Dilexi Te and a Monastic Vision for the Homeless

At the post office the other day, I recognized a young woman who graduated from the small Christian school my children attend. She seemed upset as she talked to the lady behind the counter, but it wasn’t my place to intervene. I didn’t mean to listen in, but she got pretty loud. She explained that she needed her mail held because she was living at a homeless shelter. She didn’t have a forwarding address, but she still needed her mail.

My heart broke. I know her parents well, and they are wonderful people. When the postal employee went in the back to check something, I approached her. “Excuse me, is your name Sara?” (Not her real name).

“Yes.” She looked at me with eyes I can only describe as haunted. Like a feral cat looking for the fastest possible escape route.

“I’m a member of the Alleluia Community.” I stumbled over my words because she looked so scared. “Are you ok? Do you need help?”

“No, I’m fine.” The fear turned into a blank mask as she turned back to the counter. Conversation over. I got called up to the counter, and when I looked back, she was gone.

I texted her dad later and told him about the encounter. He was grateful for the message and told me that he had been seeing her recently and things were going pretty well.

My Personal Experience of Being Homeless

Seeing her filled me with deep compassion. It’s been 20 years since I was homeless. I never lived on the streets, but only because of the kindness of friends and family. It’s called “couch surfing,” because you move from couch to couch when you wear out your welcome. You know you’re homeless when someone tells you it’s time to leave.

Since I was going through a serious mental health crisis, their charity wore thin pretty quickly. Fish and guests start to stink after three days. When the guest is half crazy, it’s more like two days. I was pretty hard to handle, but they endured me for months as I recovered. The length of time testifies to their generosity of heart.

My parents bore the brunt of it when I returned to Georgia with nothing to show for ten years of living in Los Angeles but a single suitcase of clothing. But over time, love did its work.

I gradually found more and more healing, in particular when I started renting a room in the home of my (now) long-term friend and spiritual director, Mike Firmin. He founded Golden Harvest Food Bank (where I’ve worked as a fundraiser for 15 years) and spent a lifetime serving the poor. During his seminary days, he got in trouble for letting the homeless into the dormitory so they could sleep in unoccupied rooms.

When I met him, I’d had enough time, counseling, and deliverance from evil spirits (a much longer story) to be able to hold a job and pay auto insurance. I wasn’t the first person he’d taken into his home. He’d done it several times with people he met at the Food Bank’s soup kitchen. Some stayed with him a night or two; others stayed longer. I lived with him and his wife for three years. To say that it changed my life is an understatement.

Looking Deeper at the Causes of Homelessness

Mike isn’t the only person I know who gets hands-on with homelessness. One of the most passionate advocates for the homeless that I know is a Presbyterian pastor named Luke Niday. His church is just a few blocks from the Master’s Table Soup Kitchen, so the homeless live right on his church’s doorstep. I asked him what he thought about the causes of homelessness in our community.

His first answer surprised me: Airbnb. He said that investors bought up most of the low-cost homes in the downtown region and turned them into B&Bs. They’re able to make enough money in a few weekends a month to pay the mortgage, so the houses sit empty most of the time. It significantly reduces the supply of low to moderate-priced housing available. The idea of people living on the streets surrounded by empty houses kind of makes my head explode.

His second answer surprised me even more. It’s not a lack of resources, it’s a lack of community. He asked one homeless guy how he was able to survive on the streets. The fellow told him that he slept in the shelter when it was cold or wet, and he was able to get breakfast, lunch, and dinner at different ministries every day. He got a new set of clothes from different ministries every couple of days and threw his dirty clothes in the trash. He had a felony, so he couldn’t find a job. Nobody will hire someone with a criminal record.

My friend described how the person he met didn’t have any relationships that he could count on. He had no access to employment. He didn’t want to be in that situation, but he didn’t see a way out.

Luke now has a vision for a community of tiny houses that are given to people who are experiencing homelessness. But he doesn’t want to just provide housing, which would just be another resource thrown at the problem. He wants to get his Church involved. He wants each person living in a tiny house to have a mentor from his Church, similar to the way Mike got involved in my life. Each mentor will build a relationship with that one resident, help them get to church on Sunday, and take them to lunch afterward. He wants to see the rich and the poor building the kingdom together.

He got really excited when he shared this vision with me. His hope is that making this happen would inspire other churches to get more hands-on with ministry to the poor. He told me, “If the ‘frozen chosen’ can do something like this, anyone can do it.” Now he just needs to find $1.5 million to make it happen (let me know if you happen to know “a guy”).

I’m sure my Presbyterian friend would be quite surprised to learn that his passion for serving the poor resonates strongly with Pope Leo XIV’s recent apostolic exhortation “Dilexi Te – On Love for the Poor.” This new encyclical points out that the response of the church to the poor has always been, and must always be, love, generosity of heart, and sacrificial giving.

Pope Leo, having spent decades as a missionary priest among the poor in Peru, recognizes that ministry to the poor transforms the minister as much as the recipient. “Each in their own way discovered that the poorest are not only objects of our compassion, but teachers of the Gospel. It is not a question of “bringing” God to them, but of encountering him among them. All of these examples teach us that serving the poor is not a gesture to be made “from above,” but an encounter between equals, where Christ is revealed and adored.” (Dilexi Te 79)

A Cathedral Made of Broken Stones

While pondering Luke’s vision, a flash of inspiration hit me. “I’ll see your tiny home community and raise you a monastery.” If a lack of community is the real poverty of the homeless, then maybe the only answer to homelessness is community. The Church has numerous examples of intentional community from millennia of monastic life. Imagine a religious order that founds monasteries where the homeless can find a home and a place within a community. Instead of the open floor plan and congregate sleeping so common at most homeless shelters, each person could have a cell to call their own as long as they wanted. They would be invited to pray, perhaps join daily Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours, and given meaningful work to support the community.

Would all of the homeless become religious brothers and sisters? Certainly not. But it would mean each one would have a place to live for as long as they needed. They’d have a place they could call home and a community that could support them in their efforts to find sobriety, healing, employment, and stability. No one would tell them to leave.

No doubt some or even many who find sanctuary will dedicate their lives to serving others who are struggling with broken lives. Who better to serve the homeless people who know what it’s like to be homeless?

The idea of seeing the homeless as an opportunity rather than a problem is an old one. The Roman historian Livy writes how the founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, opened their doors to landless men and runaway slaves who had no city to call their own. The homeless built the most powerful empire in the ancient world. They are the founders of the Eternal City.

All this monastic response to homelessness requires is two things: people who are radically committed to loving the poor, and space. The church has an opportunity here because empty monasteries dot the land. These could easily be turned into monastic communities for the homeless if only people were inspired by the Holy Spirit to take up their cross and serve.

To read my story of how Jesus Christ snatched me from the snares of the devil, get my book Demoniac on Amazon.com. Check out more of my articles at nathankrupa.substack.com.