CTK Banquet

Today’s Gospel reading should be emblazoned on the door of our Food Pantry – one of our St. Vincent DePaul’s Society’s missions.   It reads: “When you hold a lunch or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or sisters or your relatives or your wealthy neighbors, in case they may invite you back and you have repayment.  Rather, when you hold a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind; blessed indeed will you be because of their inability to repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

Our Food Pantry volunteers expect no repayment.  Neither do all the donors who provide food out of the goodness of their hearts.  As noted on the CTK webpage describing the Food Pantry: “The main source of our food comes from the Greater Boston Food Bank, without it we would not be able to furnish the quality and variety of foods.  We provide eggs, cheese, canned vegetables and a variety of meats and fish.  We also receive free food from the Federal Government’s USDA and the State MEFAP programs.  Both of these programs supply food at no charge to us! 

We also purchase additional food from food wholesalers and local supermarkets.  Daily, Roche Brothers and Stop & Shop donate breads and baked goods near expiration.  This adds a wonderful variety to the menu.  Parishioners donate food on a regular basis in answer to appeals in the bulletin."

Clearly, CTK through our Pantry holds a banquet for the poor and all who have fallen on hard times or who just cannot afford the high prices of local supermarkets that, by the way, do donate to the Pantry as noted above.  For that charity we are very grateful. 

Thanksgiving is not very far away.  Let get ready for the Pantry’s “Thanksgiving 'Fill a Bag' Program,” where we parishioners provide a complete traditional Thanksgiving meal to over 265 families.   Blessed indeed will we be!

Deacon David Pierce