In my decade plus time volunteering with Mary’s I’ve had the great opportunity to help many women move into first “homes” after a time of being homeless. After 1 ½ months roaming about the various rooms of the beautiful ‘l Antica Veteria, after living 2 weeks sofa surfing in Seattle, after 2 months of selling and distributing the majority of my household goods with my house emptying all the while, I was beginning to feel distanced from anyplace related to “home.” It was getting quite distressing after a while, I can’t imagine what you women who’ve been truly homeless have experienced, makes me sad to even think of it. So it was profound to me to move into my first “home” here in Italy, with mostly other people’s furnishings and just a few of my own things to transform a house into a home.
One of my goals when moving in was to be fully in my home by the season of Lent. Typically people attached to liturgy based faiths think of a self-imposed desert time to take one spiritually through the 40 days of Lent until joy comes with resurrection at Easter. However, the event of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan, the awareness of my sisters at Mary’s who are living in or recovering from the trauma of homelessness, and my own traumatic year that has brought me to Italy to rest have made me very aware that desert experiences cannot be scheduled. The wonderful idea to live in awareness of spiritual reflection for 40 days is a gift, but the expectation that all would go through a time of leaving normal life for desert is too much many. For me this is a time of thankfulness at feeling a sense of home, and a time for prayer for all those in our world who have no choice this Lent, but to be living in a hard place, prayers especially for the people without homes and who have lost loved ones in Japan. May God make home for them soon, as God has provided a place of home for me here.
It took a long time (to me, because of my impatience), 3 weeks and lots of people to transform an apartment my friend described as “dated” and “dreary” to a home. Adventures were many with me greatly appreciating my interpreter friend walking me through the process of property rental in Italy. She also offered great advice on how to deal with very forward Italian men, including my new land lord, a strong woman for a big job of guiding me. With a new roommate, people hauling up wood for the stove, my elderly sweet landlord Gemino climbing ladders for fixes and visits from friends the first week, even Maria teaching me how to use the kitchen stufa correctly, this place felt like home soon. What it took was community, care and cooperation. These are things that are so essential in the life of a church, in the life of a neighborhood, and in the life of each of us. It was a reminder to me that even Jesus needed angels to tend to him in his wilderness, and in times of joy or challenge that God blesses us with the people around us.
The only way the people in Japan will recover is through community, care and cooperation, just as when we come out of homelessness. It is my prayer this Lenten season to be mindful of the blessing God gives to me and to all, in our desert places, and as we emerge from the desert and find our home and comfort in this one earth, God’s creation.
Do you find yourself in a desert place, or out of the desert this Lenten season?
How do you make home, and can you count all the people who help it become so?
how do you receive help from angels when in the desert?
How do you give thanks for the times you can emerge from the desert?
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