June 28, 2014

Why we came

My job the other night was to dish out the food onto the plates for the servers to bring to the guests.  I was working alongside a woman from a local church who was there for the first time.  She couldn't wrap her head around the idea that we would come all this way to volunteer.  "Do you have soup kitchens in your area?" she asked nicely.  Of course we do and we do a lot with them, namely New Horizons.    We have been coming here for about 10 years after a former parent suggested it to one of my predecessors, Fr. Andrew Nelson.  The parent knew of St. Francis Inn somehow and thought it might be a nice experience for Trinity High School students.  The rest is history.

We come here to experience and live the mission of the inn.  We could (and do) do the same kind of work in Manchester.  However, there is something unique about this place and the community that ministers here.  Time after time, students say their biggest surprise was how close they got to the staff here and how much they loved them.  That's the point - to experience our faith and our Church in a different setting and way of life.  Most of these students have only experienced Church through their parish and/or our school.  I love to expose them to the community here, their faith, their witness, their way of life.  I hope and pray that our students leave here inspired not just to go back and serve the poor but rather to go back and also live lives of faith and witness, to have a deeper relationship with God, and to come to know Christ in a powerful way.  

That's why we come.

No comments:

Post a Comment