Happy are the Hands that Feed...
Recently the faculty and staff of the school where I teach was treated to supper by a generous school family. The family treated us to supper at a restaurant with a “pay it forward” philosophy. When we arrived, we were welcomed with big smiles and menus without prices on any of the items. A hostess explained to us that as part of the “pay it forward” philosophy, guests are asked to pay as they can. No one is ever turned away because of inability to pay. If you are able to pay more, your donation goes to help feed the next person, who might be in need.
Along with food, the restaurant serves up opportunities for community involvement, as it is staffed entirely by volunteers. Diners are seated in a welcoming setting...no “my table” and “your table,” but rather, the empty seat next to you belongs to your neighbor.
As we listened to and were served by the joyful volunteer staff, and looked around at the mantras painted on the walls, I was so struck by the Catholicism of this purely secular place. The volunteers wore T-shirts emblazoned with “Hope is delicious.” A bright yellow sign on our table proclaimed “All are welcome at our table.” When I went online and checked out the website, the tagline read “Dignity and respect are always on the menu.” As I scrolled, I read “Where there is love, there is plenty” and “Happy are the hands that feed.”
This simple dinner left me with a lot to digest, pun intended. No distinction was made between paying and non-paying customers. Everyone was treated to the same food, the same smiling service. “All are welcome at our table.” We sing those words or similar words in many of our hymns. I found myself singing the final verse of the Christmas carol “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly” quietly on the way home…”All are welcome at this table, King and shepherd, friend and stranger...Christ the babe is Lord of all.” Do we really live it out? It’s easy to say, it’s nice to sing, but wouldn’t it possibly put us a little off guard if we were asked to share our dinner table with someone we don’t know? They live it there.
“Dignity and respect are always on the menu.” Our Catholic Social Teaching teaches that all people are deserving of dignity and respect because all are created in the image and likeness of God. As we traveled home, I thought of families that might patronize that restaurant. I imagined a family going through tough financial times, but still wanting to celebrate a special occasion with a nice meal. Every family should be able to celebrate a child’s birthday, a parents’ anniversary, with something special.
“Happy are the hands that feed.” Doesn’t that echo the words Jesus, who “did not come to be served but to serve”? (Mark 10:45) When I read those words, I thought of my grandmother, who was never fully happy unless she could feed you. And I thought, as a teacher, of my students. It feels so good to be able to provide for the needs of another. And, in the grand scheme of things, there is so little we can really do for others...but to feed them, to clothe them, to support them or love them, even for just a brief moment in their life, that can help bring us fulfillment as human beings. We are created in the image of the One who came to serve. We are called to serve.
At the end of the meal, one of the volunteers summed it up by saying “we’re all one heart and one soul...one human family.” How beautiful. As a community, we often say we are striving to be “One heart, one soul.” But it can go even further. We are all “one heart, one soul.” We are all created in the image and likeness of Christ, to be cherished and loved, at times to serve and at times to be served.
