Yesterday, my family and I worked the Loaves & Fishes, as is our custom the last two Saturdays of every month, when the cafeteria of the Emily Fischer Charter School, in the basement of St. Mary’s Cathedral (Trenton, NJ), is turned into a soup kitchen for all.
It always requires an effort to get mentally prepared, for the L&F, even though we have been volunteering there for close to 15 years. Sometimes, like yesterday, my (prematurely and chronically) arthritic body fights me every step of the way. At other times, I just don’t feel up to conversing with hundreds of people. But always, I know that these obstacles are temptations, and that my job, as a disciple of Christ, is to do what He commanded me to do, long ago. Yes, I distinctly remember Christ telling me, personally: “Renée, feed my sheep, tend my lambs, watch my flock.“ I must have been six or seven, at the time, but those words ring out in my soul, as clearly today as they did the first time I heard them, over four decades ago…
And so, I arm myself with the courage that always pumps through me, like a Ferrari-430 on a Formula-1 race track, whenever I realize the enemy’s attempt to manipulate me. No physical pain, mental disposition, selfishness, or laziness, can get in my way. I fill my super-strong tote with bags of small wooden cross pendants, pounds of Hershey’s kisses, as well as toiletries bought for distribution (soap, deodorant, body fresheners, etc.). Full of Christ’s love, and protected by St. Michael, St. Faustina, the Communion of Saints, and my very own Guardian Angel, I head south, to downtown Trenton. As always, we are safely tucked in our Blessed Mother’s Immaculate Heart, whence we dare not budge.
Amazingly, no two Saturdays are ever alike. Yet, it’s often the very same folks we feed, the very same local Catholic Churches or other groups that prepare and serve the food, the same waves of troubled youth who work off their court-imposed community service hours.
Yesterday was a day like none other. Within a few minutes after arriving, Lawrence (who does not want to be nicknamed “La”, or “Larry”, because his Mom called him that one time too many) planted himself in front of me and told me something extraordinary had happened to him. I thought I might brush him off quickly and get on with my mission; after all, last month he expected me to notice he wasn’t wearing eyeglasses (Lasik surgery worked wonders on him), and a few months before that I was supposed to spot another difference, which of course escaped me. Needless to say, Lawrence is on the higher end of the socio-economic scale, among our L&F patrons. He has no (obvious) mental or physical disability, lives in a permanent abode, and is close to his family. Not too different from many of us folks.
Well, yesterday, Lawrence told me something that stopped me in my tracks. He had landed in the emergency room of a nearby hospital, with no more than two pints of blood coursing through his body. That’s a dangerously low blood count, considering an adult normally has 8-10 pints. As he was getting out of his sister’s car, Sir Larry (that’s my new nickname for him) came out of his body, and from above, saw himself lying on the sidewalk. He saw a light, and heard God’s voice – for that is Who Sir Larry said spoke to him – which he described as “soft, comforting”. God asked Sir Larry this question: “Do you want to stay, or do you want to go back?“ Sir Larry said he wanted to stay, because there was much more work for him to do, but he asked God to enlighten the doctors as to his physical condition.
Four blood transfusions later, Sir Larry’s lacerated ulcer was miraculously healed. The doctors have no explanation.
Sir Larry is a changed man. He immediately stopped smoking (whether crack, grass, or tobacco, I don’t know, and it doesn’t matter), abandoned his other bad habits, and now has a new purpose in life. I told him God has given him a most extraordinary grace, in speaking to him so personally, and that now, he has an obligation to live his life in accord with God’s will. I said he must pray, pray much, for that is where he will hear that very same voice, God’s voice, again. He said he had a feeling I was right.
Miracles in our midst… they abound, but unless we stop to listen, to God when He speaks to us, to our fellow man, when he wants to share his experiences, we will miss out on some of the most extraordinary moments of our life.
Let us all pray for Sir Larry, for every single person whom we feed at the L&F and at soup kitchens of all sorts around the world, for those who help, and for those who think there is nobody to pray for them.
Jesus – I trust in You.
