spoke about how our relationship with Jesus is based on our love for him, and we go to church to help sustain that relationship. She then asked about faith formation for her son, who had been baptized but was 13 and she was unsure about how to proceed about the rest of his sacraments. We encouraged her to contact her local parish (she was visiting the area), and talk to the receptionist about getting her son in some type of religious education program. We said that the church is always willing to work with families and will certainly guide her on the best way forward, but it was up to her to take that first step in reaching out. She thanked us a few times before leaving us.