Beans and Bread: Beyond the Soup, The Jesuit Serving It

Father Kolvenbach the head Jesuit, of all Jesuit Universities remarked the following regarding the responsibility of the faculty of Jesuit Universities is to, “…tirelessly [to] seek the truth and to form each student into a whole person of solidarity who will take responsibility for the real world.” Seems like a major responsibility on the faculty’s part not to mention the students. “…Take responsibility for the real world,” seems far beyond the ability to accomplish. When reading the remark, I asked myself: is there anyway I could come close to taking responsibility for the real world? What does Fr. Kolvenbach really mean by this? Further into the speech by Kolvenbach, I am able to see clearer what he means by “taking responsibility for the real world.” Kolvenbach quotes the GC32, “We can no longer pretend that the inequalities and injustices of our world must be borne as part of the inevitable order of things. It is now quite apparent that they are the result of what man himself, man in his selfishness, has done…” Kolvenbach is saying here that it is the small things such as regarding the injustices and refusing to give into the selfish nature we are inclined to.

Kolvenbach’s words made me feel as if I have accomplished nothing in my attempts to take “responsibility for the real world.” But then I thought about his further remark stating the quote of the GC32 that implied it was man himself, in his selfishness that created the inequalities and injustices in the world. Still a major task to accomplish, but everyone has to start somewhere. Reading this has reminded me of my day at Beans & Bread. Beans & Bread is more than a soup kitchen; rather it goes by the name “meal program.” Arriving at Beans & Bread I assumed the place to be much larger, with rows of metallic tables and matching benches, with a line opposite of huge vats of some stew that was given out sloppily on trays. I was far from my assumption. Beans & Bread is set up with little tables seating seven or less, each table covered with a brightly patterned tablecloth, a flower in the middle of the table. Only thirty-two people can be seated a time, another thirty to thirty five wait patiently on pew-like benches.

“You are to look the person in the eye when asking them if they would like more, never ask them if they are done, treat them as if you are serving them at a high-paying restaurant.” These are the words of Miss Flo, the supervising person of Beans & Bread. Her reasoning for her involvement with Beans & Bread stems from the death of her son, almost twenty years ago. Her daily inspiration, her strength comes from the people that walk through the doors at Beans & Bread, almost three hundred a day. The people who are served at Beans & Bread have all different kinds of stories. Not all are addicts, homeless, lazy, or failures. They are the unfortunate, the unlucky, the hopeful, the strong, and the courageous. They give Miss Flo the strength she needs to make it through her day, and she gives them a smile and extra helping of tuna-noodle-casserole. She treats them as family, joining in prayer with them before each meal, giving thanks, many that she shares with them, such as the simple gift of waking up to a new day.

Miss Flo is the epitome of the kind of person Fr. Kolvenbach calls us to be, responsible for the real world, unselfish, and responding to the injustices and inequalities of the world. Miss Flo characterizes the purpose and point of the Jesuit faith, she does not just forget about the unfortunate in the world, she takes care of them, treats them like people, like family. She does more than serve the needy; she attempts to eliminate the world of injustices. Just serving the people who arrived at Beans & Bread would be helping the needy, but treating them as family, as the way one would want to be treated, is the way the Jesuit people are just in riding the world of inequality.