Service with a Smile

Come Holy Spirit! Pax Christi vobiscum!

What a day! First of all, our two professors for today decided to cancel class, so we got a three day weekend. I found this out after I decided to sleep in this morn...I mean earlier this week, yes, earlier than this morning...and therefore I knew I could sleep in this morning.... Heh.

So I got up this morning and did a ton of laundry and finally got my room back in order. I do this about once every 2 or so weeks...about the time I realize I can no longer see the floor.

On to more interesting things. This evening, I was privileged enough to help out with the St. Vincent de Paul Society in their service of the poor. Basically, I got to walk down Humility Lane...and I tripped. These people basically have nothing, nothing but a plastic bag with some food or an umbrella, maybe. And we went out to give them food cooked by this one family that has been doing this service for 25 years (venticinque anni).

I talked with a couple of people from Poland who moved to Rome to find some work and were unable to do so. These people have real need...and they are real people. I think often I only recognize the first one, if that, but it's a lot harder to want to look them in the eye and see a person in them; because once I look them in the eye, recognizing their personhood, then I will hurt for one of my own that has far less than I have--and I will have to give, at the very least my time, if not more.

That is what I recognized as I spoke with Matteo from Poland. He is just like you and me, except he doesn't have a home. He has a great sense of humor and was enjoyable to speak with, but he struggles with things (or absence thereof) I take for granted on a daily basis. I tried to assure him that with God all things are possible, and I offered him my prayers, but that was the best I could do for the time. And I ask you all to pray for Matteo, that God would direct him out of his poverty and help him find work for his and his family's sake.

As a further reflection, I found a great freedom in serving them. For by serving these people, created by God, I both helped them and forgot me. I was free from worrying about myself, and it felt great! And I got the chance to smile and hand food out to people who need it far more than I do. And that is just how good God is: doing a service for someone else is never a one-sided thing. When I serve someone, both of us gain from it. On the other hand, I have noticed that when I seek only my interests, I don't even seem to get anything out of it. This is as Pope John Paul II said: it is only in a sincere gift of self that I truly discover who I am.

Service frees us from servitude...especially when it's service with a smile. May God bless you with His grace and His peace in this Advent Season, and Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!