We have shared your message of Love, peace and joy with our poor people. They want you to know that they have appreciated very much your "gifts of love, thoughtfulness, prayers, sacrifices and the widow’s mites". Seeing "your good works" our Lord will reward you for your kindness and generosity, and you will hear Him say: "Come, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry… I was thirsty… I was a stranger… I was naked…I assure you, as often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it to Me" (Mt 25, 31-46).

We are called "to taste and see the goodness of the Lord", not only once in passing or somehow, but habitually and joyfully; we are called to know, love and live the Spirit and Charism of our Movement first and foremost by ourselves and then help other members of our groups to do the same. This knowing, loving and living of the Charism cannot be something static but must be very alive, active and dynamic. It calls for deeper study, fervent prayer, profound reflection, and contemplation. Besides all these it is very necessary that we engage ourselves in fraternal dialogue with each LMC member for the sole purpose of helping one another to know, love and do the will of God in the details of one’s life to "be holy as Yahweh, our God, is holy" (cf. Leviticus 19: 2).

It is necessary then to help one another to realise as perfectly as possible the will of God for which God has called us and for the purpose we have responded to or rather are responding. All is in process, the call and the response: an exodus from and a journey to. Exodus from the slavery of sin and servitude to the Promised Land of freedom and service through the desert, many a frightening Red Sea to be crossed.

Each member, according to his status, position and responsibility has an indispensable role to play. But in this he is never alone, as we are not politicians or mere social workers, but consecrated lay people called by God to become doers of His work. In other words we are called to live His life and do His work with love, for His greater glory. The work we do can be very simple, insignificant and even hidden. What matters is the love with which we do what we do and what we do is what God wants us to do. This love is like salt that is not seen when mingled with food, but tasted. This pure love when mingled with our ordinary actions makes such a big difference to our own lives and the lives of others.

Every meeting, every dialogue done with the intention of looking for God’s will is an act of love divine and will lead us to fulfil our vocation to love. Jesus said to Mother Teresa: "Your vocation is to love and to suffer and to save souls". Here Jesus spells out very clearly our vocation, namely: to love, to suffer and to save souls. The means to save souls is through love and suffering or suffering love. Jesus also said to Mother Teresa "Offer more sacrifices, smile more tenderly and pray more fervently". "In your immolation, in your love for Me, they will see Me, know Me, want Me". In fact Mother Teresa’s whole life, since September 10, 1946 and even before, was a realisation of these words of Jesus.

We are called to serve the poorest of the poor. The first question is how? Every day after Holy Communion we pray: "Make us worthy, Lord, to serve our fellowmen who live and die in poverty and hunger…" What does this mean? It means simply that we are not at all worthy to serve our poor people and that the Lord has to make us worthy in order that we may serve them with love, respect and humility. Let us pray as many times as possible this prayer and meditate on the words: MAKE US WORTHY, LORD, TO SERVE OUR FELLOWMEN…We are unworthy to serve not only our poor people but also our family members. It is a must for us to remember that all those who come to us for whatever reasons are sent by Jesus.

Our daily examination of conscience can be a big help to intone our way of seeing the poor and dealing with them, whether we really treat them with dignity or not. The poor do not lose their dignity and respect because they do not have a house of their own, or because they have to look for a free shelter. Nor do we receive more respect and dignity because we serve them. It is the Lord who chose us to serve His poor with humility and charity. It is the Lord who gives us the strength and means to help and support them. All of us are God’s children. All of us have the same needs: physical, psychological and moral. All of us have the same immortal soul which is "created in the image and likeness of God" (cf. Gen 1: 26). It does not depend on our wealth or status. We can be rich or poor, healthy or sick, homeless or in prison. These or similar human deprivations should not affect or take away our human dignity.

During our night ministry we met a man near St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. It was a very cold night. We had taken with us a few blankets for the homeless people of the street, as some of them prefer to live on the street. This man was sitting on bare ground wrapped in with a sleeping bag and a Rosary in hand, facing the Holy Father’s window. As we thought the sleeping bag wasn’t sufficient enough to warm him up, we offered him a blanket. His reply was: "No thank you. I am quite OK; I am very fortunate to have a sleeping bag. St. Francis of Assisi did not even have what I have. Besides, you may meet someone needier than I, and you can give the blanket to him". His face was radiant, his voice gentle. He had such a beautiful and serene smile. Here was someone living on the street with nothing, and yet we thought that he was very rich in Spirit. He was happy and at peace. What an edifying encounter that was! Here the human and natural values give way to divine and supernatural imperatives of the love of God and love of one’s neighbour.

Our dealings with our poor people should be Christ-like. The people can at times be rough and rude, and even can become rather violent. That doesn’t mean that we should react the same way or retaliate. Here we have to have the attitude of Jesus. "Eye for eye or tooth for tooth" is not Jesus’ way. Instead he says: "Offer no resistance to the wicked. On the contrary, if any one hits you on the right cheek, offer him the other as well…" (Mt 5: 39 ff.). And again Jesus says: "Love your enemies, pray for those who persecute you so that you may be children of your heavenly Father in heaven…" (Mt 5: 43). This is what God our Father does all the time with us…Whenever we commit sin we become enemies of God…like a son disobeying his father who breaks off with him…(cf. Lk 15: 11-32). Jesus loved us even when we were enemies. "Christ died for us while we were still sinners" (Rom 5: 8).

We are called to make a closer examination of conscience not only of our behaviour with the poor but also our attitude and mentality with which we deal them. It seems that we are nowhere near to Jesus’ own attitude and mentality of tender love and forgiveness. Listen to what Jesus said to Mother Teresa: "Offer more sacrifices, smile MORE TENDERLY. Pray more fervently…». Here we really have to read the parable of the unforgiving debtor in the Gospel of Mathew. (Mt 18: 23-35). Jesus concludes the parable by saying: "And that is how my heavenly Father will deal with you unless you each forgive your brother from your heart" (Mt. 18: 35).

The kind and quality of our attitude toward our less fortunate brothers and sisters whom Jesus has entrusted to our care can be found in St. Paul’s letter to the Corinthians (1Cor 13: 1-13). This Chapter is to be read, contemplated and lived in our everyday life. There are many more passages that can be of help, for example, Rom. 12: 1-21. In a word, from the opening pages of the Bible to the last, God’s undefeatable attitude of loving forgiveness can be seen.

To forgive "one’s enemies" one must learn to be humble, and the basis of the virtue of humility is twofold: "truth and justice", says St. Thomas of Aquinas. The truth is that whatever good in me comes from God, including my vocation to the Lay Missionaries of Charity and therefore: " to give to God what belongs to God". Here it means all praise and glory must go to Him, at all times. Besides we are bound to use all God-given gifts for his glory. And the more we use His gifts, the more God is praised and glorified. "He must increase and I must decrease" (Jn 3: 30).

Our General Chapter is very near (6-14 July 2002). Let us continue to prepare ourselves for it. It is time for you to go over your questionnaires again, refresh your memories and perhaps you may have some more inspiring and inspired reflections to share with other LMCs who may be living and dying in spiritual poverty and spiritual hunger. Therefore let us pray: "Lord, give us our daily spiritual bread and by our understanding love and spiritual sharing give us all peace and joy".

The theme of our General Chapter:

"What does the vocation of the LMCs consist in?"

1. Its basis, its driving force and its goal. In other words: how do we realise our LMC vocation in today’s world???…Its meaning, its significance, its fruitfulness?
2. What are the effective means with which we give solid LMC formation to a candidate?

1. The spiritual Director?
2. The group and the group Link?
3. The Statutes?
4. The concrete living up of the Statutes in everyday life sustained by prayer, penance and works of mercy? But how?
5. Why some LMC candidates lose their initial enthusiasm in the course of their LMC pilgrimage of faith and give up their beautiful LMC vocation which they embraced with such joy, fervour and enthusiasm? Enumerate the reasons and give your suggestions to help them to persevere?
6. Have you helped any LMCs so far to persevere in their vocation? What did you do or tell them? Did they listen to your advice? If not, why? Did you offer sacrifices for them? Pray for them more fervently? Show more kindness and understanding towards them?

You are free to ask any other pertinent questions beside these and the ones we already have answered for last September LMC general Chapter. Please do go over them again. Also get hold of the copies of "Familiaris Consortio" and "Christifideles Laici" and read them reflectively in the light of the LMC Statutes and your everyday life.

Let us use the following payer to the Holy Spirit for the success and fruitfulness of the LMC General Chapter by all LMCs.

Daily prayer to the Holy Spirit: