"So, how blessed are you?"

TEN REASONS YOU ARE RICH:

1. You didn't go to sleep hungry last night.

2. You can read.

3. You had a choice of what clothes to wear this morning.

4. You hardly broke a sweat today.

5. You didn't spend a minute in fear.

6. You have access to clean drinking water.

7. You have access to medical care.

8. You have access to the Internet.

9. You have the right to vote.

10. You didn't go to sleep outside last night.

As a lot of you know, every time I pray the traditional prayer before a meal, I add in "God bless the cooks and those that go without" at the end. Well today, I met some of those people. I had the opportunity to volunteer at a community kitchen in down town Houston, called Loaved and Fishes (Matt. 14:13-21). Myself, my sister, and a few neighbors took showers this morning, picked our outfits from a closet full of clothes, and drove down town to serve people who consider themselves blessed just to have woken up alive and unharmed this morning. We got to participate in mass with them before lunch, and that really opened my eyes. When we said "I confess to Almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters..." I looked around and realized that these people, too, are my brothers and sisters in Christ. I know the Body of Christ includes everyone, but I had never been in a situation where I really saw a lot of variety in the type of people sitting at mass together. There were several people who didn't know the words to the prayers or couldn't read the missal, but they were still there. When it came time for the Our Father, every single person in the room grabbed someone else's hand; it was beautiful. It didn't matter that some of these people were clean and others hadn't showered in days, or that some had manicured hands while others had dry skin and cuts. At the sign of peace, everyone was shaking hands, wishing each other the best. And after Holy Communion, EVERYONE was praying. I spent a lot of this time observing the people around me. The room we were in had about 8 picnic tables with benches on both sides, and 20ish chairs in the center. There were quite a few people in there, sitting, standing, and sleeping. But everyone was praying. I thought about how strong my faith would be, if I had nothing like these people did. It could go one of two ways: I would either be mad at God for my circumstances and wouldn't have a faith life at all, or I would be close to God because that would be the only constant in my life. I would like to hope it would be the second. These people didn't know where they would sleep tonight, but they knew that God was there for them. That was amazing.

After mass, we had lunch. Those that attended mass were served first, before the doors were opened for more people to come in from outside. We were serving them chili cheese hotdogs, rice and beans, and cake. It was actually a pretty good meal. When all of the people had gone back outside (into the 95 degree heat), we were sitting down eating and the man who runs the place, Billy, came and sat by us. He talked for a little bit, and then looked at my sister and I and asked, "So, how blessed are you?" My sister responded "very" and I couldn't even get a word out. I just started thinking. At first, I thought about the last meal I ate in a cafeteria line like the one we had just served, which was probably in middle school. Then I thought about the food that I was served at school, and at home, like what I had for breakfast. The fact that I had a choice in what I got to eat was huge, realizing that these people didn't. What if they were allergic? What if they just didn't like it? I started to think that that probably didn't matter very much to them, that they were grateful for whatever they were given. I wish I could be more like that. I take so many things that I have for granted; I complain about being hungry more than once a day, but I have really never even been close to starving. I complain about having nothing to wear, when my closet is literally overflowing with clothes. I feel that I have too much. I have been meaning to clean out my closet and take the stuff over to BCAM, but I think I might just take it back to Loaves & Fishes next Sunday and give it to the people myself. These people's spirits were more optimistic than mine are sometimes, these people who have nothing. I guess they figure the only place they can go now is up, since they're already at the bottom.

I wish I could say that I'll never again complain of hunger or discomfort or tough times, but I know that's not true. I already told my mom tonight that I was hungry and wanted dinner. But these people will ALWAYS be in my prayers. I'm trying to think of more concrete ways to help them, too. I know I can't reach out to every single poor person. I often think about that when I watch movies like the Blind Side. If everyone got a chance like Michael Ohr, how different would the world be? While I can't adopt them or pay for them to go to college, I want to find a way to feed them, cloth them, and get to know them. They are people, too. Christ loves them, and I want to learn to love them, too.

"Then the king will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.' Then the righteous will answer him and say, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?' And the king will say to them in reply, 'Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.' "

-Matthew 25:34-40