Jesus Caritas

‘We always say that Nazareth is the model for a life that is poor, a life of manual work. We almost never say that Nazareth is a model for mutual love. If God allowed Jesus and Mary and Joseph to live together for such a long time it must have been to give an example of mutual love in all its forms.’

‘Let’s go back to our roots. We are contemplatives in the midst of the world. That does not mean to selfishly close in on ourselves but to live like leaven in the dough in order to make Christ loved through us.’

‘We have tried to build something brand new,something brand new which is in fact quite old! I am referring to the authentic charity of Christ’s first disciples. We have to go back to the Gospel and hear God’s word . It is just too painful to realize just how much we have forgotten it.’

You had put your whole self into your effort and were so proud and happy each time you felt you had in some way succeeded.

You wanted to present the Lord the results of your enterprises, coming happily to him, your hands full. But you forgot to turn towards Jesus, your only Model. He could show you only hands pierced by the nails of the cross, or the callused hands of a workman, or again the tiny, helpless hands of a newborn baby in a crib.

Perhaps you did not really stop to look at the crib, or maybe you just looked at it disdainfully, as an adult who thinks that the crib is for children and that outside Christmastime it has no real meaning.

You looked longer at the cross. There you found something bigger and more satisfying, but perhaps you were seeking after suffering and abjection still with a certain pride. It is so easy to believe ourselves heroic as soon as we have suffered a little with courage.

‘Nothing is impossible for the one who believes. Nothing is impossible for the one who loves. As Brother Charles said: Jesus is the Master of the Impossible. The entire story of the Little sisters of Jesus is founded on this conviction.’

‘I am so small, so poor, so fearful inside;  but the
Lord has entrusted great things to me.  I have to be bold,
very bold in loving.’

The way that Little Brother Charles of Jesus  leads us is not new, unless we think that to follow Jesus  as he did is something new. He chose one Model: Jesus, he had one Leader, one Master only: Jesus. He will tell you to have but one thought, one love, one desire: Jesus. He will tell you that only one thing is necessary: to love Jesus.