I began visiting the homeless in downtown Montreal during my acolyte internship in 2013 at the suggestion of our permanent diaconate sponsor, Mr. Richard Saint-Louis. 

By François Gilbert, d.p.

A new ministry, named Notre-Dame de la Rue, had just been established by Archbishop Christian Lépine, who appointed Father Claude Paradis as chaplain of this ministry. So I contacted Father Claude who took me under his wing to guide me in the exercise of this ministry. I had no experience working with the homeless. 

Indeed, I come from a wealthy family who always provided me with everything I needed. I became a doctor. I have never known misery other than seeing patients in my care suffer and die. I have enjoyed good health throughout my life. So, being around homeless people opened a new world for me. 

Over the years, with Father Claude as a model and with the grace of God, I was able to develop appropriate attitudes in my relationships with the homeless. What are these attitudes? 

First, I cannot solve the problem of homelessness or even the situation of an individual homeless person on my own. Homelessness has always existed and even Jesus did not solve this social problem when He was on earth. Meeting with a homeless person aims to make him feel the presence of Jesus in his life, this Jesus who gives hope for a better life, this Jesus who transforms from the inside everyone he meets and gives meaning to all life. This meeting also means making people realize that the itinerant is a human person like any other, it is giving them back their dignity by calling them by their name as God calls us all to be sons and daughters of God. 

Second, I am not going to meet the homeless to glorify myself. Many of my parishioners tell me that what I do in the street is beautiful. If I only stopped at this gratifying compliment, I would not be doing God's will. Good deeds alone are not enough to accomplish our Christian mission. God does not ask us to be productive by multiplying our good deeds and think that we will earn our place in heaven that way, or to act out of moral obligation or with a feeling of guilt. Our good deeds are worthless if they are not done sincerely from the heart out of love and mercy. Jesus is present in every itinerant, regardless of their outward appearance, which is often repulsive. When I bring comfort to a homeless person, it is Jesus whom I comfort; it is not for my own glory. If I neglect a homeless person, I neglect Jesus. 

Third, a meeting with a homeless person means listening to what they have to say and not telling them what they should do to improve their life, nor explaining to them our recipe for personal happiness. Every life is a sacred story worth telling and listening to. Even if the story being told doesn't seem to make sense, the person telling it feels relief at having delivered it to another person who listens without judgment. Recently, a homeless man who was going to receive medical assistance in dying due to incurable cancer asked me to be present at his bedside when this was going to happen, because he would be alone during this crucial moment. 

It was not the time to lecture him because I am against medical assistance in dying. He was a suffering human being who needed someone to accompany him through this difficult passage in his life. Finally, without me having to give him my opinion on this medical procedure, he decided on his own to refuse the procedure. I dare to believe that the fact of having accompanied him through his decision gave him courage to continue to take another small step in his life. 

All this to say that there is something holy that is conveyed in an encounter with an itinerant. Jesus is present in the itinerant and is also present in the companion. God works wonders when we surrender to His will. 

Excerpt from the Oct-Nov 2024 issue of Le Serviteur, the diaconal community’s diocesan bulletin.