Testimony of faith. “Behind the Great Walls”

ALL PEOPLE are valuable to me. They sometimes surprise me, inviting me to deepen our bond and take action.

For ten years, I went on patrols with an association: in pairs, we took an established route, listening to people in great social and family difficulties living on the street. The relationship was established and they confided their stories to us. In 2008, two encounters shocked me. In a square where we find a few men, Pierrick, in his fifties, talks a lot, more easily than the others, even in their place. I don’t always trust him. Younger and taciturn, Denis often joins them. Pierrick considers him his son. One day, Pierrick greeted me by saying: “Denis did some stupid things. He was picked up and locked behind the great walls. It is not the first time ! » Knowing the boy in prison devastates him. “You should write to him!” » he says. This cry for help upsets me. I didn’t expect to see myself challenged by Pierrick. I misjudged him and he opened my heart.

I’m thinking. Writing to Denis, this poor young man, could be my way of helping him. He is my brother in humanity. Like me, he was born naked. That’s all I have to offer. When the association asked him why he accepted this exchange, he replied: “It’s because I’m a single person and I don’t have many friends and that’s all I have to do. say. » (This winter I found with emotion these poorly readable words written in his handwriting.) So I write to Denis about every two weeks, and he shares his daily life with me. One day, when he fell ill, he sent me his mother’s number and requested her visit, even though he had stopped seeing her. I was not allowed to contact the family. I hesitated a lot before picking up the phone. Finally, Denis meets his mother in the visiting room and writes to me about his happiness the next day. A few months later, he no longer responded to my mailings. Learning that he died in prison, I sent his letter to his mother. She was moved by it.

God, who is love, invites me to live in solidarity with others. “What you did to the least of my brothers, you did to me,” Jesus said (Mt 25:40). Many Pierrick and Denis have been the presence of Christ in my life.