Lenten Practices

Last Thanksgiving, I volunteered for a dinner service at Shrine of the Sacred Heart Church over in Columbia Heights with a few of my community members. For two hours, we ran around the church auditorium, serving meals to people experiencing homelessness, chatting with them, and sneaking them the occasional bread roll. It was simple work, but it felt meaningful being able to exercise ministry of presence, even in a small way, for people who are so often overlooked. Afterwards, I asked one of the volunteers there about how often they serve meals. Apparently, the dinner services happen every day at 4pm except for Sunday. In the back of my mind, I realized that I could volunteer regularly at Sacred Heart since it aligned with my work schedule. 

The next few months flew by, and I forgot about that passing idea until Lent. One of the pillars of Lent is almsgiving, as I was very conveniently reminded of by FMS. I realized that with my free time, I should revisit Sacred Heart to volunteer. So after work on a random Friday, I showed up, put on an apron, and handed out hot coffee for the patrons. Many of them only spoke Spanish, so I figured it was a good opportunity to improve my Spanish speaking skills. Unfortunately, many of them had trouble understanding my broken Spanish. 

That became my routine for the next few weeks. I would leave work, walk over to Sacred Heart, and serve food/drinks for two hours. I remember one dinner service in particular. I was serving hot chocolate to the patrons and a familiar face walked up to grab a cup. It was a former patient from Christ House, who came in for an arm injury. It was months later, and he still had his arm cast on. He didn’t recognize me at first, but I was able to talk to him for a bit afterwards. I told him I was from Christ House and asked him how he was doing. He said he wasn’t doing too well, a byproduct of living on the streets and dealing with his arm injury. I offered him my condolences, but said there wasn’t much that I could do besides refer him to shelters around the city.

Those types of situations are always difficult. He wanted me to help him, and I wanted to help, but wasn’t sure how, or if I could really do anything. It’s times like those when I remember the Serenity Prayer, “God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” As unfortunate and disheartening as it was, I had to take solace in the small things that I was able to do for him.

I am glad I was able to practice the pillar of almsgiving during this Lenten season. Sacred Heart challenged me to think more deeply about what service truly means. It’s easy to feel fulfilled when you’re handing out food or exchanging kind words, but it’s much harder to sit with the discomfort of not having all the answers. While I still sometimes struggle with feeling helpless, I’ve learned that ministry of presence isn’t about solving every problem—it’s about showing up anyway.

Questions for Reflection: How is God inviting you to grow in almsgiving? Where might God be calling you to serve during this season?