Love and Joy Made Manifest

As a teacher you can be strategic about a few things...especially field trips. The students at my school were long overdue for a visit up to Misericordia, an amazing home and facility for people with developmental and physical disabilities, so I worked with the eighth grade religion teacher and other service club moderator to plan this trip. We were looking forward to this day for a long time...and it finally arrived!

It's hard to put your finger on it, but there's something incredibly special about this place. Love and joy are expressed tangibly through the interactions of the staff with each other and with the residents and with guests such as ourselves. We watched a brief film about the services and facilities provided for residents before getting a tour around the grounds, in the bakery, by the coffee-packaging, and to the art studio (where they told us to look up this amazing video about their rhino art project with the zoo). We ended our morning there with a visit from the executive director, who also happens to be the great aunt of one of our eighth graders.

The bus ride back was rather loud, as you can probably guess if you know anything about middle school students, but I was able to get some time to think to myself, sitting towards the back amidst the students but in my own seat by the window. And I couldn't help but think about all we heard and saw. When I think of places that make a difference, Misericordia is up at the top without a doubt. It is a living and breathing example of Catholic Social Teaching, which calls us to care for the (poor and) vulnerable. And the staff carry this out with such love and grace.

It's so easy to get swept up in our day to day - we tend to worry about things that, in the grand scheme of life, do not really matter. Trips to places like Misericordia put life in perspective. We (and I include myself very much in this blanket statement) take so much for granted - walking, dressing, working, etc. but the residents and staff at Misericordia do not. Everything is a gift in their eyes, and it rightly should be in our eyes as well. All life has value and worth, even if society places more value on some types of people over others. Our city is so blessed with this wonderful place, and our school is so lucky to be connected with it (in a small way) too.


If you live in or near the Chicago area, I highly recommend you take yourself up there for a field trip. (They are always looking for volunteers.) If you are reading this from a more distant location, at least check out their online store - I highly recommend the bakery section...