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With whom do we walk in the way?

To become companions on the way in the style of Jesus, we need closeness to the poor. Our mission continues to be the service of faith and the promotion of justice. Today, we are particularly called to strive for a path that promotes social justice and reconciliation, for a culture of hospitality for all forcibly displaced, for the promotion of a culture of safeguard of all vulnerable persons.

1. As I begin my prayer, I ask for the Grace: of desiring to be closer to the poor, the outcasts, the victims of abuses.
2. I am confronted by Jesus’s identification with the marginalized.

Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.’ (Mt 25: 37-40)

3. I let myself be challenged by the desires expressed in the second UAP.

“It is He, the incarnate, crucified, and risen Lord, who shows us his wounds and invites us to join with him in the quest for justice. He impels us toward new frontiers, accompanying those whom society has discarded, announcing the Good News to one and all, so that they might be transformed by the love of our God. Our hardened hearts are also changing day by day, becoming filled with mercy and compassion.”

“Sent as companions in a mission of reconciliation and justice, we resolve to walk with individuals and communities that are vulnerable, excluded, marginalized, and humanly impoverished. We commit ourselves to walk with the victims of abuse of power, abuse of conscience, and sexual abuse; with the outcasts of this world; with all those whom the biblical tradition knows as the poor of the earth, to whose cry the Lord responds with his liberating incarnation.”

  • What has been my experience of being close to the poor and marginalized and what have I gained from it? How can I make this closeness more effective and fruitful?
  • How do I experience my apostolate as mission of justice and reconciliation?
I consider these questions and talk about them with the Lord.
4. Following my prayer, I reread section B of Fr. General’s letter Feb. 2019 "To walk with the poor, the outcasts of the world, those whose dignity has been violated, in a mission of reconciliation and justice" (pp. 3-4).