During this time one can hear the groaning of many people! A time of gloom and of nightmares that no one expected or could have imagined. These nightmares rob people of their comforting dreams and hopes … and even their lives. These nightmares leave poor and marginalized individuals with even less than they previously had and provide them with loneliness and bitterness as their companions as they continue to struggle to survive on abandoned street corners or in overcrowded tenement buildings.

When the night begins to encompass every home, Jesus illuminates the hearts of men and women and gives them the strength to continue their journey … they begin to experience that they are not alone and become aware of the reality of being brother and sister to countless others. Little by little the night becomes illuminated with the hope of the dawning of a new day.

In our soup kitchen in Sevilla (Spain) we are living some incredible moments as together with others we are serving some 200 people who come to this place in search of food. All of us take the necessary precautions and at the same time are touched by the expressed appreciation of so many people who come through our doors.

Now more than ever before we are experiencing how God, on a daily basis, becomes present in our lives through the solidarity of many persons who are concerned about their neighbor and who give an authenticity to the gospel by their love for their sisters and brothers.

As members of the Company of the Daughters of Charity, we are challenged to find new ways to place ourselves in the forefront of this battle and to find new responses that are adapted to the need of those individuals who are most disadvantaged. We are further challenged to reorganize our work and to unify our material and human resources. We highlight the work that is being done in the soup kitchen with the support of two Daughters of Charity from the school who live in that building. There these Sisters are communicating to us the Vincentian charism through their unconditional love for us (a love that is more outstanding because of the difficult times in which we live)

We want to thank our workers for their unconditional commitment. They have given us the gift of their time as they perform so many different tasks to serve the people who come to our soup kitchen. Their lives are rooted in Vincentian values and they communicate those values in a powerful manner as they continue to minister during this time of uncertainty and suffering. From the bottom of our heart we say thank you for your service on the “frontlines” of this battle.

Our 150 volunteers, confined to their homes, have expressed to us their love and support. They feel frustrated and helpless because they are unable to come to the soup kitchen at this time. We want to thank them and assure them that by remaining in their homes they are doing the right thing. Later, we will need them to minister as never before but now they must take care of themselves in order to take care of others at a later date.

The soup kitchen first opened its doors in 1904 … and from that time the doors have never been closed. At the present time, the hours of operation are restricted, but we live with the hope that we can continue to make a difference in the lives of people. Each day presents us with a new challenge, but as Saint Vincent stated: Love is inventive unto infinity … and so we seek to create new ways in which we can be with and accompany those persons who are most in need.

Soup Kitchen of Our Lady of the Rosary (Sevilla, Spain)
Daughters of Charity
Source: http://hhccespanasur.org/