Evangelization Through Service

I think I finally have an idea of what Saint Frances of Assisi meant when he said, “Preach the Gospel always. When necessary, use words.”

Yesterday, I had the honor and privilege of accompanying 75 teen-aged girls, plus a few parents to the largest Day Shelter in my area. If you’ve read my previous entries, this is where Saint Ruth lays down her life and for one day, we shared in her mission -- Christ’s Mission. We extended the hands of Jesus to people who are suffering beyond anything I’ve ever experienced in my life.

We started the day with Mass at one of the most ancient parishes in the Archdiocese – built in 1897. It was a beautiful Romanesque-style church building with gorgeous Corinthian columns, fabulous stained-glass windows and ornate statuary. It was truly a delight to worship Our Lord Jesus Christ in such an ornate atmosphere and the reverence that was present among the girls and others was quite telling. I can clearly understand why humble people throughout the centuries have given their precious gifts to the building of houses worthy to hold the Presence of Christ. It’s a statement of their piety and their great love of the Lord.

After Mass, we all gathered in the parish hall to divide the girls up into teams and to share with them a little about what to expect. We told them to leave their judgment at the door and to serve these women and children without reservation. We tried to prepare them by explaining that they might see women and children who were dirty, who had no teeth, who hadn’t brushed their hair in weeks.

One of my friends, Anne Marie, told stories. She shared about the “clients” of the Day Shelter and what might have brought them there in desperation. She told stories of joy – of women who had made it out, and who returned to serve others. She told stories of the humiliation that so many of these women experience.

So off we went, with no little trepidation and (thanks be to God) no shortage of prayers covering the day.

Our girls were divided into three groups and moved from “station” to “station.” Being in charge of the day, it was one of my jobs to frequently check in on the girls and then move them to the next “station” when the time was right.

One of our first “stations” was preparing lunch in the kitchen and serving it in the dining room. It was a meager meal of pizza (donated, according to the boxes, by Dominos), some unidentifiable pasta with red sauce, pie and an orange drink. Our volunteer Moms sweated in the kitchen with its industrial ovens and the girls actually went out and served the clients. When I peeked in on them, they were joyous in their efforts! They knew that their labor had value when they looked in on the dining room at all the needy women and children.

And in the dining room, I was delighted to find girls holding babies and laughing with the clients. Some were sitting and visiting and asking questions. I saw some extending a hand and introducing themselves. And most of the clients were delighted as well. They looked at these beautiful young girls – so full of promise and hope – not with envy but with grateful hearts. They were surprised and humbled that these girls would take time out of their lives to serve them.

In another area, we had girls working in the closets. They had to sort donations, organize racks of clothing, bag up items that were donated that they couldn’t use – to be given to Goodwill at a later date. They were “personal shoppers” for the clients as they came through to hunt for some new shirt or pair of pants. The girls had a real eye-opening experience of what these clients have to wear – items that they, themselves, wouldn’t put on their own backs. I pray that it will put their own shopping habits into perspective. A $400 Vera Bradley purse will hopefully become meaningless in the face of such poverty. This is the greater lesson that we pray was learned.

Another team of girls organized and sorted items in the Christmas closet. The Christmas closet is locked all year ‘round. Anything donated that is brand-spankin’ new -- in other words, if it still has a sales tag on it -- gets placed there. The Day Shelter stockpiles items in this 12 x 18 foot storage room in the hopes that they will have enough to offer the clients who are present in the Shelter on Christmas Day. Yes, there will be women and children in the Shelter on Christmas Day. And thanks to the Shelter – and the donations of a few brand-new items throughout the year – they, too will have something under the Christmas tree.

One of our most popular stations was the mural painting. An amazing, young sixteen-year-old alumnus of our organization named Ashley, set the “stage” for this production. She drew huge, colorful outlines of flowers on the beige walls down one corridor. Down another, there was a shining blue sea with sailboats and dolphins. Down a third was a musical scale with butterfly and stars topping some of the notes and the words, “All Things Bright and Beautiful.” Big, bright fish soon adorned the walls of the children’s hallway. Our girls were handed a paint cup and painted according to the color Ashley had marked within each new wall ornament. There was joy and delight when some of the children came through and the girls held them in their arms and allowed them to help. Soon, there were paint smudges on cheeks and noses – both on girl and client alike – and the entire Day Shelter suddenly sported a new and cheerful look.

Another fun station was the Dining Room where another of our volunteers set up crafts for the women and children. Our girls enjoyed helping the children make Christmas ornaments and Christmas cards for themselves and their loved ones. They cut and colored and glued and shared a bit of creativity. As one little boy began to leave the room with his new handmade ornament in his hands he looked at me and asked, “Do I get to keep this?” He seemed surprised that he could actually leave with some little treasure that was all his to keep.

The most tragic area of the Day Shelter was the Main Room. That’s where we could see the most suffering. Couches line the walls of this huge room and this is where the women sit if they have no where else to go. Some of them snore softly, as they’ve been out on the streets all the night before. Others are handicapped or mentally ill and sit alone or silently whisper to themselves or to people locked within their imaginations. Some have relationships – they sat together and seemed to swap stories or concerns of the day. One woman walked around in endless search of a bag of food that she saw others had – a small plastic sack that contained a sandwich, chips and a piece of fruit. All I could advise her was that it must have been something received at another shelter, Lord only knows where. I saw her later, continuing to search, in the hopes that someone might tell her where she could get one. She was hungry – or knew she would be later, and was driven with a need to know.

Poverty and desperation could be seen in the face of every woman there. And in a few, hope. My prayer today is that I’ll be haunted by this day. And that I can share some of the stories of the things that I saw and help people to see what really matters in this life. It’s all about bringing a little heaven to this hell on earth.