Today’s first reading, 3
John: 5-8, begins with the phrase: “Beloved, you are faithful in all you do for
the brothers and sisters, especially for strangers; they have testified to your
love before the Church.” Immediately,
I thought of the Foundress of my religious community, Venerable Mother Frances
Streitel, and the young women who dedicated their lives to the Gospel as
Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother between the years of 1883-1895. From 1888-1895, many of these young women
were sent to the U.S. from Europe, beginning in 1888. In 1889, 1890, 1891, 1893
and 1895 hospitals, orphanages, schools and a health resort were opened to
attend to the needs of immigrants, of the sick and the poor and parentless and
uneducated children. These young women
religious left everything to follow Jesus.
Strangers could count on these women to respond to their desperate need. These acts of heroism continue to this day by
men and women religious and by lay men and women who leave their homelands in
search of ways to support their families and to respond to brothers and sisters
in Christ.
And Jesus says: “Whatsoever
you do to the least of my brethren, you do unto me (Mt 25:40).
These strangers testify,
today, before God in eternity “to the
love of these young women religious who had given their all to meet unmet need with the wealth
that consumed them: God’s love, God’s compassion, God’s mercy. They had little of nothing of this world’s
goods but like Peter and John before the poor man sitting at the door of the
Temple they could say: We have no money, but in the name of Jesus, we give you
God’s love, God’s compassion and God’s mercy.
These heroic deeds on the
part of women and men religious and parents who sacrifice everything to give
their children what they need—that is, God’s love, God’s compassion and the
good that comes from sacrifice and
learning to give of their all to help
others—continue to this day.
What role are you and I
playing in this world so much in need to selfless giving for God’s sake?
