GUARDIAN ANGELS OF THE POOR

In contemplating all the charitable works of the diocese, Bishop Eugene now turns his attention to the generous young men who help those in need. As a young priest, Eugene’s first ministry had been to form the youth of Aix to do exactly what he describes here.

Do you notice those many young men from the colleges, from the legal profession, from commerce, from all the occupations and from high society, who, in the evening, gather to discuss among themselves about the things of God and the spiritual and corporal needs of all the needy?

They have spoken; they have contributed their offering; then, the next day, they put into practice what they have discussed. There is, in all our great cities, not a disgusting crossroads, nor a darkened room that they do not visit; not a bed of sorrow that they do not bring consolation to; not a misery of the soul or of the body that they do not relieve.

Through their generous assistance to the one who suffers, they succeed in teaching him to pray to God, to know Him, to love Him and to serve Him; and he who sometimes remembered his Creator only to blaspheme Him, is brought back to Him by the attraction of the mercy exercised by the virtuous young men who, leaving the world and its dangerous pleasures, have become, under the watchful eye of the Lord, the guardian angels of the poor.

Pastoral letter of Bishop de Mazenod to the Diocese of Marseilles for Lent 1847

REFLECTION

“I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.”

Pope Francis