A Reflection by Fr. Brian:
(continued from May 16th)
So, I would walk from our house to the parish nearby where ladies would prepare the food and coffee for delivery. I would then help load up the back of the pickup and drive it down to the park, where there would be a long line of 100-200 homeless waiting patiently for some food.
Despite, rain, cold, and other adverse weather conditions, the people waiting in line would step up to help unload everything from the back of the truck and help set it up. Sometimes, it would be pouring down rain and the ground would be muddy as heck, like slop!
There would be all types – men, women, kids, drug addicts, alcoholics, gang members, prostitutes, families, all types. They were there because they were homeless, living on the streets. They needed food.
In the two years that I volunteered at the Catholic Worker, I always looked forward to driving that old green truck down to the park and helping distribute the food. It put meat on the theology I was learning about in my classes. It was the real world!
To this day, I keep those memories dear to my heart! Because, they ground me in the needs of others and they give me the pono I need to minister.
Thank you to all those homeless that I encountered in my two years volunteering with the Berkeley Catholic Worker! And, to all the volunteers who prepared the food! Mahalo nui loa!
Blessings, pono and pule!
Fr. Brian Guerrini, ss.cc.
Priest
Molokai