By Fr. Christopher Kubat
I do not know about you, but I am not a huge fan of chicken salad. Don’t get me wrong. I love chicken—fried, baked, boiled, whatever… but chicken salad?? That said, for those who are not fans of chicken salad, my sister Barb’s concoction will change your mind. It has apples, raisins and other secret ingredients to make it one of a kind.
Not long ago, while visiting my mother in Bellevue, my sister stopped by with her famous chicken salad for Mom, and a good-sized container for me. When I returned home, I promptly put it into the small fridge I have in the office. I figured this would cover a few lunches.
On Thanksgiving eve, on a day I did not eat breakfast, shortly after the noon hour, my stomach started talking to me: ‘Hey, make me a chicken salad sandwich!’ But before I was able, a grandfather brought three of his little grandsons in to see me. The chicken salad sandwich would have to wait.
After greeting them in the lobby and introducing myself they each gave me an envelope. As the grandpa informed me that each of them withdrew some money from their bank accounts, the oldest one asked if I knew anyone who did not have a home. He explained it was for them that they decided to give the money. They each gave $5 and their grandfather $55.
Little did they know that while this was happening, a homeless woman and her mother were standing next to one of the boys. After hearing everything, they started crying. They were more than moved. I knew that after meeting with the boys and their grandfather, I would need to meet with them too. The chicken salad sandwich would have to wait again.
After going into our chapel and saying a prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament, I learned that they were both Catholics who have not been practicing for a while. I also learned that the daughter, who for reasons beyond explaining, was not able to stay where her mother was living and was couch-hopping, but that was going to soon come to an end.
She fortunately has a plan to move into a girlfriend’s apartment out of state. Since they did not have plans for Thanksgiving, I was able to give them some gift cards to make that happen. After giving the daughter a rosary, The Little Catechism on the Eucharist, and The Little Catechism on Confession they went on their merry way.
Figuring I was free then to partake in my sister’s cooking, I figured wrong. It was then that a homeless man well known to us came through the door. He has a habit of coming in just after the sack lunch program has closed for the day. When this happens, sometimes we have something ready-made to give him, sometimes not.
After chatting briefly, and finally taking my first long-overdue bite, I thought of the hungry man in the lobby. I immediately took some bread and made him a sandwich with my sister’s chicken salad. I also threw in one of my protein bars and a bottle of water. It was only after this, in the middle of the afternoon, I was able to eat lunch. Let us never let anything get in our way of helping the poor, even some really fine chicken salad.
