Shine Catholic Work Camp

This summer I had the privilege of being a communion minister for Friday's mass at SHINE Catholic Work Camp 2009.  Inside the ornate St. Patrick's Church in Galveston, Texas, I stood holding the cup while over 200 teenagers, young adults, and chaperones made their way toward the altar.  Again and again I placed the Blood of Christ into hands with fingernails covered in paint from a week's worth of rebuilding homes and hope in a city still trying to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Ike.  My brothers and sisters came forward with hands stained in every color.  There was the pale green of eighty-one-year-old Mrs. Maria's den, the white of the badly damaged Baptist church walls, the red of Ms. Jenny's front door, and the cream of 15-year-old Frankie's newly repaired home.  These and so many more colors, each holding the story of lives touched by tragedy, sacrifice, and, now, hope.  All week the SHINE staff had impressed upon the work crews that our mission was to be the hands of Christ for the residents of Galveston.  Those paint-covered fingernails were evidence that we indeed had been just that.     

Usually as I extend the cup I am a minister of communion.  But on that morning I was a recipient.  From my vantage point in front of the altar I received a unique and beautiful view of the Body of Christ—particularly His hands—in community, returning to the Source of Life having expended themselves in His service.  Leaving St. Patrick's on that cloudy island morning, I looked down at my own paint-smudged hands.  From that moment forward, "painting my fingernails" has been no longer about adding color to my hands, but about adding  "HOPE" to someone's life. 

2009 SHINE Participant