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Camillus House News
Signs, plaques and banners.
February 25, 2009
by Dr. Paul R. Ahr
Today is Ash Wednesday 2009. When my sons Tom and Andy were preschoolers, the music of Sesame Street filled our house for hours each day. One of their favorite songs was X Marks the Spot, two lines of which still reverberate in my head: ‘X’ marks the spot. ‘X’ stands for danger. Today, many Christians will have a mark placed on our foreheads – in the shape of a †, not an X, that will serve as a reminder of our own mortality, and a sign to others of our Christian faith.
Mounted at the entrance to our main shelter there is another sign, a plaque really, that was inspired by this sign atop the gates of Hell in Dante’s Inferno: “Abandon hope all who enter here.” Our plaque reverses this image:
Abandon shame all who enter here; we offer you dignity.
Abandon hurt all who enter here; we offer you healing.
Abandon isolation all who enter here; we offer you community.
Embrace hope, embrace dignity, embrace healing,
for you are in the embrace of your community.
For the persons who enter our gates, especially those whose stay in our Courtyard represents their first step to breaking their own cycle of homelessness, the words on this plaque represent our enduring pledge to help them on their quest through the gifts of hope, dignity, healing and community. This Lent, we will elaborate on these four gifts, each meant to augment the five charisms of the Brothers of the Good Shepherd: respect for human dignity, availability, hospitality, flexibility and adaptability.
Next week we will address one of the most basic needs of persons who live on the streets of Miami or any community: freedom from fear. We will describe the fullness of fear experienced “on the street” by persons who are our guests and clients, and the ways that we replace fear with hope. We will see that for many persons who are homeless, security and acceptance allows them to begin their personal transformation from homelessness to hopefulness. In our third letter, we will reflect on the ways in which life on the street diminishes the dignity and sense of self-worth of persons who are homeless, and how Camillus helps them regain human dignity both in their own eyes and in the eyes of others.
In the week that includes the Feast of St. Patrick, we will review the life of another Irish Saint: St. Dymphna, patroness of persons who suffer from a mental illness. We will also reflect on the life of St. John of God, patron of and founder of the Order of Hospitallers. Brother Mathias Barrett, BGS, founder of the Congregation of the Little Brothers of the Good Shepherd and of Camillus House began his religious life at age 16 when he entered the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God. Reflections on the lives of these holy role models will prepare us to address during the following week the role that Camillus Health Concern and Camillus House play in healing the bodies, minds and spirits of persons who seek our care.
In the next-to-last week, we will investigate the loneliness that comes with living on the street and the ways in which persons who are homeless cope – sometimes successfully, sometimes not - with that loneliness. Finally, on Holy Thursday we will reflect on and give thanks for the many ways in which Camillus House and Camillus Health Concern promote hope, dignity and healing to all who come to us as strangers at our gate, and become part of our community.
As we make plans to relocate from our NE 1st Avenue site to our new home on NW 7th Avenue, we realize that we will be leaving behind many of the physical components of our half-century of work on NE 1st Avenue. But we will bring this plaque with us, and once re-mounted at our new home, it will serve as a reminder – a sign – to ourselves and to others for our next 50 years in Miami that we have the privilege to participate in the Brothers’ ministry of hope, dignity, healing and community.
