And then somehow I found myself outside being asked and briefly contemplating climbing a tree with a buzz saw, cutting off unwanted limbs. Luckily a rake was placed into my hands. After a brief lesson in the correct leaf raking Mid-Atlantic posture and technique I began. It was a completely new experience for me. I could not remember ever raking leaves before. It is possible even plausible that I had raked before but I had no single memory of it.
The more I raked, the more I liked it. The more I concentrated on the leaves on the moist ground the more I thought about doing God’s work, offering my life to God. Somehow I raked leaves into several little piles, too small to jump into but large enough to see that some leaves had been removed. After I started I wished that there was time to rake all the leaves into neat little piles.
We stopped raking and went back to the kitchen where we joined the others in prayer before they served their guests.
And then piles had to be placed within black plastic bags and carried to the curb. How fun it was to hold the bag open and discuss the Mass, to learn about a monastery in Rome, to learn about the Eastern Church! Somehow the leaves were placed inside the bags and moved away from the front of the house to the street.
The morning was a pleasant gallimaufry. I did not view it as a service project. It was a moment of gentleness and patience. How polychromatic faith is! What a privilege it was to rinse the collard greens and then rake the leaves. Being exposed to different experiences with different people in search of goodness and doing God’s work is invigorating.
I felt humane and worthy of God’s love.
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