The Blessed Mother Mary said “yes” to God and trusted in his call for her. What does God want you to say yes to? Do you trust him? Talk with him about it.“Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me” (Mt 25:40). This is the guiding Scripture verse for the Project Matthew 25:40 missionaries. One summer I went with a group of nineteen people who embarked on a two-week mission to the High Andes in Cuzco, Peru, where we volunteered with an order called The Missionary Servants of the Poor of the Third World.
I wanted to go not only to serve the poor, but I also wanted to learn how to see the face of Christ in the poor. I didn’t know what to expect, but God is so good and I trusted that he would make everything turn out fine.
The job the girls were assigned to usually involved children, which I found to be a huge blessing. Most of our days were spent with the children at a school. Our evenings were spent with children living in an orphanage. I was assigned the San Rafael Room, the baby room, in the orphanage. There were about fifteen boys and girls ranging in age from newborn to a year old. Some of these children had disabilities and deformities such as hydrocephaly, cerebral palsy, cleft lip, and cleft palate.
There was a special boy at the orphanage whose name was Juan Gabriel. He was nine months old when we arrived, but he was about the size of a newborn. Something inside of him prevented his growth and caused him to have a hard time eating. Because of his condition, Juan Gabriel suffered greatly—a suffering that was evident in his tiny face. Regardless of the pain, he hardly ever cried. He just lay quietly in his crib and waited for someone to feed, clothe, or hold him.
After I returned home I realized that Juan Gabriel was the face of the suffering Christ I had gone in search of. A small, sick baby in an orphanage high up in the Andes, hidden away in a small room; he was the face of Christ. I realized that you don’t have to look for God in large places. Sometimes an orphanage in a tiny mountain village is the perfect place to start looking for God. Not long after we returned home, I heard that Juan Gabriel had died. But every time I think of him, I realize how blessed I am to have been able to see, hold, and touch him every day I was there.
Besides doing many corporal works of mercy, saying lots of prayers, and doing a lot of work for the mission, I realized something. I wasn’t the one serving, I was the one being served. When we would go to the mud huts to visit families, they offered us all they had for dinner—roasted beans. They gave to us because they saw us as Christ. When I turned to shake hands at the sign of peace, I received a big hug instead. I realized that despite the fact that I was richer in material things than the people I met in Peru, they were richer spiritually. I learned that the Church is alive and well, maybe even better, in the most remote places of the world.
Mission service taught me that it wasn’t all about me. It was about God. I learned so much and gained so much, and yet it seems I gave so little. It seems all God really wants is a “yes” and an open heart, and he will show you his face in big and little ways.
—Mary Clare
The Blessed Mother Mary said “yes” to God and trusted in his call for her. What does God want you to say yes to? Do you trust him? Talk with him about it.
Think of someone who has been the face of Christ for you. How has this person’s witness shaped and molded you? How did you respond to him or her? How does God want you to respond?