The Shelter

It is the tradition of the seminary to make a monthly trip to one of the local homeless shelters to prepare a meal for the men (it happens to be a shelter for men) and serve it to them. We always cook spaghetti and take a mixed salad. Vanilla ice cream is served for dessert. The men are always deeply grateful, but it is sometimes painful to see the shame in their eyes as they come through the serving line.

I went to the shelter to serve the food last evening. When I am there, I am always reminded that the homeless are not who we assume them to be. They are clean, they are sober, they are of every race, they are decent, and many, perhaps most, of them have jobs. They just can't seem to get on their feet. Poverty, it would seem, is not necessarily self-inflicted.

As always, an evening at the shelter has led me to some reflection. I was struck by a quote from the Office of Reading this morning. Writing to St. Ignatius of Loyola about the poor he had been evangelizing in the Far East, St. Francis Xavier says, "The Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these."