Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in various forms

Romans 12: 10

We have all received unique talents and blessings from God, a call to recognize those in need and share what we have received to serve others. To live a life of service, we must pray, have the love of Christ, show patience and kindness, and be forgiving. When we reach out to others, we may not understand how much an act of kindness, no matter how small, means to someone who is looking for a little help. I still remember an act of kindness & compassion from my childhood which had a lasting impression on me.

It was a summer day, I was about 9 years old, the age my father began letting my brother and I come to work with him. My dad woke us up at 4:00 a.m. to tell us that he allowed us to sleep-in a little bit…. It sure didn’t feel like we got to sleep in. We got into his bread truck and drove to the bakery about a half an hour away. I remember shivering from the early morning chill while sitting in a beach chair in my dad’s truck, tied to the bread racks, to prevent me from sliding around. There was no radio, just talking and singing parts of songs from memory. By 6:30 a.m. the truck was filled with bread. Not just on the racks, but stacked on the floor, filling every empty space the truck had. “We’ve gotta sell a lot of bread today; we have a big family to feed.” This was a phrase my father said often, but my brother and I didn’t mind, we loved getting to the bakery in the morning and grabbing hot bread out of the cooling bin. I could write a whole story alone on eating hot French breads right out of the oven at 6:30 a.m., and the food coma that followed.

We started our deliveries near the coffee shops around the L.A. Produce Mart and L.A. Times building. We worked our way west covering much of Los Angeles during the day, with the fridged morning chill quickly turning into a hot sweltering summer afternoon. While riding along, wishing the truck had air conditioning, I recall my father making the sign of the cross often: every time we saw someone down and out, any type of Church we passed, and every time he glanced over at my brother and me. The workday was tiring and filled with endless stops and deliveries. I didn’t always get to sit in the beach chair tied up. Sometimes I was lucky enough to sit on a stack of pillows on top of the invoice box. This spot came with both advantages of riding shotgun (facing backwards feet hanging out the open door) and with the added duty of ducking every time my dad changed lanes and shouted, “William!” so that he could see out his side view mirror. My father taught us how to be efficient and to beat the heat while working hard. Dad would leave the truck doors open all day. It allowed the air in, relieving us from the heat, quicker deliveries, and a whole lot of excitement along the way. Although sometimes it posed problems. When people saw our truck doors open, they would steal bread from us when we were going back and forth into the restaurants for deliveries, balancing racks of bread in our arms.

One day, we parked on a busy corner to make a delivery at a very popular hamburger stand. While we were exiting the stand, a homeless man entered the truck and took an entire rack of loaves and began running down the street. My dad shouted “Stop!” but the man just kept running. My father ran after him, and I, a few yards behind my father. The homeless man stopped near an entrance to an ally and picked up a 2x4 piece of wood from a pile that was left there. He swung the board at my father. My father picked up a board from the pile and the two began to sword fight. I stood frozen in fear, not knowing what to do. A crowd began to gather. Eventually my dad knocked the board out of the homeless man’s hands. The homeless man put up his hands, “I give up.” He sat down on the ground visibly exhausted. My dad looked at me and gestured to help pick up all the loaves scattered on the sidewalk and stack them back on the bread rack. I picked up the rack and asked my dad if I could carry it back. “Hold on,” he said. He took one loaf of bread from the rack in my arms. He turned around and walked up to the homeless man, still sitting on the sidewalk. I watched as my father held out the loaf of bread to the man that just challenged him to an exhausting 2x4 dual. The tired defeated man had a bewildered look on his face. “This is for you, take it” my dad said. The man opened his arms, and then my father placed the loaf in his hands. On the walk back to the truck my dad looked at me and said, “That’s probably the only meal he’s gonna eat today.”

As an adult, I now realize that my dad was tired on that day, and probably most days that began for him at 4:00 a.m. I saw that he was frustrated and upset at the homeless man. He just wanted to take care of his family. Yet, somehow, he was able to take a minute and see beyond the thief who entered his truck, stole his bread, and almost hit him over the head with a 2x4. He instead chose to see a hungry man in need of his help I often think about those days of going to work with my dad, and all the things I witnessed. Spending countless days delivering bread throughout L.A. allowed me an opportunity to see the world differently. I remember those people trapped in a difficult daily routine, those on the streets in need, some struggling with addictions, mental illness, and mostly hungry and hoping for just one person to give them something to eat. Over the years, I saw my dad give out bread to many hungry people that approached his truck. Mostly he gave out those delicious French rolls. My father rarely mentioned these acts of kindness at home or to anyone else.

Each year during the holiday season, I hear and read so many messages about giving thanks to God and remembering others. How should I give thanks to God and for what should I be thankful for? Living in this country, we have so much, so many blessings, so many people and things that enrich our lives. Am I thankful for all that? Yes, I am. What I am most thankful for is each day God makes for us, for the people in our lives, for having a roof over our head, a bed to sleep in, food in our bellies, for the life he gave each one of us, the Church we inherited, the talent he blessed each of us with and the opportunity to share it with those in need.

Giving thanks to God is fulfilled by recognizing that God has given us every day and everything in it, and we are called to action. We should spend some of our blessings supporting causes that feed and house the poor and help those struggling with addiction and homelessness. We should volunteer, when possible, to help others and always look out for those around us that are just looking for a little compassion and kindness. We are called to use our blessings for a life of service, and it doesn’t have to be complicated and shouldn’t be overly difficult. It can be as simple and important as handing a hungry person a loaf of bread.

– Fr. Bill Tragus

Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.

Matthew 25:40