Opening Prayer
 

"He who welcomes you welcomes me, and he who welcomes me welcomes him who sent me." (Mt. 10:40)

Jesus wanted to be represented by two classes of people: the "poor" and the "sent."

Of the poor and needy, He said: "As often as you did it for one of my least brothers, you did it for me... I assure you, as often as you neglected to do it to one of these least ones, you neglected to do it to me." (Mt. 40, 45)

This is a severe warning that our final destiny is dependent on our treatment of the poor: "These will go off to eternal punishment and the just to eternal life." (46)

Jesus also wanted to be represented by those He sent to prepare others for the Kingdom, to preach His Word, to seek the conversion of souls and to offer divine pardon for sin: "If the people do not welcome you, go into the street and say, ‘We shake the dust of this town from our feet as testimony against you... I assure you, on that day the fate of Sodom will be less severe than that of such a town... He who hears you, hears me. He who rejects you, rejects me. And he who rejects me, rejects him who sent me." (Lk 10:1-16)

Psalm 41:2 "Happy those concerned for the lowly and poor; when misfortune strikes, the LORD delivers them."

St. Henry, d. 1024; together with his wife, St. Cunegunda, he assisted the poor, as emperor, her respected the Church’s freedom, fostering ecclesiastical and monastic reform; patron of Finland and Benedictine oblates.

Our Prayer Continues