Dearly beloved Brothers and Sisters,

Once again we are preparing ourselves for Christmas - that wondrous "mysterium fidei" - and we want our Christmas to be happy and holy for us, for our friends, for "all men of good will" and for our poor people in a very special way. When we love people we want them to be happy and at peace. We want them to experience joy. This is what many of you have expressed through your prayerful greetings, wishes and sharing of material goods.

Thank you for all that you are: our beloved LMCs, volunteers, co-workers, benefactors and the parents of distant adoption, "Thank you" for all what you do for us and for our poor people in so many different ways. It is important to remember that it is not how much we do, but with how much love we do is what matters. Your little deeds of love, your little words of joy, your gentle look and tender smiles make our world like a mighty ocean of love. May our Lord Jesus Christ bless you and reward you. May our blessed Mother intercede for you, keeping you healthy in mind and body. May St. Joseph, our beloved heavenly patron and protector and intercessor, take care of you, help you to grow in holiness through profound humility and heroic charity. May your patron saints and holy guardian angels continue to inspire and guide you all the days of your life on the path of greater perfection.

Love we all must, cost what it may, count not its cost. Love must hurt. To love is to give, to break and share. Love necessarily leads to sacrifice. God loved the world so much: He loved us so much that He gave, He offered His only beloved and begotten Son. It must have cost God very much to do that. But He did. Love is like that. Love is love only when it knows how to give, how to share, how to make the other person feel better and happier. "Nothing is sweeter, nothing stronger, nothing higher, nothing more sublime, nothing more expansive, nothing more joyful, nothing more abundant, nothing more pleasing in Heaven or on earth; because love is born of God, nor can it rest upon created things, but only in God" (Imitation of Christ, Book III, Ch. 5, 3). "Love often knows no measure, but burns beyond all measure".

Jesus loved us by dying on the Cross for us. "Greater love than this no man has that a man lays down his life for his friends" (Jn 15, 13). He loved us to the very end. In His wounds we were healed. He gave all to us. Because he loved us God became man. Because He loves us Jesus becomes the Bread of Life to feed us so that we will have the strength to feed His poor: both physically and spiritually. He feeds them through us; He loves and cares for them through us; He saves them through us because He suffers in the hungry and thirsty, in the homeless, in the sick, aged and lonely and in the shut-ins, and He calls us to feed Him in the hungry, to satiate His thirst in the thirsty, to shelter Him in the homeless, visit Him in the sick and comfort and console Him in the aged, sick and the lonely. For "as long as you did to one of the least of my brothers you did it to me" (Mt 25, 40).

Every time therefore we feed the hungry, clothe the naked, welcome the homeless, comfort the sick and visit the prisoners it is Christmas for us and a happy and holy Christmas for the ones we feed, clothe, shelter, comfort or visit. Christmas is a feast, having joy as its very essence. The angels said to the shepherds: "I give you good news of great joy". It is a feast of great joy because it is essentially a feast of sharing. God shared in our humanity so that we could share in His divinity.

Rome has had a happy and holy Christmas throughout this great jubilee year. Jesus came into so many people’s lives. On 22^nd October this year was a great jubilee day of and for the Missionaries. Missionaries from all five continents represented us all in St. Peter’s Square for the jubilee Mass. It was a cold morning. I decided to spent half a day in prayer and went to the Basilica of St. John Lateran. Since the Basilica was overcrowded I went to the Franciscan church on Via Merulana, went to confession, holy Mass and Communion and then I was going to visit a patient in the hospital when I came across a man sitting on the floor on the side walk. I went over to him and made enquiries about his situation. I realised that he needed help. I told him to stay there till I returned from the hospital. On my return I found him still sitting there as if he had no other choice. I told him to get up; he tried but could not. He had been sitting there the whole night and till late morning and he could not get up any longer on his own. Several people passed by. My several attempts to make him stand were in vain, as if he had been nailed to the floor of the cross. His legs had gone numb; blood circulation stopped. He was no longer able to get up and stand on his feet without help.

God is the lover of the poor. His only beloved and begotten Son suffered and died for each poor person. We can be indifferent to people, but God cannot. He is like a mother. A mother cannot be indifferent to the cry of her helpless baby. Others can hear the baby crying and pass by. Jesus cannot be indifferent to the poor, because for them He suffered, died, shed every drop of His blood. "Can a woman forget her sucking child…even if she forgets, I will not forget you…". No, He cannot. Love cannot forget. Love can only give and forgive. You cannot love a person and continue to be indifferent to him or her. God is never indifferent to any one of us. His love is real, invincible, unconditional. He never gives us up even when we are sinners. "It is proof of God’s own love for us, that Christ died for us while we were still sinners" (Rom 5, 8).

Out of a clear blue sky a friend came along who saw me trying but unable to lift the man up. The man finally stood but needed support. He leaned on my shoulder - half carried half limping to the tram, dirty and smelling. I had received Jesus in the Bread of Life an hour ago; and now I was receiving Him in the distressing disguise of this poor man. This was much more difficult and demanding. It was the same Jesus but in two different forms. We both had a happy and holy Christmas already, even though it was only the month of October. Many moved away from us in the tram because of the terrible smell. Reaching home the Brothers had to spend a couple of hours to clean him up and dress him with fresh clothes. He had no other possession except the dirty, smelling clothes on him: a really ‘poorest of the poor’. Weeks have passed, much care, treatment and rest, and although his health has improved it has not yet been fully regained.

Every visit to a lonely person, even if it is not Christmas time is somehow wishing the person a happy Christmas without words. Every time one makes a sacramental confession there is a very happy and holy Christmas…Every time the volunteers and benefactors come to the homes of the poor to cook, clean, help or serve there is Christmas. Christmas continues…

There is Christmas each day in Casa Serena, our night shelter in Rome, where so many volunteers come to serve and share their joy with our people. This summer Casa Serena went through some serious cleaning and repairs. Thanks to our Australian volunteer, Mr Gerry, who did such wonderful plumbing work. May the good Lord reward him for his untiring work and sincere dedication.

Rome is a beautiful city, organised and orderly. It is also called the ‘ETERNAL CITY’ filled with monumental churches and ancient holy places. There is also a growing open Church of the poor in this magnificent city. It is very Catholic in nature as they come from all five continents living under the bridges, parks and around the railway stations. Our Brothers, with the help of many generous and dedicated volunteers go every morning to serve breakfast to some of them. Their number is always on the increase.

In the month of July our Brothers in Rome made their 8 day annual retreat. It was a real Pentecostal experience for all the retreatants. On July 30 Br. Mathew and Br. Ivan Marie were ordained deacons, a very moving ceremony indeed! On the Dedication of Our Lady of Mary Major, the 5^th of August three Brothers - Alphonse, Benedict and Tony Mary Jose - made their first vows, while on the day after, the feast of the Transfiguration, Br. Charbel solemnly pronounced his vows of Chastity, Poverty, Obedience and Whole-Hearted Free Service to the poorest of the poor for life. All three celebrations made the participants completely forget about earthly happiness and comforts to be united to God alone like the three apostles on the mount of the Transfiguration.

Besides our 60 usual guests we were happy to house over 60 young people from Poland during the jubilee for the youth in August. Our priest Brothers helped the youth with confessions.

It was a joy for me to preach a retreat to 77 priests of the diocese of Lucena, in the Philippines. The points were mainly four:

1. By virtue of his priestly ordination every priest is entrusted with the key to open the door of eternity for sinful souls through the sacrament of confession. This key is only to open the door for penitent sinners and never to lock the door under any circumstances.
2. Every priest is a sinner whom Jesus turns into a saviour. "Do not be afraid, I will make you fishers of men" (Lk 5, 10). Every priest is a wounded healer; priests are vessels of clay. Let us sustain them with assiduous prayers and generous sacrifices instead of criticising and finding faults with them in their worst.
3. Every priest is called to experience his own unworthiness and sinfulness before he is made a co-redeemer of the world with Christ, the high priest (Is 6, 1ff).
4. Every priest is meant to be a good shepherd like Jesus, and with Him must be willing to lay down his life for the sheep (Ez 34; Ps 23; Jn 10).

Thanks for the prayers of so many of you for the success of the priests’ retreat.

In Rome the Lay Missionaries of Charity held their International Planning Committee meeting in October. Representatives from 16 countries came. We had a week of real Pentecostal experience in this jubilee year. Included in the week’s activities was a pilgrimage to St. Paul Outside the Walls and the holy mass celebrated there. On the morning of October 8 in St. Peter’s Square, many were able to participate in the Bishops’ jubilee Mass and entrustment of the whole world to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. A noticeable sense of joy and peace pervaded everyone.

We finally obtained the necessary permission to complete the repairing works of our Brothers’ house. It may take 3 or 4 months to complete it. If everything goes well by March 19 we may be able to do the blessing and inauguration. All of you are most welcome. Thank you so much for your prayers and let us continue to pray for each other.

Wishing you a very happy and holy Christmas and a peace filled New Year 2001. Love and prayers. God bless you.