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I spent a number of years in our mission house in Edmonton, a large Canadian city, where our main work was to provide food, clothing and hospitality for the poor on “skid row.” Then I was assigned to a house which is a pastoral center in a wealthy vacation area on the seacoast of England.
Both these kinds of mission are encompassed by one of our favorite prayers: “Lord, give bread to the hungry and hunger for you to those who have bread.”
What is our mission technique in those houses dedicated to the service of the poor?
In 1957, in one of the first letters Catherine wrote to those working in these missions, she said: “What are you to do? Ask the Lord to open your eyes to the millions of little services that are right there to be performed in love. They don’t need to be scheduled … Love sees the obvious.
This “mission technique” is no different when we work among those who are not materially poor.
In that same letter, Catherine also said, “I remind you that each house is only as strong as the love, openness, obedience, and joy that reign among its members. The work of the house must always be the fruit of spiritual growth.
“For unless the foundation of a community of love is present, the works will be shallow.”
Our mission technique could be stated in the words apparently said about the early Christians: “See how they love one another.”
Our main work, wherever we are, is to form a community of love, first among ourselves, and then with whoever comes, rich or poor.
This often happens through what Catherine called the “chitchat apostolate”, which just means spending time in conversation with others.
It’s as simple as that, and it’s just as important as giving food or clothing. The chitchat apostolate builds relationships, and the community of love is built on relationships.
Loneliness is the greatest affliction of the western world.
So hospitality, listening, and a non-judgmental attitude are valuable qualities we can offer others to assuage this loneliness.
And as the Lord sends all sorts of people into our lives, he sends all sorts of people to join a religious community.
Many of us, when we join such a community, expect that the other people will be mature, well-formed, and well-trained, and without too many personal problems or outstanding sins. But in Madonna House, we are ordinary people, that is, poor sinners with obvious weaknesses and fragilities.
Because we live so closely with one another, it is often our Madonna House brothers and sisters who are the greatest challenge for us to love.
But it is precisely these brothers and sisters whom it is our first call to love. In fact, Catherine felt so strongly about this that she told us that, if we could not love one another in a given house, then we should close our doors, no matter what we are doing and no matter how important our work is.
Later on, I was assigned to our Madonna House in England, Robin Hood’s Bay in Yorkshire, a setting as different from the soup kitchen in Edmonton as it could possibly be.
There are few materially poor people there. But our work is exactly the same as it is in Edmonton: to form a community of love among ourselves, and then to welcome anyone who comes with a cup of tea and a listening ear. In short, we give them Christ.
Catherine taught us about the “rich poor.” They can be even lonelier than the materially poor.
“Lord, give bread to the hungry and hunger for you to those who have bread.”
Bread and soup and clothing for the materially poor. And for the rich? A realization that the emptiness in their lives is an absence of God. A realization that the poorest person in the world is the man or woman who thinks he or she can get along without God.
And when a person discovers this hunger for God, he needs someone to talk to. This is our work.
So, for me, in the words of our Little Mandate, the way to “do” mission, is to “go to the poor, to be one with them,” whether the poor be the materially poor, the “rich poor” or my brother or sister in my community.
Excerpted from Restoration, September 2002
