Center for Catholic Education at UD

By Destiney McIntosh, Lalanne Teacher

Service is bigger than self.

It is defined as ‘the action of helping or doing work for someone’.

In the Bible, Romans 12:1 reads, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service”.

These are the things that come to my mind as I reflect on what it means to be of service. To serve others. On July 12, I got the opportunity to do service at St. Vincent DePaul in Dayton, Ohio, the city that I was born and raised in. St. Vincent De Paul has been a building that I have driven past for years. Every day I would pass it on the way to my high school, and now I drive past it whenever I travel home from campus. However, I never knew the impact of what took place inside.

I had always known St. Vincent de Paul to be a place where people gave donations, but when I stepped inside, I saw the reality. The warehouse filled with boxes overflowing with clothes that had been donated. In the wake of the recent tornadoes, St. Vincent de Paul is using donations to support those affected. The task my group was given was to pack donated kitchen and bathroom items into kits, to give to those who were being rehoused after losing their homes in the tornado. The kitchen kits were packed with trash bags, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, silverware, all purpose cleaner and more. The bathroom kits were filled with toilet paper, razors, soap, lotion, shampoo and more. Essential items that could easily add up to one hundred dollars were serving as starter kits for the families in need. When we had finished, I stepped back and felt proud of the stacks of boxes we created. Each one a representation of the families that would receive this blessing.

But service is bigger than self. Though my help was important, and though it felt good to contribute to the tornado relief that had happened in my city, it was bigger than how service felt for me. It’s about what service does for others. How it helped St. Vincent de Paul’s ability to make an impact by having the hands to create the kits to help families. It’s about the families that will have one less fee to worry about in trying to get back on their feet after being knocked down by the tornado. Notice I say knocked down and not knocked out: a mark of the resilience of these families and this city to come together and rebuild after the devastation.

Service is presenting your body as a living sacrifice. It is sacrificing time. It is sacrificing pride. It is sacrificing comfort. Service does not exist without sacrifice. Restoration does not exist without sacrifice. This is how we reflect God. How we spread his light, through humbling ourselves and submitting our wants and desires for the good of others.

Service is bigger than self.

It is love.

Learn more about St. Vincent de Paul services, goods, and volunteer opportunities at https://stvincentdayton.org/