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How are you doing with your Lenten journey? I just got an update from Sal Davi, a young adult Catholic from the Diocese of Phoenix and founder of OurGodSpot young adult ministry, who took his Lenten journey to the streets — literally. This marks his 30th day living on the streets, sharing the faith with those willing to listen, offering regular praise and worship — often in public places — living largely on bread and peanut butter and spending hours in nightly adoration.

Sal's profile picture on Facebook and mantra for his Lenten journey.

He posts updates on his Facebook page of where he’s been and the encounters he has had. It’s fascinating to see how much of our diocese he has covered on foot.

More importantly, he has reached out to those within diocesan boundaries who are homeless, have fallen away from the faith or practice another faith. His hope is to “really bring Christ into the world the way he really wanted us to.”

Here are some highlights from our conversation.

“It’s a lot tougher than I expected.” The hardest part is figuring out where he will sleep and getting enough true rest. “I’m used to four or five hours of sleep, but four hours of sleep out here is completely different.” Sal has laid his head on the streets, in parks and in a downtown parking garage.

“There’s more positive than there is negative” about the journey though.

“If this journey has taught me anything, it’s how to be humble.” The poverty part has been the hardest. “I  was never the person to take. I was always doing the giving.” He ran out of bread a couple of days ago. “I was too busy feeding everyone else.”

He got a prayer request from two police officers called in to check on him. They asked that Sal pray that no police officers would die — I would imagine in the line of duty — during his journey.

Some parishes have been very supportive and welcoming of his endeavor includingSt. Daniel and Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Scottsdale, Christ the King in Mesa, St. James and St. Raphael in Glendale, Our Lady of the Valley and St. Joan of Arc.

There have been countless examples of Sal’s outreach. Last night at Tempe Marketplace, a woman asked him what he was doing. He was amid praise and worship with a crucifix in plain sight. “She sat down and said, ‘all right. Spread the Gospel. I need to hear it.’” Two-and-a-half hours later, the Mormon woman wanted to know more about the Catholic faith. He recommended some Scripture.

He talked to the homeless in downtown Phoenix. “I kind of almost know why they get stuck as homeless. You get stuck in this world of, ‘You’re tired. You’re done. You can’t walk anymore.’ Their self-esteem drops.” He was so exhausted once, he fell asleep for five minutes until two rangers awoke him saying he couldn’t sleep there. “They have no hope because they’re so exhausted.”

“We as a culture are so used to reacting to what we see and talking about what we see instead of really looking deep.” On his multi-mile walks across the Valley, like the 14 miles from St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Scottsdale to St. Maria Goretti, he has a renewed appreciation for creation as basic as grass. “It’s like the grass is hugging you.” He did stop during that journey to rest in the underpass of the freeway. The temperatures hit the 90s that day and there was a cool breeze blowing through.