Just when I'm discouraged about a lack of response to our many calls for volunteers, along comes a great email with a photo of Holy Family middle schoolers who recently trekked into Boston to serve dinner to the homeless at the Boston Rescue Mission.
Restores my faith, it does!
And the photo only shows us the middle schoolers. Off to the side and out of the frame are the parents who drive and chaperone and a great guy from our parish who organizes the whole effort.
Restores my faith, it does!
And it's great to see the students standing in front of that mural of the Sea of Galilee and a certain Preacher calling some scruffy fishermen and many others to follow him. Notice how well our young folks seem to fit right in with the disciples of Jesus in the mural.
Restores my faith, it does!
Along the bottom of the mural is a verse from scripture: Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. - John 6:35. These middle school students are putting that scripture into action in a very real way. Although the verse speaks of spiritual hunger and spiritual sustenance, the whole mission of Jesus bears out his preferential love for the poor and the marginalized. When our young people visit the Boston Rescue Mission they meet, face to face, the folks who live in the margins of our society.
I just returned from a fund raising banquet for the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation. Among several speakers was a high school student who spent 10 days on a work-retreat in Haiti. Describing her experience she said, "What the eye does not see, the heart cannot rue." Our students who make monthly trips to the Rescue Mission have their eyes opened and having seen the plight of the poor, their hearts begin to see the responsibility our faith lays on our shoulders.
What a blessing for those who are served dinner by our young people. And what a blessing for these young ones that their opened eyes lead their hearts to serve.
Restores my faith, it does!
What a wonderful article !!! We should be proud of our youth donating the precious gift of time, and their families for donating various resources to make the effort happen.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to point out that we have high schoolers in our community that have been serving the BRM for some time now. Several of them are starting their 5th year of service.
Do folks realize that we had over 30 sophomores go to Washington DC last year on a service trip ?? Amazing !!!
Service isn't meant to be convienent. It often requires
some small level of personal sacrifice
and a desire to help others.