On Sunday, just two days ago, the Holy Father, Pope Francis ordained ten new priests for the Diocese of Rome. During the homily spoken at that liturgy, the Pope encouraged the new priests to be mediators, not intermediaries; pastors, not functionaries. In other words, His Holiness was challenging these new priests to aim always to be faithful disciples of Christ, willing not only to speak about God's mercy, but to be instruments of it too; not only to speak about how close God is to his people, but to aim always to be close to the people they serve too.
Here in this city, I had the opportunity tonight to visit with students at Saint Joseph - Scollard Hall, the local Catholic High School, and to see Christ's love in action. When I arrived at the school, around 6:45pm, I was told that the students were out in the city streets, travelling in teams, knocking on the doors of local residents and asking them to participate in a cannd-food drive.
While students were out visiting with city residents, some of the dedicated staff from SJSH were taking care of the behind-the-scenes details: scales were prepared and waiting to weigh every can, every box, every bag of food that would enter the doors; empty boxes were waiting to hold the proceeds from the students' efforts, tables on which the food could be sorted and stored were all in place, and pizza and pop to feed the crowds of hungry labourers once the work had been completed filled the cafeteria with enticing aromas.
Between 7:00pm and 8:15pm, students returned to the school, bringing with them the fruits of their labour, and of the generosity of the locals. Box after box, and bag after bag of food items arrived. As they did, they were all stacked up on scales, weighed, and then sorted into boxes which will be transported tomorrow morning to the local Food Bank.
When the last car load of students and food items had arrived, the total count was 6,923 pounds of food!
Thank you to all the generous households who contributed to this project, and thank you to all the students and staff who so generously lent their energy, their enthusiasm and their love to this effort in favour of those in our community who are less fortunate. I was hungry ... and you gave me food (Mt 25:35).
Here in this city, I had the opportunity tonight to visit with students at Saint Joseph - Scollard Hall, the local Catholic High School, and to see Christ's love in action. When I arrived at the school, around 6:45pm, I was told that the students were out in the city streets, travelling in teams, knocking on the doors of local residents and asking them to participate in a cannd-food drive.
While students were out visiting with city residents, some of the dedicated staff from SJSH were taking care of the behind-the-scenes details: scales were prepared and waiting to weigh every can, every box, every bag of food that would enter the doors; empty boxes were waiting to hold the proceeds from the students' efforts, tables on which the food could be sorted and stored were all in place, and pizza and pop to feed the crowds of hungry labourers once the work had been completed filled the cafeteria with enticing aromas.
Between 7:00pm and 8:15pm, students returned to the school, bringing with them the fruits of their labour, and of the generosity of the locals. Box after box, and bag after bag of food items arrived. As they did, they were all stacked up on scales, weighed, and then sorted into boxes which will be transported tomorrow morning to the local Food Bank.
When the last car load of students and food items had arrived, the total count was 6,923 pounds of food!
Thank you to all the generous households who contributed to this project, and thank you to all the students and staff who so generously lent their energy, their enthusiasm and their love to this effort in favour of those in our community who are less fortunate. I was hungry ... and you gave me food (Mt 25:35).
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