Last Sunday we visited the Missionaries of Charity house in Southall and spend the morning with the sisters over there. Although we had planned to arrive in time to join the sisters for the Holy Mass, as is our wont we were late in the morning and eventually reached there by about 10:15am. By that time most of the cooking was done and many of our guests had already come. We helped with the rest of the cooking, and by about 11, the sisters started off the Soup Kitchen with a short prayer, beginning with a hymn, followed by the Gospel reading for the Sunday and a short reflection on it and finally praying for our Lady's intercession. We helped with serving the lunch and once the meal finished, with the cleaning and also joined the sisters for their prayer after the Soup Kitchen.
Everything we did over there in the soup kitchen, eventually made sense to me because of what we did before that and after that in the chapel. Only in the context of the person of Christ could I see the meaning of all this. It is hard to do what the sisters are doing, day in day out. They don't take holidays, don't get appreciated for what they are doing, does the same chores day after day; washes the same dishes, mops the same floors and above all, the people they serve, more often than not, take them for granted. Yet, these same sisters made our day by the smile of their faces, the joy of their hearts and the warmth of their welcome. I read the Gospel, they, they live the Gospel. I search for Christ; and Christ lives in them.
Charity that doesn't have its root in faith, is mostly, unsustainable. Yes, we have hundreds of charities across the country doing some wonderful work. The difference is that Christian charities work with and for people who do not appreciate, most times hate, those who so selflessly serve them. "Mother Teresa left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. She never again saw her mother or sister"(reference wiki). All through the rest of her life, struggling as a young nun in a foreign land, taking care of the needy, the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared; she saw the face of Jesus in each and every person. And so she loved, loved every poor, injured and dying; because she was convinced she was doing what her Lord asked her to do. (John 13:34) She loved, because she knew the worth of a human being, the beauty of a human being, the dignity of a human being.
As St James rightly says, faith without work is useless. When God becomes the centre of my universe, the love of Christ emanates from the Spirit through me and Caritas becomes part of my character, just like the sisters we met. Every single day, the word is being made flesh through them, and all who have eyes to see, witness the miracle of the splendor of truth and yet I ask, what is truth...
Everything we did over there in the soup kitchen, eventually made sense to me because of what we did before that and after that in the chapel. Only in the context of the person of Christ could I see the meaning of all this. It is hard to do what the sisters are doing, day in day out. They don't take holidays, don't get appreciated for what they are doing, does the same chores day after day; washes the same dishes, mops the same floors and above all, the people they serve, more often than not, take them for granted. Yet, these same sisters made our day by the smile of their faces, the joy of their hearts and the warmth of their welcome. I read the Gospel, they, they live the Gospel. I search for Christ; and Christ lives in them.
Charity that doesn't have its root in faith, is mostly, unsustainable. Yes, we have hundreds of charities across the country doing some wonderful work. The difference is that Christian charities work with and for people who do not appreciate, most times hate, those who so selflessly serve them. "Mother Teresa left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto as a missionary. She never again saw her mother or sister"(reference wiki). All through the rest of her life, struggling as a young nun in a foreign land, taking care of the needy, the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, the unwanted, the unloved, the uncared; she saw the face of Jesus in each and every person. And so she loved, loved every poor, injured and dying; because she was convinced she was doing what her Lord asked her to do. (John 13:34) She loved, because she knew the worth of a human being, the beauty of a human being, the dignity of a human being.
As St James rightly says, faith without work is useless. When God becomes the centre of my universe, the love of Christ emanates from the Spirit through me and Caritas becomes part of my character, just like the sisters we met. Every single day, the word is being made flesh through them, and all who have eyes to see, witness the miracle of the splendor of truth and yet I ask, what is truth...
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