Suffering With Joy

Missionary Servants of the Poor

July 29, 2011

Laus Deo (Praise God)

Yesterday I wrote about the virtue of religion, prompted by the Mass prayer from the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost.  A good Christian sincerely wants all people to know, love, and serve God in this world and to spend eternity with Him by living a virtuous life on earth. The virtue of religion is central to this motivation.

This month the newsletter I receive from the Benedictine monastery of Our Lady of the Annunciation of Clear Creek in Oklahoma contained a letter and an announcement from the Missionary Servants of the Poor of the Third World.  Father Giovanni Salerno reveals in his letter a great discovery of the value of the virtue of religion:

For our Missionary Servants of the Poor it is a great privilege to represent the Church and the Holy Father in the midst of the poor.  When the missions of the Third World are spoken of, many think that the best way to help the poor is to address their material needs: clothing, medicine, food, etc. In my life as missionary, after forty-six years, I have realized that the greatest gift we can give the poor is God and His divine grace through the Sacraments of the Church.

The Missionary Servants of the Poor of the Third World was founded to obey the Holy Father John Paul II who told us: “God and serve the poor with empty hands, but with the treasures of the Church.”  Because of this our charism is marked by a profound love of the Holy Eucharist, with a tender and filial devotion to Mary, the Mother of Jesus and all the poor, and an absolute fidelity to the Holy Father and the Magisterium.  If we have asked for help from the Benedictine Abbey of Clear Creek, it is not primarily for economic help but for assistance in circulating our newsletter in English so that in this way American youths, full of faith and generosity, might dedicate their lives to God and come to serve the indigenous of the Andes Mountains.  We believe that the greatest gift to the needy is God.

…By virtue of our statutes, as Missionary Servants of the Poor, we can ask for collections in any parish or anywhere in the world, but instead we ask for a true conversion in those we meet because there is no greater service to the poor than to provide a deep transformation in ourselves.  If we truly focus on this — our own conversions in Christ — the material needs will take care of themselves.

What a great example of having priorities straight!  Father Salerno draws the same direct line between the virtue of religion and service to our neighbor as Jesus did when he said in Matt. 22: 35-39:

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

All around us we have the poor.  We witness to hope for them when we first, through the virtue of religion, show our love of God and a right relationship with Him and second, when we kindly and lovingly meet their needs.

If you would like to support the Missionaries of the Poor in some way or receive their newsletter, you can contact them here for the United States office at Clear Creek:

To read an inspiring story from their newsletter visit my post : A Modern Day St. Maria Goretti.

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V. Praised be Jesus Christ!

R. Now and forever. Amen.

Tags: Catholic Church, missionaries, virtue

2 Comments to Missionary Servants of the Poor

1. 

   “We believe the greatest gift to the needy is God.” I love that! Beautiful letter. Thanks!
Colleen on July 31st, 2011
2. 

   Father says what the Church has always said. Being a missionary is not being a social worker but a real ambassador of Christ, the Word. There were a couple of great stories in his letter about the dying poor and how God provided for their families. He reminded me that if we put God first, everything else we need is given to us.
barb on July 31st, 2011