The blessings and challenges of this year have each taught me a new lesson about the human condition. Many of these are products of my responsibilities in Merrimack’s Campus Ministry, but the most notable are found in simple, every day behaviors. Specifically, I find that engaging in conversation is the most human activity in which we can partake. It is an art form in its own right. In many ways, conversations have generated some of the greatest joys at my service sites. In others, they are the source of my greatest challenges. I have conversations with my colleagues, Merrimack students, people I work with at our weekly service sites, my community members, and complete strangers, but their value is always the same. It is immeasurable.
At 58 Newbury Street in Lawrence, Massachusetts, visitors are greeted at the door by a sense of home. Bread & Roses is a restaurant style soup kitchen that serves those who are most in need in our community. In this intimate setting, the dining room prays before every meal to show thanks for the day God has given us. Plates are then brought from the assembly line in the kitchen to hungry hands and hearts. Through my service there, I have come to know Bread & Roses as a place where bodies are nourished, friends are made, and human dignity is restored.
At dinnertime, I see both old and new faces. There are two faces in particular, however, that I anticipate every Tuesday around 6:30pm. Two brothers, Frenchie and Lionel, have been my companions at Bread & Roses since my first week. As soon as I see them walk in, I am overjoyed. My first instinct is to drop what I am doing, but my responsibility to the kitchen paralyzes me. Instead, I raise my voice to them from where I stand and I am always greeted with a smile. Their presence draws me to sit with them because I find consolation in sharing a conversation. Whether it is about their father who recently passed away or about our favorite kinds of movies, I feel most like myself when I’m hanging out with them.
In many ways, these conversations have reminded me of the value of telling one’s story because the truth is a very powerful tool. Not only does the story-teller feel a burden taken from them in sharing, but the one listening is changed by the human emotion of the story. It is impossible not to feel the freeness that is inherent to the truth.
Of the biblical sisters Mary and Martha, I think Mary really had it right. In taking on her attitude, I find myself drawn closer to God. My conversations with others have a direct impact on my spirituality. The sensitivity and self-awareness that this requires is not an easy practice, but it is worth the effort. As I continue to embrace the blessings and challenges of my volunteer year, I look forward to the rest of my Tuesdays with Frenchie and Lionel.
Meg Costantini
Lawrence, MA 2011-2012
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