LMC Retreat in Prague (Czech Republic), July 2012
“My little one, come, be my light,…carry me with you into the homes of the poor…”
Introduction.
About 50 Lay Missionaries of Charity coming from the countries of Poland, Hungary and Slovakia were very warmly welcomed and looked after by the LMCs of Czech Republic in the beautiful and artistic city of Prague, from Thursday 19th to Sunday 22nd July 2012. It was in this very ancient city of history and faith that the LMCs of Eastern Europe made their annual retreat for the first time, under the guidance of Fr. Joroslav Broz, the spiritual Director for Eastern Europe and Ms. Ania Napierala LMC, the coordinator, with the help of Zdenka Zemanova LMC who was the organizer of the retreat. Our heart-felt thanks go to all of them. May the good Lord reward them for their kindness and generosity.
Beyond doubt it was a spiritual experience for all the participants. Although there were a few handicaps, such as the various languages, the lack of the presence and the participation of the Spiritual Directors according to language groups, the participants still managed to grasp the main teachings, which were done in English. There were also simultaneous translations made in Polish and Slovak languages.
The LMCs and the family.
We began the retreat with the introductory talk based on Blessed Teresa of Kolkata’s letter written from Asansol, West Bengal, India, some time in March 1947 to his Excellency Ferdinand Périer SJ, the Archbishop of Kolkata. This is a very important letter for all the M.C.s but in a particular way it applies to the LMCs. Although Bl. Teresa M.C. did not know then about the Movement of the Lay Missionaries of Charity, God, who knew it inspired her to write what she wrote. This is a prophetic letter as far as the LMCs are concerned. She writes:
“Your Grace, tell the Holy Father everything. Tell him that the Institute will be especially for the unity and happiness of family life – the life of which he has so much at heart. Tell him of the countless broken homes here in India, in Calcutta, in everywhere. It is to make these unhappy homes happy, to bring Jesus into their dark homes that our Lord wants me and the Sisters to give our lives as victims for homes. By our poverty, labour and zeal we shall enter every home, gather the little children from these unhappy homes…
“What if all be a failure - I have no fear - If only one family, if only one unhappy child is made happy with the love of Jesus, tell me, will it not be worth all of us giving all for that- for you having all the trouble, Your Grace?...His suffering on account of so many unhappy homes is a continual torture to his fatherly heart. Ask him that we, the Sisters and I- be his daughters who would bring joy to his heart-by bringing happiness into their unhappy homes”.
There is a very clear and very evident inseparability of the M.C. Charism and apostolate with the families, as we all know that the renewal of the society depends on the family. It is imperative today more than ever to work for “the unity and happiness of family life, to bring Jesus into the dark homes…”.
As I shared the letter, all the LMCs were not only amazed but realized the sublime beauty of their vocation, that the LMC Movement is not a bye-product of the M.C. Charism, life, apostolate and mission, but it is one of the essential components and is to be said that the apostolate among, with and for the LMCs is not really secondary but very much part of the M.C. Charism.
This letter should be an eye-opener both for the M.C.s and for the LMCs everywhere. It is not enough to just read it and pass by, but it is a letter to be studied, reflected and contemplated in the light of today’s situation in the families everywhere and how the Lord used Bl. Teresa M.C. to be an instrument to redeem the families, and now through the Society of the Missionaries of Charity to continue all the more to redeem the families everywhere. Bl. Teresa’s letter clearly states that “the answer” (the solution) to the family problems will be found in the Missionaries of Charity: “Tell our Holy Father that the Pastoral letter you wrote a few weeks back, will get its answer in the Missionaries of Charity…”.
From this letter we can deduce two very important points, one of which applies to the members of the M.C. Family and the other to the members of the Lay M.C.s
The first point is that the Movement of the Lay Missionaries of Charity cannot be considered as an off-shoot or a by-product of the Missionaries of Charity, but to be considered as part and parcel of the Missionaries of Charity Family, as Bl. Teresa M.C. saw it from its very beginning until she went home to God. Let us hope and pray that there may be a re-awakening in the M.C. Family and all may see the place and importance of the LMCs in the life of the M.C.s. To have good vocations in the Church, obviously we have to have good and holy families. How can we expect to have holy and fervent vocations without having holy and exemplary families?
The second point is for the Lay M.C.s to take their vocation more and more seriously and not see it like a hobby. This also means that the LMCs cannot belong to various other Movements or Organizations. It is a call within a call as a baptized lay person to fulfil and live more fully one’s baptismal commitment through the Movement of the Lay Missionaries of Charity. LMCs, become what you are and bloom where you are!
The M.C. Spirit, the M.C. Charism.
There is an urgent need for all the LMCs of the world to go deeper and deeper into the M.C. Spirit and the M.C. Charism. There is an incredible depth in it, as every Charism, and more particularly the M.C. Charism is a great gift and wondrous mystery. The more we come to know it through prayer and contemplation, the more we love it, and the more we love it the more we live it. It can be considered as part of a process of yearning, thirsting, longing of the human soul, which is created in the image and likeness of God and therefore belongs to God and not to “Caesar”. No human being has the right to trample on it or distort it in any way, as every human soul has inalienable rights and an indelible character of God imprinted on it.
What really is the M.C. Charism? How do we define it? Where can we find it? It is time for us to reflect on, reflect aloud, to ask searching questions.
With this query there is another pertinent question before us, namely can the Missionaries of Charity exist without having the poorest of the poor to take care of? In other words, is it enough to take the three traditional vows of poverty, chastity and obedience? Or is it necessary for the M.C.s and LMCs to make the additional fourth vow of whole-hearted free service to the poorest of the poor?
Our fourth vow of whole-hearted free service to the poorest of the poor contains and expresses our particular Charism whereby we satiate the infinite thirst of Jesus on the Cross and in the Eucharist for love and for souls. It also contains and expresses the type of persons we are called to serve and the way of serving them. We are called to serve not simply the poor people, but the poorest of the poor without distinction of caste, colour, religion or nationality.
This fourth vow then, distinguishes us from various other Orders and Congregations, confirming and clarifying our distinct vocation in the Church. If in the first three vows is manifested our duty to observe the first and greatest commandment, to love God with our whole heart, with our whole soul and with our whole mind and strength, through the fourth vow we are assisted in the practice of the equally important commandment to love our neighbour as ourselves, and especially the poorest of the poor.
The Magna Charta.
Side by side there is another important document to be studied with a very prayerful spirit, which was written by Bl. Teresa M.C. on 3rd December 1947. It is to be said here that Bl. Teresa’s inspiration cannot be reduced to one particular date of 10th September 1946; but it was a period of locutions and visions, which began on 10 September 1946 and lasted until 3rdDecember 1947. It was a unique period, when Jesus in person communicated and dictated to Bl. Teresa like a school teacher dictates the matter to his students. Here Jesus the divine Master dictated to Bl. Teresa M.C., first of all the kind of members she should look for and for their qualities…victims of Jesus’ love, to be Mary and Martha, to be so united to Jesus so as to radiate his love on souls. Free members covered with the poverty of the Cross, obedient members covered with the obedience of the Cross; full of love members covered with the charity of the Cross. The Cross is the structure. Suppress the Cross from our life, everything else will vanish. Jesus defined the M.C. vocation as “to love and suffer and save souls…”.
He told her the kind of habit she and the Sisters should wear: “You will dress in simple Indian clothes, simple and poor”; “Your sari will become holy because it is my symbol”. He told what name was to be given to the new Society: “I want Indian nuns, Missionary of Charity who would be My fire of love amongst the poor, the sick, the dying and the little children”. He told the kind of people she and the members should serve: “There are convents with number of nuns to take care of the rich, but I have absolutely no one for my very poor…”; “Come, be my light…carry Me with you into the holes of the poor. I cannot go alone. You carry Me with you into them”.
Jesus wants the members to trust him lovingly and trust him blindly. He also wants all the members to obey him promptly. Obey him very cheerfully and to obey him without any questions: “I shall never leave you if you obey”. Besides, Jesus asked Bl. Teresa M.C. to offer more sacrifices, smile more tenderly and pray more fervently. Jesus wants all the M.C.s and LMCs to have such spirit and understanding.
The M.C. Family has a very rich patrimony, a priceless inheritance and an ineffable gift of God, which is also a great mystery to be unfolded continually and to be enriched and strengthened by it.
Blessed Teresa’s visions.
The LMCs of Eastern Europe reflected also on the threefold vision that our great foundress had, which she has left to us in writing. There was a huge crowd with all kinds of people in all three visions. This crowd was huge, immense, helplessly crying out for help. They wanted Bl. Teresa M.C. to be their saviour; they wanted her to bring them to Jesus who alone is their Saviour. So the first group of people belongs to the helpless crowd.
In the second vision the main person was Our Lady, who spoke to Bl. Teresa M.C. for the crowd, entrusting the crowd to her. Our Lady wanted Bl. Teresa to do a few things: the first thing she had to do for the crowd of people, who looked sad but belonged to Our Lady, was to take care of them, to bring them to Jesus, to carry Jesus to them. Secondly, Our Lady wanted Bl. Teresa M.C. to teach the crowd to pray the Rosary, the family Rosary. The third thing was a promise and an assurance: “Fear not, Jesus and I will be with you and with your children”.
The third vision was not only more dramatic, but also very tragic and painful, a supplication from the Cross. What strikes me most here is the humility of Jesus to beg his creature – Bl. Teresa M.C and all of us for that matter, to accept this very challenging and extremely demanding call within a call. Here we see not only the humility of Jesus, but also the love of Jesus for his people. Are we all worth so much in the eyes of God to beg his creatures to continue to collaborate with the work of salvation? Here God is becoming a beggar. What an incredible condescension of Jesus! What an example of humility! What a wonderful example of Charity! “Who knows the mind of the Lord? Who can be his counsellor?” (Rom 11: 35).
What an unforgettable lesson! There is so much to learn, so much more to be grateful to Jesus who begs you and me to be his apostles, victims, servants and saviours of the people, especially of the poor.
LMCs, here is the heart of your vocation! Your vocation is a gift and a mystery rooted in the heart of the Blessed Trinity. Your vocation is like the precious pearl that the merchant bought at the cost of everything else he had (cf. Mt 13: 45-46). Be humble like Jesus who begs you from the Cross: “Will you refuse to do this for me, to take care of the poor, to bring yourself and the poor to me?” (cf. Third vision).
There is much more to our vocation than we can think or imagine. Let us praise and thank the triune God daily on our knees for the gift of our vocation and pray unceasingly for our growth in holiness and for holy perseverance as Bl. Teresa did every day after Holy Communion till the day she went home to God.
The celebration of the Eucharist and the night adoration.
All the Holy Masses were celebrated in Latin, the official language of the Church. Although hardly anybody understood the words, all responded to the prayers, actively participating in it. The readings, however, were done in different languages, but the homilies in English. In spite of the language barrier, everybody could feel it as the most important event of the day.
Notwithstanding the busy schedule of the day, there was adoration of the Blessed Sacrament the whole night long, both Friday and Saturday. It too brought much grace, not only to those who took part in it, but even to others, which could easily be seen and felt.
Those three days spent together were really intense, with praying the liturgy of the Hours, Holy Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, etc. All in all, it was like the early Church experience. Our heart-felt thanks go to all the LMCs, who really made use of their time and their talents. The next retreat, God willing, will be held in Cracow, Poland, sometime in July 2013. Love and prayers.
God bless you.
Fr. Sebastian Vazhakala M.C.