Crossroads
When I hear the word retreat my soul feels joy. I LOVE retreats! I will be attending my first retreat with Sacred Heart today! It is a retreat I did not create but can’t wait to attend. It is with Crossroads ministry. Crossroads is a beautiful nonprofit organization that offers experiential retreats that takes students to the streets to meet the poor and marginalized. They don’t give them food on the other side of a soup kitchen line. They eat with the homeless. They don’t walk through their life for five minutes to stare and pity them. They stay for a few hours at different agencies and talk with the people listening to their stories and relating to them as humans relate to one another. It is a walk they take to change the “us” vs. “them” mentality to realize there is only a collective “us” and no other. We typically keep those we do not understand far away from us to stay comfortable. Jesus Christ did not do this. Because Jesus was both human and divine he understood that every human being was created from God’s love and thus should be shown human dignity. So, the students will walk to places that may cause discomfort within, unfamiliar areas, with different sights and smells. However, if they have open minds and hearts they will witness that the similarity of each person is much more than they ever thought possible. This is the part of the retreat program based on service and social justice. Please say a prayer for the students and all those they meet.
