There are some places in Chicago you just don’t go. It was at one of these places in a dilapidated courtyard on smoke break duty that I began to learn beauty and brokenness. I also learned, when you feed hungry people, eat with them.

It started with expecting that the door would be unlocked! It wasn’t. The store front was gated and the old door locked. When I entered Southwest Chicago PADS the room was filled with faces plastered on to paper plates hanging off the ceiling.

There I met Sister Therese who found some leftovers in the fridge and set down lunch for us. It was here over the leftovers lunch that she imparted the philosophy that was central to her ministry. What could be more humanizing than to acknowledge our mutural need and meet it together. In future visits we ate together, served together, smoked (or second hand smoked) together. Then we watched T.V. together into the night.

In a sense we were all guests together for that moment in time. I learnt and unlearnt so much from Sister Therese’s example. Most of all I learned, when you feed the hungry, eat with them.