July-August, 1999

Dear LMCs,

It is said that "great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance". Our beloved Mother Teresa of Calcutta used to say that: "What matters is not success but faithfulness". When Jesus said on the Cross: "It is complete" (cf. Jn 19: 30) what did He mean by it? Did He mean that His life, work and mission on earth was a great success or that He had accomplished so faithfully and so perfectly the work His Father had entrusted to Him? Was the crucifixion a great victory or a complete failure to human eyes, for the people of this world? Jesus, the Saviour, the great miracle worker, the greatest teacher of all teachers the world has ever known is now hung between heaven and earth on a tree! Can anyone of good sense and real reason conclude the event of the crucifixion a victory, a success? Instead can we not say that Jesus’ life too was a complete failure! What was important for Him was not success but faithfulness to his Father’s will and mission. He was not sent to the world to please men but to save men. He did not come to free us from suffering and pain, discomfort and sorrow, but to teach us how to accept them with peace and joy and make them channels of grace for ourselves and for all men of good will.

Dear Brothers and Lay Missionaries of Charity, everyday and in every way we are called to renew our vocation to follow Jesus more closely, more faithfully, more unconditionally, more whole-heartedly, more generously and more joyfully. It is not a renewal of a simple formula, but a call to be more perfect, more merciful, more holy, more forgiving, more patient and more faithful as our heavenly Father is perfect, merciful, holy…etc. (cf. Mt 5:48; Lk 6:36; 1P 1:16).

Can we say that God is really successful in creating us, in calling us to be MCs and LMCs…? He does not look for success but He really wants us to be faithful to the very end so that we too can say like and with Jesus: "Father, the hour of suffering has come, glorify your Son… I have completed the work you gave me to do" (cf. Jn 17:1 ff.). Elsewhere St. John says: "Jesus loved those who were His own in the world, loved them to the very end" (Jn 13: 1). Lay Missionaries, who is your model? Whom do you profess to follow…Mother Teresa of Calcutta or our Lord Jesus Christ, whom she tried to follow with all the powers and fibres of her being, whose thirst on the cross for love of souls she tried to quench all through her life? It is Jesus who has called us to follow like the apostles, like holy men and women of God, like Mother Teresa of Calcutta. The possibility to follow the Lord in renunciation and surrender is still among us as it was in the time of Jesus and thereafter.

All of us, including you LMCs are called to a great ‘metanoia’ – conversion of hearts, to do things no longer for human and natural motives but purely for the love of God; to fly to God with both wings, the wing of the love of God and the wing of the love of the neighbour. Both wings have to be the same and strong to take us to heaven. How can we really love and give whole-hearted free service to the poorest of the poor if both our wings do not function together and balance each other as they should. "As long as you did it to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to Me" (Mt 25: 40) , says our Lord and Master.

As each year passes by, more of us reach a decisive moment in the spiritual life when we must make the final choice between Jesus and the world, between the heroism of love and mediocrity, between the cross and an easy existence, between holiness and merely decent religious conformity. Not only individuals but also the whole Society, the whole Movement of the Lay Missionaries of Charity must come to this maturity.

Are we really growing in virtues, above all in humility and charity? Did I lose the initial zeal, the fervour and enthusiasm; with the result that I have become a mediocre LMC, being led more by reason than by faith and love? Why should I go for meetings as I have so many other useful and pleasant engagements that give me much more satisfaction…? Moreover I have come to know some LMCs in my group who do not practice charity, who to my mind are more hypocrites than real followers of Mother Teresa. Why should I then go for meetings and prayers? I may attend every now and then just to maintain the contact so that I can renew my vows as I like Mother Teresa very much. Moreover I do not get anything from the group meetings; for me it is a sheer waste of my precious time.

Dear LMCs, first of all remember that it is ‘a call within a call’, and the one who calls you is not your wife, husband or children, father or mother, priests or nuns, not even Mother Teresa – no, it is Almighty God in person who calls you. You must know that it is a very precious gift of God and you should try not to lose it or let it be stolen away by the evil one.

Remain faithful to your call. Be one in heart, one in mind, one in soul on your way to God (Ac 4: 32). You are called to build up and not to pull down or destroy. Instead of complaining and grumbling it is better to pray in silence using the very same words of Jesus: "Forgive them Father, for they do not know what they are saying or doing" (Lk 23: 34). Isn’t it better "to light a candle than to curse the darkness"?