Third Prize

What can be done to please the Lord? His Commandments are hard to follow; his life on earth is hard to imitate. How can we see this God whom we are to serve? "Love one another as I have loved you" are his words - so simple, so easy, so hard, and so rewarding.

Indeed, this is what I have struggled with. Questions, more questions that I can find answers to, come from being a Catholic. I go to Mass, pray, read the Bible, and contemplate on the words of Jesus only to be left with a sense that I have done almost nothing for him -- failure. Only a command, Lord, and I will do your will. "Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, that you do unto me," were his words, so I decided that I should do some service for him.

At my high school, there is a class called Urban Studies, and this seemed to fit my desire perfectly. Four days out of the week, during school time, and with a fifth day for reflection. There were different service sites to choose from, and out of those, I chose Chicago Christian Industrial League (CCIL) and Westside Employment Education Center. This is my experience of God at CCIL in the pantry.

It started off as something that I worried about; I was meeting new people, going out of my "comfort zone," and not exactly sure this was going to be helpful to God. On Wednesdays, I go to CCIL's food pantry. The main things I do there are fill bags with donated food, straighten up the pantry and hand these bags out to people who come to the door, looking for help. At first sight, it seems like a monotonous task -- fill bags, clean pantry, give as they come. But it is the interaction with the people who work and volunteer at the pantry and those who come to the door where I feel that I am expressing my faith and seeing God.

"Feed the hungry," Jesus says, and I am doing it! With the others who work and volunteer there, we all feel that we are doing a Christian task. Many, many people come to get food from the pantry, and each goes away happier than they arrived. For example, I have seen a mother and her children come to the pantry often. The thanks of the mother and the happy little smiles of the children just light up my day, and there is where God is. The love I show for them in my service and the love they show for me (and the others in the pantry) for receiving sustenance is where God is. There is a sort of joy there, a peace of mind, in knowing that I am loving and being loved in my service. "God is love" according to the Bible, and now I see why. When a few older ladies come to the pantry, in need of help, we in the pantry look for donations that might help them best. Helping those ladies, who probably worked all their life and endured so much, coming to the pantry and making them smile or thank me in that loving, old lady way, feels so right, so good -- there is God in the service and in the thanks, there is how Jesus wants us to live -- in love.

Understanding love, seeing love, receiving love and being love all help me in my faith.

We can love to please the Lord. We can love and follow his Commandments. We can love and see him in all we do.

— By James Bertucci, St. Ignatius High School