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Faithful Foodie Adventure: Food For People on a Difficult Adventure

Posted January 16th, 2013 | Faithful Foodie, Prayers

Food for People on a Difficult Adventure

My typical “Faithful Foodie Adventures” share great food finds from my travels. However I want to write about a different kind of “adventure” this week – one that brings challenge and fear instead of excitement and joy. Besides having no place to call your own, or a comforting place to lay down your head, one of the biggest fears for the population considered “homeless” is the uncertainty of their next meal. While their journey is a difficult one, we can offer them many different points of hope along the way.

One of the guests at Winter Relief was a “walking icon” with many Catholic images on his body. I told him he should be a living saint rather than a billboard for sanctity. Thank God this “body art” was religious rather than dark, destructive or demonic.

This past week, Our Lady of the Fields Catholic Church in Millersville and the House of Hope hosted over 60 homeless people in a program called Winter Relief. For the past nine years, Our Lady of the Fields has provided guests a place to sleep, shower, clean up, eat home cooked (and quite delicious) meals, and most importantly, experience God’s love without a forced, preachy, or judgmental message.

Dave Luddy the current site coordinator, Deacon Ed Stoops the original site coordinator, and Dawne Shroeder-Elmiger the successor for site coordination.

Volunteers at Winter Relief get a sense of holiness talking with the guests that comes from the Corporal Works of Mercy – especially feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless. There is an immediate understanding that homelessness has no quick fix or simple solution, but that helping them is as easy as opening your door and caring for them. Blessed Mother Theresa of Calcutta gives a saintly example of the positive impact this kind act can have on the world.

Volunteers serve the food but – more importantly – eat with the temporary residents.

To partake in this Faithful Foodie Adventure, you need only help in some way – big or small. The efforts at Our Lady of the Fields show the world its truly living the Gospel holiness by extending the sacramental life to a tangible act of love in a big way. However, a famous quote from Blessed Mother Theresa suggests even small acts make a difference as long as you “do small acts with great love.”

Volunteers at Our Lady of the Fields were from all walks of life, but there was great support from young people who helped shoulder the burdens of the homeless.

CORRECTION

Last week, I included from my trip to New York a photo of couple Mark and Jennifer, Jennifer as Mark’s girlfriend. Well, I got the following email from Mark himself:

Buon Anno Padre!

Ahem– that would be Mr. and Mrs. Mark Bello and you can bet we are Spicing Up Married Life everyday!!

So congratulations to the happy married couple, who will receive a copy of Spicing Up Married Life as a ‘wedding’ gift! Maybe they can teach about true love at their pizza school, using Spicing Up Married Life as their curriculum guide! Also, the proper link to their website is www.pizzaschool.com, so be sure to check them out!

Does your church or civic group do something to help the homeless and underprivileged?
What do you do to teach your children or family members compassion?
What can you do, or what have you done, to help the poor? Don’t be afraid to share your humble service.

Your questions, comments and postings, help inspire our readers with ideas and encouragement. Join the conversation and post your comments below.

The meal served compliments of “Chef” Ruth Baldwin and family: shrimp creole, rice, broccoli mass, and chicken wings – unfortunately I was too late for the chicken wings!

Let Us Pray:

Father, in this winter season, we pray for all adversely affected by the weather – especially the homeless. While it’s easy to make judgments and assumptions about the people who find themselves in this situation, help us to see first the fact they are children of God. And while we may decide not to give them money or to take them into our homes as a guest, may we have the strength and lived faith to at least greet them, look them in the eye, treat them with dignity, and offer them a sincere prayer. Make us true instruments of the Corporal Works of Mercy, we ask through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Ruth Baldwin (center dressed in grey) with some of her children and grandchildren, including two granddaughters who celebrated their birthday by providing food and service for the homeless.

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Posted in Faithful Foodie, Prayers | 3 Comments

3 Responses to “Faithful Foodie Adventure: Food For People on a Difficult Adventure”

Fr. Leo – a friend sent your post to me – love the prayer at the end. Instead of exchanging Christmas gifts this year, I decided to take what I would have spent and invest in God’s people by donating a large cash amount to our church’s fund to help the victims of Hurricane Sandy; and to spend more on our Ministry of the Giving Tree to help charitable organizations in our area; and finally purchased supplies from a list of items for Hurrican Sandy victims. It turned out to be the best Christmas emotionally….helping those in need. What a gift of Grace that was!
Posted by Linda Andrejewski on January 17th, 2013 at 10:16 am.
HI Fr Leo,

I also loved your prayer…for the Homeless…or….more for US…and how we treat these folks….not judgementally, but with Love. Often we consider ourselves to be charitable..but only as Arms-length Christians…when we come face to face with the needy (Christ in Disguise)we freeze and project a Worldly Realativism/judgementalism and fail to respond in Love. We want to be “right” in our charity, but as a great Saint-to-be has said ‘we’re not called to be right, just faitful…(to the Gospel)’

AMDG, Joe
Posted by Joe on January 19th, 2013 at 3:50 pm.
Our parish, St Joan of Arc, Canton, Ohio, has had a food pantry for at least 25 years and is open every Tuesday from 9AM to 11AM. It is the largest pantry in Stark County and at one time had 800 people who received food 1 to 5 times a month, usually 200+ each week. We also collect funds every month for the St. Joan of Arc Burse (very similar to St Vincent DePaul) to provide individual assistance as needed at the parish. Our parish also contributed almost $70,000 in 2012 to “The Bishop’s Appeal”. We also have a very large “Giving Tree” program in Advent every year. We are a parish of average people who are committed to the Corporal Works of Mercy to the best of their ability.
Posted by June Abraham on January 20th, 2013 at 7:07 pm.

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