(Standing in the Cambridge Food Pantry and going over the wish list with Sarah Harrington this morning, I couldn’t help but think the food of the day needed to be almost everything on the entire list: hot and hearty dinners like Campbell’s Chunky Soap, Steak, and Potato and Mary Kitchen’s Hash Corned Beef. Both are on the list, along with other things needed and already taken, from toothpaste to diapers.) We couldn’t pick just one. I just wanted to let you know that we will meet tomorrow.
I came in search of pictures that capture the profoundly spiritual feeling of the place, the good people who work so hard and quietly to store and stock the food.
I was mesmerized watching the quiet and busy volunteers prepare for Saturday night’s dinner. It takes a lot of work.
I couldn’t help but think of St. Terese of Lisieux, my inspiration for the Army Of Good, the creator of the notion of “The Little Way,” small acts of great kindness, the mission of our remarkable group of people who wish to do good. You don’t need to be rich, consequential, or even religious.
Sarah Harrington reminds me of her: Little Ways, a small voice, a lot of faith huge results.
One Pope called St. Therese the greatest saint of all time. Although I am not a Christian, she has influenced my life and search for a spiritual direction and made the very idea of spirituality accessible to all of us, regardless of faith, power, or money.
“Doing good that you must do,” she wrote of kindness. (Above, Sarah Harrington And Scott)
A biographer of St. Terese wrote that it is difficult to breathe the spirit of St. Terese into a loveless world. Labors of love, she believed, are attempted and achieved through obedience to love and faith. No one is too small to care for others.
I am neither rich nor powerful nor religious. But love comes from the heart of any spiritual person, from Sarah to Volunteer Scott Eddy (above) to the scores of hardworking, quiet, and dedicated people who made time day after day to stock shelves and unpacked boxes.
It is neither glamorous nor work that will make them rich (they are paid nothing), but it is glorious work. I was touched watching them, people of all ages, faiths, and backgrounds.
I decided to focus today’s Pantry Post on the volunteers, all of whom agreed to let me take their pictures, for which I am grateful. Pictures often say more than words. They don’t know how to lie.
I didn’t ask or write down names; they were not interested in praise or recognition. There were many more than I had room to post.
“We need this charm, this littleness, this simplicity,” one student of St. Terese’s work wrote. “Our caring hearts need the prattle and the rippling laughter of little children; they need the pure-white snow rops of their innocence; they are starving amid plenty for lack of the simple Faith and utter trustfulness of Childhood.”
Those are the feelings I saw and felt watching the volunteers do their quiet and hard work.
This strange age seems to be progressing backward in many ways, deeper and deeper into the darkness of lost faith, anger, cruelty, and hopelessness. It loves the glitter and glow of money, fame, and power, but the quiet, simple, humble, and pure makes it yawn and spit in contempt.
I felt this purity of faith talking to and listening to the volunteers; they were shrouded in empathy, compassion, and spirituality. They all believe in good without fanfare or reward.
I took these photos of them because they perfectly captured the spirit of St. Terese and her “Little Ways” of doing good.
“Beautiful simplicity, how charming thou art!” she wrote. “Littleness and lowliness and love are the three-leafed clover of thy heart.” She was also known as the Little Flower, another inspiration for my flower photographs, which are a purely spiritual experience to me.
Volunteers
I only took one name of the volunteers: my friend Scott Eddy (when I first met him, he introduced himself as “Eddy,” his first name is Scott. I’m glad to correct that mistake.
Sarah in the storage room: The shelves are complete, and the storage room is empty; that’s how it goes.
(They need everything at the pantry: toothpaste (they are down to two) and salad dressing; it is flying out. Check out the Wish List, which is updated daily.)
The Army of Good fits into the pantry like a glove. We are about simplicity and the small gifts of great kindness. They are powerful in their way.
All you need to do is look into the faces and spirit of the pantry volunteers, and you can see St. Terese’s Little Way alive and powerful and sailing through the ages.
Scott Eddy needed to go on my portrait list of people I admire and respect. He is always there.
