THE ANAWIM MISSION
The second pastoral service of our Community
was with those experiencing homelessness.
This mission naturally grew out of the first. Many of the young people who came to us with drug-related struggles were already living on the streets, especially those addicted to crack and cocaine.
This mission has two main areas of service: going out into the streets, the open drug scenes, and the outskirts of the cities, and welcoming people into our mission houses. This is where the strength of our service lies. Going out to the places where our “beloved children” are allows us to build bonds of trust, as we come to know them by name and by their stories. They also know they can count on us in any situation—whether illness, violence, or personal need. This becomes a decisive factor when they eventually choose to seek help to be freed from addictions and poverty behind.
We carry many stories of our “beloved sons and daughters” who came simply to die with dignity in a home with us. One such case was Mr. Jarbas, who, while already hospitalized in the ICU, said: “I lived my whole life like an animal, but now I can die as a child of God.”
Why do we call it the Anawim Mission? Anawim is a Hebrew word found throughout Sacred Scripture. It means “the poor of Yahweh,” or “God’s poor.” It is a plural term. The poor are those deprived of material goods, who experience suffering and injustice because of their condition of smallness, fragility, and dependence. But the anawim are, above all, those who place their trust in God.
