They prayed for the homeless in the Dialogue House

On March 5, in Budapest, at the House of Dialogue, the auxiliary bishop of Esztergom-Budapest, Gábor Mohos, presented a holy mass organized by the Sant'Egidio community in memory of their homeless friends who lived and died on the streets. With the help of the Kapuvári Ízvadászok and Budapest high school students, the homeless were hosted for lunch after the Holy Mass.

1983. On January 31, an elderly homeless woman, Modesta Valenti, died in Rome, at the Termini train station. Due to his physical condition resulting from homelessness, the ambulances did not transport him when he could have been helped.

Every year, on the day close to the anniversary of Modesta's death, the Sant'Egidio community commemorates those who lived on the streets and often died there as part of a mass in several European cities.

The event, which has been held in Hungary for years under the name Modesta's Mass, will be called the Scooter's Mass from 2022.

A friend of the community was Péter Kalas, nicknamed "Scooter", who lived in Budapest, on Kálvin tér, in an increasingly worse condition, and died on August 5, 2021, under similarly tragic circumstances as Modesta. He lay helplessly on the asphalt for days with gouty wounds, until finally the ambulances took him away after several alarms, but he died of blood poisoning in the hospital.

A surprising number of people gathered for the Holy Mass in the great hall of the House of Dialogue, the homeless, the poor and the Budapest high school students kept coming, many of whom have already helped at the lunches of the Sant'Egidio community several times and are always happy to come back, touched by the atmosphere of friendship with the poor.

A strange army of believers: the poor and the well-to-do, pretty, modern young people and homeless people dressed in well-worn clothes, poor families with disabled children - the great and holy people of God who accompany Jesus together on the way to the cross and resurrection during Lent. And together he remembers those who, like Scooter, died in poverty and in the midst of much suffering.

"Let us pray that together with the disciples we can go up to the high mountain, we can contemplate the face of the Lord, and pray for our homeless friends who are no longer with us, so that they can see the face of the Lord from face to face," said Péter Szőke, head of the Sant'Egidio community in Budapest, in his greeting .

In his homily, Bishop Gábor Mohos touched the hearts of all his listeners when he explained in deep and at the same time simple words that the human path leads through humiliation to the unearthly brilliance of Jesus, who experienced all our miseries.

"Let's remember Scooter, i.e. Peter, from whom we could learn what true kindness and friendship are. He grew up in state care and then in foster care. He was homeless for many years. He always gave to others who needed it before himself. With this, he taught that no one can be so poor that he cannot help someone poorer than himself" - with these words began the long list of names of those who lived on the street in recent years and sometimes died there.

Names and short stories of a few lines were spoken, of those whom few people remember, or perhaps no one, but whose names are counted by God, like the Bible's of poor Lazarus.

They are not unknown people, but the names and stories of friends, highlighting their characteristic features: Goat, who lived on Deák Square, and his cheerfulness and jokes are memorable. Zoli, who was a small, fragile person with a big smile. Tivadar who recited Shakespeare. Laci, who said that the weekly conversation with the members of the community is the real treasure, life. Hori, who was always reading in an abandoned, windowless bakter house on Monoro, in his favorite armchair in the windy room. Gabika, who suffered abuse on the street. Karcsi, who was a Benedictine student in Győr, became close to his faith again during the years of their friendship...

After the Holy Mass, the invited guests hurried down to the main hall of the House of Dialogue, shaken and a little tired, where beautifully laid tables awaited them. 130 homeless, poor people sat around the tables, at each table someone from the community or young people sat with them.

With the help of the students of the Reménység Catholic School and the Szent Imre High School, the service went quickly and brought great joy to the guests with the fate of stepchildren, who are often turned away from them on the street to receive the food here from nice young people, accompanied by a smile and a kind word.

"It's good to be here, because everyone here has a smile on their face"... "this is how we should live, in love, not at war"... "we can finally rest a little"... - said one of the guests.

As time passed, we saw more and more young people talking to the homeless, listening seriously to their stories and laughing together at their funny stories.

Source, full article and pictures: Magyar Kurír