Serving Christ and His Beloved Through Don’s Helping Hands
by Jean Bystedt
Among the many ways Christ directs us to lead a life of love and inclusion, is by feeding the hungry and giving drink to the thirsty, two of the corporal works of mercy. Here at St. Josaphat, Don’s Helping Hands was established to perform these works by serving those in our community who are most in need.
Don’s primary mission is to provide a simple lunch to the marginalized - the homeless, the poor, the under-privileged – and to give it willingly and without judgment to whomever comes to the “red door.”
Many of you know it and have contribute to it with your donations of food, socks or T-shirts. And some of you have volunteered in the kitchen yourselves.
But here’s a secret you may not know about Don’s Helping Hands: it’s a threshold for encountering Christ. When I serve, I see Him in the person of everyone who comes to the door. In the smiling faces and the sad faces. In the silent and in the chatty. In those seeking only a meal and in those seeking only to be noticed. They are to me the face of Jesus. It is these humble people who humble me. It is these hungry people who nourish me. And it is these forgotten people who cause me to remember that we are all one in the Lord.
I’m so grateful to them for opening my heart and enabling me to encounter Jesus each time I serve … and for giving to me so much more than the simple lunch that I give them.