My visit there reminded me of a commercial I saw ages ago about a beggar seeing Jesus in the face of the helpful man and the helpful man seeing Jesus in him. Jesus had said, “Whatever you do to the least of my brothers, that you do unto me.” The Missionaries of the Poor” serves that part of society. The lowest form of poverty is after all not financial poverty, but the feeling of being unwanted and unloved. Most of the recipients of the Missionaries of the Poor are those whose families have no intention of taking care of them. The Missionaries of the poor cater to the aged and to mentally and physically challenged children.
I have witnessed different faces of poverty as an alumna of Colegio de la Inmaculada Concepcion, an institution that is pro-poor with the school’s patron saint, St. Vincent, the father of the poor. But I have never seen poverty in the midst of those who were unloved and uncared of.
I held back my tears as I listened to a brother talk about his personal encounter with Christ in the person of an abandoned and injured man with a crown of maggots on his head and sores all over his body. He spoke about how he saw Jesus through that man. That’s when I remembered that certain commercial. When we went to visit the mentally challenged problem, as one of the boys hugged me, I felt Jesus’ presence and I had to fight my tears from falling. I’ve witnessed Jesus for myself in my visit.
My resolution is to extend help to MOP and be able to show my love to those who are unloved, like extending Jesus’ love to them. Like the commercial, they might be able to see me and the delegates as Jesus and we, be able to see Jesus in them, too.
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