7 December 1991
Tolagnaro, Madagascar

My dear Sisters,

The Gospel passage which we have just listened to is one of the most beautiful in St. Matthew's Gospel. It brings out magnificently the compassion of Christ. Jesus Christ was compassionate in His Heart, "...and when He saw the crowds, He felt sorry for them because they were harassed and dejected, like sheep without a shepherd." Jesus Christ was not only compassionate with His heart, but He was compassionate also with His tongue and with His hands. "Jesus made a tour through all the towns and villages...proclaiming the good news of the Kingdom and curing all kinds of diseases and sickness." Not only was He compassionate in His heart, with His tongue and with His hands, but He willed that the compassion should reach the people until the end of time. For that reason, He said to His disciples, "The harvest is rich, but the laborers are few. So ask the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest." We are His laborers today. We are His heart, His tongue and His hands.

At the end of the passage of today's Gospel, Jesus asked His disciples to be generous. "The gift you have received, give as a gift." (Mt 10:8). There are millions who watch pictures of poverty on our television screens and feel generous towards the poor. Their reaction, so often, goes no further than feeling. You, however, imitate God, our Father, in that you are not content to feel generous, but you show your generosity at a particular time and place.

What we need to do is to reflect on the infinite generosity of God as expressed in St. John's Gospel: "God loved the world so much that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him may not be lost but may have eternal life." (Jn 3:16). "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son." One could say that this is the central declaration of the Christian faith. The heart of the Gospel is not 'God is love.' That indeed is a precious truth, but it does not imply any divine act for our saving. The words, "God so loved the world that He gave," indicate the cost to the Father's heart. "He gave." It was an act, not just a continuing mood of generosity. It was an act at a particular time and place. That is why I say that we could consider the phrase, "God so loved the world as to give His only Son," as the heart of the Christian Gospel. A Daughter of Charity is a sign of God's love, a Daughter of Charity is a sign of God's generosity, a Daughter of Charity is a sign of God's service, of His service in a special way to the poor.

But before a Daughter of Charity can be a sign of God's love, a sign of God's generosity, a sign of God's service, she must have personal experience of God's love, God's generosity, God's service. The most unfortunate people in society are those who have not had the experience of being loved. Before loving others, we must come to the realization that we are at every moment of our lives being loved by God. If we do not reflect often in prayer on the fact that the love of God is flowing down upon us at each moment of the day, it will be difficult for us to show love to others, to show love to the poor.