What If Jesus Came To Your Food Pantry?

Kevin J. Banet | 05/01/2023

By Peter Petrus

You might think Le Roy, New York is too small of a town for anything important to happen.

Only about seven thousand souls make up our humble village. Just about the only thing we can brag about is that Jell-O dessert was invented and first manufactured here.

We are nestled along the swiftly flowing Oatka Creek on our eastern edge. We live quiet lives, and many people work at one of the limestone quarries nearby, or on family farms.

But in all my 12 years of life, I have never witnessed anything like what happened on one rainy Tuesday afternoon recently at our Catholic parish, Our Lady of Mercy.

“Peter, do you have the tables set up?” Mr. Briggs called out to me that day. I was one of about a dozen volunteers from the local Rotary Club and some from the Parish, sponsored the monthly Pop-up Pantry that distributes food for needy families in the area.

Mr. Briggs, an usher at our parish, was referring to the five long portable tables that I usually set up with my dad.

Pop-Up Pantry

Volunteers at the Pop-up Pantry in Le Roy, NY

Brown Bags

“Yes, they are all set to go,” I answered. It is on these tables that we set up hundreds of brown paper bags filled with different kinds of food for the two hundred or more families that come by at this time. We also serve a sit-down meal on the same afternoon to about a hundred people.

Fierce Thunderstorm

There had been a fierce thunderstorm that morning, but now it was beginning to clear up. The sun began to peer out from behind puffy clouds and warm up the parking lot where we worked.

Our Pastor, Fr. Scottston Brentwood, and Fr. Ken Breen, who volunteers in our group, strolled up to us, their white habits flowing in the afternoon air. Also there was Br. Raymond Colombaro, our collaborator brother. All three of these men are member of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who have served our parish for several years.

But today we had a problem.

“It’s already 3 p.m., and the Food Link truck hasn’t arrived,” Mr. Briggs said as he glanced nervously at his watch. The truck was sent as part of the Food Link, a generous cooperative effort on the part of food stores in the area that donated canned goods, vegetables and fruits for this effort. The truck brings all that we give away.

“It’s usually here by 2:15 pm,” he said. “Wonder what happened?”

I started getting concerned as well. I could see a crowd of several dozen people, waiting for the expected food, milling about. They knew the routine here - lining up at the tables, baskets in hand, and taking the food bags from the volunteers.

What would they do if the food never arrived?

There was anxiety in the air. It was obvious that there was no food to be distributed.

Just then Harry, the parish maintenance man, came running up with a cell phone in his hand.

Jackknifed

“Mr. Briggs, I just got word about our truck. It has jackknifed out on I-90 and we can’t get our food. The driver lost control of the vehicle after going through that rain we had.”

“We’re in a fine fix,” Mr. Briggs said. “With the rig in some ditch, there’s no way to get the food from there to here.”

“Peter, how much food do we have in storage?”

“A few boxes of bread. And some fish. Not nearly enough to feed all these people,” I said.

“We don’t even have time to drive to the store to get food,” Mr. Biggs lamented. “And the people are getting anxious.”

Just then a tall young man with longish brown hair calmly walked up to our small group. He wore a camouflage green jacket and cap. I hadn’t noticed him before.

“Don’t worry,” he said to us in a clear firm voice. About three of us stood in his midst. “Trust in God. He will provide,” he said. He looked at each of us, one at a time. His piercing brown eyes seemed to gaze with a certain affection into each of our souls.

Firm in His Purpose

Just trust in God, I thought. Sure. But I didn’t say the words out loud since I didn’t want to go against this stranger. He seemed so firm in his purpose.

“Where is the food that you do have?” the stranger gently asked, turning to me.

I directed him over to the boxes of food laid out on the table. He walked over quietly and put both hands on top of one of the closed boxes. We all watched with curiosity. He seemed to lift his head upward as if he was looking into the clouds. I could hear him mumbling something but could not make out what he was saying.

Then he stopped speaking and reached down into the box. “Take this,” he said. It was a loaf of barley bread – an unusual grain, if you’ve ever shopped for bread. He handed a loaf to me. I took it and handed it to the first person in line.

Another, and Another

What happened next, I could hardly believe. This strange man with the long hair and gentle manners handed me another loaf, and then another, and then another. Soon all the volunteers were taking the loaves from him. I don’t see how many loaves could fit in that one box.

When he finished with that box, he reached into the box of fish. He repeated his actions, and we took the fish and distributed them as before.

Before we knew it, we reached the end of the line. All the people got what they wanted.

As he took the last fish out of the box, he said to me, “As you did it to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.”

I gave the fish to the last person in line. I turned around to thank the man. But the mysterious miracle worker was nowhere to be found.

Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy

Men, do you wish to live as instruments of God’s mercy to others? Think about becoming a Mercedarian friar!

God may be calling you.

The Mercedarians, also known as the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy, was founded in 1218 in Spain. We have friars who are priests and brothers.

In the United States, Mercedarian friars serve in parishes, prisons, hospitals, schools and other institutions in Ohio, Pennsylvania New York, and Florida. As part of our charism of redemptive love, we have a sincere devotion to Mary and to the Eucharist.

Single Catholic men age 18 – 40 who think they may have a Mercedarian vocation are invited to visit the website of the Mercedarian Friars USA. Contact me, Fr. Daniel Bowen, vocation director, at vocations@orderofmercy.org.