When you volunteer to serve food to the poor, don’t be surprised if you find yourself getting hungry—spiritually hungry. Father Haggerty, a contemporary spiritual writer, in his The Contemplative Hunger, shares this insight:

For some people the encounter with the poor serves as a prelude to the contemplative life. This need not be so, but often it seems the case. . . . The mysterious presence of the Lord in the poor man draws the beginnings of a hunger in a soul that is not realized at first but soon becomes evident. It is an initial encounter, as the Eucharist itself is, with the sacred mystery of God’s personal presence (67-8).

Jesus is mysteriously present in the poor. How to explain it precisely is difficult, but we can listen to what Jesus himself has told us: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt 25:40). That’s the mystery of Christ’s self-identification with the poor: “For your sake he became poor although he was rich” (2 Cor 8:9).

You may think you’re just serving a person in need of a hot dinner, but in reality you’ve also met Christ, mysteriously hidden in that person. None of us can remain unaffected by meeting Christ, no matter how hidden his presence may be. He wants to draw us to himself. Stirring up a hunger for him in our souls is one of the ways he does this. By feeding the hungry, we ourselves can become hungry. 

The Lord has something in mind for this hunger—the Bread of Life, the Holy Eucharist. He wants to draw us into his sacramental presence that is hidden under the appearance of bread. He wants us to encounter him more deeply in this life in preparation for the next. What could be a more profound union than receiving the Bread of Life into your hungering soul? 

Receiving the Eucharist, and, as an extension, adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, in turn will allow you to serve the poor with greater charity. Gazing on the Lord mysteriously hidden in the Eucharist will attune the soul to serving Christ mysteriously hidden in the poor. You will want to encounter the Lord more and more, even in his hiddenness. 

Mother Teresa, the great saint of the poor, sought Christ both in the poor and in the Holy Eucharist. She devoted her whole life to easing the thirst of Christ by serving him in the poorest of the poor. But Mother Teresa also spent an hour in prayer before the Holy Eucharist every day. She constantly sought Jesus in the various ways that he has mysteriously chosen to be present to us. It was through those encounters that she became a saint.  

All this is to say that our volunteer work—wherever it may be and with whomever—has the potential to change us. It can become a real encounter with Jesus and a way for Jesus to draw us closer to himself.

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Photo from Unsplash by Piotr Miazga