Who held the space after the protest?

Just after arriving at the Black Lives Matter rally in honor Daniel Prude on Saturday September 5th, I ran into my friend Cameron. Cam planned to provide mental health support for protesters that evening. We decided to stick together, and eventually ended up at Spiritus Christi. I showed up with the intention of  providing emotional support for people - the intention of being a listener, of helping people to process.

That was the second night in a row that the police deployed tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protesters. Many were injured, but most appeared unsurprised.

I discovered pretty quickly that even though I was able to help in various ways throughout the night, my mental health services weren’t needed in the way I had anticipated. The people already had each other's backs. The sanctuary had probably 50 to 100 people in it for a good bit of the night. Overall, it was quiet in there. Not a bad quiet, either. Danielle Ponder came through and sang a bit. She got some response, but the quiet won out. I could sense that  people were processing their experiences. Somewhere speaking quietly with each other, but for the most part it seems that people just wanted to be there in silence - to be with their sadness, their hope, their grief.

This speaks to two things: One, that whether they intend to or not, human beings are capable of holding tremendous space for each other as a group. Two, I believe that the quality of the space - a literal church sanctuary - had a big effect on the quality of the gathering.  When people gather for worship in the same place for years on end, that place takes on a deep spiritual presence. This is true in Spiritus Christi as it is in other houses of worship. The Virgin Mary was there that night, holding the protesters. Jesus was there that night, holding the protesters. The protesters were there that night, holding each other.