The Canadian communication expert Marshall McLuhan made famous the phrase, “The medium is the message" by which he meant that the way a message is delivered has a significant impact on how it is received. At the time he was thinking of media such as TV or newspapers, and today it could just as well refer to social media platforms with their magnetic attraction for bullies and judgmental antagonism. But what if the medium is one of the people of the beatitudes: the poor, the addicts, the isolated, and the homeless? 

Do we feel they have anything to teach us, or do we ignore the message because we judge the messenger?  Three recent meetings have brought this question into sharp focus for me. I was walking towards the area of the city where there is constant disquiet when a young man appeared from a doorway. He looked at my clerical collar and asked for prayers. “My heart is with Jesus” he said, “but I have temptations as well, and I struggle with which way to go. I smoke a joint sometimes and I do other things, but my heart is for Jesus.” 

I prayed with him, and then he pulled out a Cross from his pocket and said, “Here are the quotes I live by: “Nothing is as it seems,” “Everything happens for a reason,” and “There are no coincidences.” 

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The second meeting was with a man who once came to speak to the people of St. Margaret of Scotland parish. At that time, I would invite people I met on the street to come to speak to the parishioners in the parish hall and to tell their life story of addiction and recovery. In this way the parishioners came to realize the humanity of those on the streets, and the struggles they have had in their life. 

It had been many years since I met this young man, but a couple of weeks ago I bumped into him back on the streets looking tired and bedraggled.

 “How are you?” I asked. 

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“I’m a mess,” he said, “I can’t help myself. If I hang around here for more than 10 minutes, I get myself in trouble. I start it. I’m not blaming anyone else it’s just my crazy head. I would even pick a fight with you. Everything has happened to me.” 

Pointing across the street he said, “I got shot from that laneway over there. The bullet hit me on the leg. I felt it, but it popped back out. I had a great wife, but she could not put up with all of this and she is gone and has taken our children.”

Fr. Greg Boyle, who works with gang members in Los Angeles, says there are no bad people, but there are people who have had bad things happen to them resulting in mental health problems that they live with as best they can. 

The third meeting was last week when I received a Facebook message from one of my favourite people. She sent a picture on Facebook of herself and me, which was taken about 15 years ago. Clean now for 20 years, she was one of the first people I met when I started street ministry. Her encouragement and friendship have kept me coming back each week to meet people who need to be drawn back into community by being listened to and respected despite their appearance and sometimes aberrant behaviour. 

I am reminded of a story I heard many years ago about a man who risked his life by rushing into a battlefield to save his friend who was under fire. When he brought him back his friend had already died, and the sergeant berated him for risking his life for a lost cause. 

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“It was not a lost cause” he told the sergeant. “When I got there his last words were, ‘I knew you would not abandon me.’” 

What message of hope will we bring to the people of The Beatitudes who long to be listened to and accepted in this Jubilee Year of Hope, and can we go beyond the medium of their appearance to listen to the wisdom of their message?