Volunteering To Watch a Compassionate Heart

At Thursday's dinner Sr. Rosemary shared that she was going to work at a food pantry.  She needed to take photo's with an digital camera for an urgent Thanksgiving kind of article.  But she didn't feel confident she could operate one of these new digital cameras.  They can be pretty complicated!  What was I going to do that evening?  Probably read a book or journal.  I volunteered to go with them and help take some pictures. I figured I could operate a camera for them and in the meantime get to see a food pantry in action the week before Thanksgiving.   You can find that article here .

Both of the woman involved, Sr. Roesmary and Sr. Catica, were missionaries in S. America and speak Spanish.  Sr. Catica was especially fun to watch.  She is a petite woman who is grey with age.  Her rounded shoulders speak of a long history of work in the rural areas of Bolivia. She is a woman whose aging has left her looking frail.  But don't let this fool you! 

 She and I were working together to hand out hot cocoa and coffee.  I did more watching than helping. When I was helping and speaking too much Sr. Catica corrected me.  It didn't take long to realize who was in control.  She was. This was after all her place of service and I was a guest.  I decided to stand back more and just watch her work.  I'm glad I did.   

One of the food pantry managers kept pressing her to hurry people through the line.  The two of them had this sarcastic banter going back and forth.  He was the sarcastic one and she just spoke her mind with her actions. Sister Catica wouldn't stand for rushing people through.   She made sure to greet each person.  She received smiles and hugs all night long.  She had a presence there that was obviously appreciated by all of the clients.  I saw a strength in her.  She wasn't about to balk at the pressure of a manager.  She wasn't even going to let a newcomer (me) get in the way of giving people what they needed. She created a space, even a small one, which communicated her awareness of each individual's humanity.  She wasn't serving a number, she was serving people.  She wasn't just handing out coffee, she was giving out love freely. She took her sweet, sweet, time.  Sometimes she encountered a traffic jam of people.  It didn't matter.  The people didn't care.  They seemed to revel in the few moments they had with her as she loved on them.  It would be so easy to just hand out food and not make human connection.  Sr. Catica was able to do both.  I took a few pictures Thursday night...no problem.  I'm glad a few worked out.  Even better than that, however, is that I volunteered to watch a lover of people and a compassionate heart in action.  I couldn't have asked for a better night!