I looked at my lunch - tuna salad on whole wheat bread, apple, and iced tea. Although it was a healthy meal made up of things I like, I did not think I could partake of it.

I had just returned from Matthew 25, the soup kitchen run by volunteers at the Miami Beach Community Church. The kitchen is open to serve a meal to anyone who is hungry - no questions asked. Meals are served in the church’s chapel where a huge stained-glass window shows Jesus with his arms outstretched in welcome.

I was one of five volunteers working that day - a volunteer cook, a person to canvas the dining area to make sure rules were followed, a person to continue to wash and sanitize trays throughout the serving period, and two other volunteers to serve the meal. The soup kitchen is open four days a week from 11:30 until 1:00. There are no budgeted funds to support the venture in the church’s budget. Donations of food to be served and funds to purchase supplies (e.g., paper bowls and plastic spoons) are solicited from members of, and visitors to, the church.

Our cook - after checking the pantry to see what was available - pureed baked beans, and added tomato juice, water and a few cans of vegetables to make the very thin soup for the day. The rest of us set up the eating area, filled pitchers of ice water for the center of each of the four tables, carried a flat of Ensure cans from the pantry to the chapel, and cut into half slices the one loaf of bread available that day.

The doors opened on time, and the first 24 people in the long line waiting at the door entered. I served the soup - 1½ ladles per person. Another lady served a ½ slice of bread and a small can of Ensure to each of hungry people. As I served the soup, I could see, in the eyes of each recipient, their hope that I would put a slice of carrot, or one of the few other vegetables, into the bowl they handed me.

In groups of 24 people per setting, we served 92 people. Thus, the one loaf of bread ran out before all the people had been served. And, I was forced to reduce the amount of soup given to 1 ladle per person in order to be sure every person received something to eat.

There were people of all ages who came through the line including a blind woman, a family with two children (a four-year-old and a baby), who had just been evicted from their apartment because the father had lost his job and could no longer pay the rent, a young man who had hitched rides from Minnesota who thought he would land a job playing his guitar at some venue on the beach and found himself sleeping on the beach instead, an elderly man in a wheelchair, college students who came for spring break and found the amount of money they brought with them was not sufficient to sustain them for a week in this high-priced area, several people with noticeable mental issues, immigrant gardeners seeking a meal which would not use the small amount of money they were earning, and of course the homeless beach people.

For such a meager fare served that afternoon, every person - except the baby - as they passed by the food table said a sincere “thank you” or “God bless you.”

Once I was back in our apartment, my lunch looked like a huge feast compared to the meal I had just finished serving to 92 hungry people. After staring at my lunch for a while, all I could do was say a sincere“thank you” to God for the meal available to me, eat it, and vow to continue to support Matthew 25 and other venues providing food to hungry people.

Contributed by Nancy
Monday May 5, 2014
Liturgical Year A: Week 25
Liturgical Color: White
Sunday Gospel reading:
Fifth Sunday of Easter