Pastor Iuventus

or The Curate's Egg
A Sermon in Blue and White
Iam in the Sacristy vesting for Mass. All is spotlessly clean. Amice, alb freshly washed and ironed, vestments laid out on a formicatopped table. The rest of the furniture is old but neat.
In the corner stands a screen for confession with a purple stole draped over it. There is a large and beautiful crucifix on the wall above the vestments with the words "I thirst" written below it. There's only one place it could be, or rather only one religious foundation. From Calcutta to Iceland, from Rome to Rio, the houses of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity are all like this; everywhere the cross "I thirst".
I have come to say Mass for them today at their hostel for the homeless in the busy heart of the city. Here they provide accommodation for 35 homeless men and from here they go out and take love and food to those on the streets.
It's not social work; it is serving Jesus amongst the poorest of the poor. For to respond in a practical way to the thirst of Jesus' poor can only be done when you have responded to His Eucharistic thirst to be united to us, to have our love. So the bedrock of the Sisters' life is daily Mass and prayer before the Blessed Sacrament.
Providence has seen to it that I have been fortunate enough to have contact with the Missionaries of Charity for some years and their prayers and example of loving service are something precious, they help sustain me in my own vocation. I say Providence has seen to it, but Providence helped by a particular charism of the Missionaries, which I am sure came from their founder, and that is a charism for getting the clergy to do what they should be doing.
It was said that Mother Teresa would accost the Pope, on his way into St Peter's for some papal liturgy, if she had a particular project for which she needed his approval or help. For a long time she subjected him to a sort of holy badgering about opening a house in the Vatican. It is said that finally he simply turned to an aide and with a smile misquoted St John's Gospel: "Do whatever she tells you!"
If the Sisters need something they have the gentlest, most insistent way of letting you see that it is necessary. Since they never ask for anything selfish it is impossible not to agree.
As I vest there are the words you will see in the sacristy of the Missionaries chapels: "0 priest of Jesus Christ, celebrate this Mass as if it were your first Mass, as if it were your last Mass, as if it were your only Mass," and suddenly I think of the second time I ever celebrated Mass. It was in a chapel of the Missionaries in a poor suburb of Rome with the trains rumbling past.
It was high summer and at 6.30 am the light and warmth of the sun shone already through the windows of the chapel onto the white habits of 40 or 50 novices, kneeling in meditation before the tabernacle and the crucifix with "I thirst" below it.
My reveries are interrupted by the sound of the Sisters beginning to sing. That is always the sign for Mass to begin. I make my way to the chapel, past the line of sandals left at the door, for the Sisters come bare-footed into chapel and kneel on the floor; there are no seats or kneelers, except here at the back of the chapel where some of the homeless men have joined us for Mass.
As well as half a dozen sisters in their blue-striped saris and veils there are four young women plainly dressed wearing mantillas on their heads. These are aspirants who are thinking about a vocation with the Missionaries. They have come to see the work and life first hand, and to learn English.
The provincial was telling me afterwards that they also have some catechesis, since increasingly the people coming forward do not necessarily know the teachings of the church.
It is an interesting light on formation, a sort of pre-postulancy or foundation course. Clearly it works, since one of the most striking things about the order is how young they are. They are still attracting good numbers of vocations. "I want I will, with God's grace, be holy" is the ideal set before them; again you see it written everywhere in their houses.
Here then is the well-spring of all vocation, seeking Jesus, responding to his "I thirst", allowing him to come close enough that I will be changed by the encounter.
As I return to the sacristy after Mass, the sisters are praying: "Stay with me Lord, till I shine as you shine, so as to be a light to others." I am delighted to discover I already have a sermon for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations. It has written itself, or rather it is written for all to read in the lives of these dear sisters.