AAS 48 (1956), p. 142
You will not be surprised or discouraged, We are sure, to see so many
empty hands outstretched to you still. The poor we have always with
us, Our gentle Saviour wants us to remember.1 But when He tells us
that they are His poor, then it is a delight to realize that every tiny
service you render them is really and truly rendered to Him.2
But what do they need, these helpless children of the divine Master
you are hearing about year after year from your teachers at school, your
parents at home, your priests in the pulpit and from the Vicar of Christ,
whose words and very presence are carried to you today so marvellously
from Rome.What have they the right to expect from you as members of
Christ's one big family. Perhaps you have seen their pictures clinging to
their parents as they are driven heartlessly from their homes and
country in the East ; while others in the West look longingly for brighter
and happier homes where family life can thrive again. What do they need?
Not surely the cold solace that goes by the horrid name of a « hand-out ».
The pennies and packages of the Christian boy and girl, like the
widow's mite, must mean much more than that, These children need nothing
less than you : your prayers and good works and sufferings of each
day, over and above the treasure you have to give them out of your slim
resources. We have said it so often before, and We repeat it again : Our
children can never know true happiness, nor the world have peace and
plenty, from mere money and machines, — though these gifts of God
can work great wonders at the hands of those who really love their fellowmen
for love of Him.
Recalling, as it does, the divine Master's gift of His all on His way
to Calvary and the great victory of Easter beyond, to ensure the salvation
of those who will follow Him, Lent is indeed the opportune time to
give until it hurts, at least a little, to the poor and suffering members
of His Body. We could depend on you from one Lent to another to provide
the homeless with a decent shelter and a bite to eat. Your savings and
offerings helped to tide them over the Winter with warmer clothes in
a warmer room. By all means let your collection this year break all your
records for a generosity, that has long since merited for your country
the admiration of a grateful world. Let it reAvard in fullest measure
the efforts of your Bishops to ease the burdens of Our thousands of
(( adopted » children in every corner of the globe. Let your hearts'
1 MATTH. 26, 11.
2 MATTH. 18, 5; 25, 40.
empty hands outstretched to you still. The poor we have always with
us, Our gentle Saviour wants us to remember.1 But when He tells us
that they are His poor, then it is a delight to realize that every tiny
service you render them is really and truly rendered to Him.2
But what do they need, these helpless children of the divine Master
you are hearing about year after year from your teachers at school, your
parents at home, your priests in the pulpit and from the Vicar of Christ,
whose words and very presence are carried to you today so marvellously
from Rome.What have they the right to expect from you as members of
Christ's one big family. Perhaps you have seen their pictures clinging to
their parents as they are driven heartlessly from their homes and
country in the East ; while others in the West look longingly for brighter
and happier homes where family life can thrive again. What do they need?
Not surely the cold solace that goes by the horrid name of a « hand-out ».
The pennies and packages of the Christian boy and girl, like the
widow's mite, must mean much more than that, These children need nothing
less than you : your prayers and good works and sufferings of each
day, over and above the treasure you have to give them out of your slim
resources. We have said it so often before, and We repeat it again : Our
children can never know true happiness, nor the world have peace and
plenty, from mere money and machines, — though these gifts of God
can work great wonders at the hands of those who really love their fellowmen
for love of Him.
Recalling, as it does, the divine Master's gift of His all on His way
to Calvary and the great victory of Easter beyond, to ensure the salvation
of those who will follow Him, Lent is indeed the opportune time to
give until it hurts, at least a little, to the poor and suffering members
of His Body. We could depend on you from one Lent to another to provide
the homeless with a decent shelter and a bite to eat. Your savings and
offerings helped to tide them over the Winter with warmer clothes in
a warmer room. By all means let your collection this year break all your
records for a generosity, that has long since merited for your country
the admiration of a grateful world. Let it reAvard in fullest measure
the efforts of your Bishops to ease the burdens of Our thousands of
(( adopted » children in every corner of the globe. Let your hearts'
1 MATTH. 26, 11.
2 MATTH. 18, 5; 25, 40.