The Second Chapel

The Second Chapel July 30, 2016

DSC08188
Chapel of Casa Santa Teresa, the orphanage and mother house for the Missionary Servants of the Poor

“And here,“ the smiling sister said to me, “is our second chapel.” I entered the room a bit confused as she explained, “this is our second chapel because here we also encounter Christ.”  The religious sister had led me into a room with about fifteen girls, all suffering from various birth defects and severe ailments.  This room housed the older girls of the house, the few that had lived past just a few years after being abandoned by their parents due to their inability to care for them.

The girls though severely limited physically and verbally, were joyful.  The love with which the nuns fed them and held them was palpable.  I had no doubt these girls were loved, that Christ was present, and that love plus proper care had kept them alive this long.  The sister who led our visit knew the story of every single girl we encountered that day.  Every story was heart-breaking and gut-wrenching, but the terrible stories gave way to a hopeful joy that sprung forth from the girls and those caring for them.

DSC08184
View of the chapel

The work of the Missionary Servants of the Poor of the Third World in Cusco, Peru is truly admirable.  Priests, brothers, religious sisters, and lay families have responded to a call to care for the most abandoned and forgotten in the unforgiving altitude of the Peruvian Andes Mountains.  Father Giovanni Salerno arrived to Peru in 1968 to take care of the spiritual and medical needs of the poorest of the poor in Apurimac, Peru.  Over the years, he and the many who have followed his invitation to serve the poor, have encountered Christ in those who are forgotten and living in the margins of society.  This movement strives to go where nobody else goes to seek the poor and the marginalized, so that they may reach a condition that is in accordance with the dignity of the children of God.

DSC08186
Saint Teresa in the chapel with a view of Cusco in the background

Countless times Pope Francis has urged us to seek those in the margins of society so they may feel loved and part of God’s family.  In the Joy of the Gospel, the Pope challenged us to reach out to those who are completely disenfranchised; those who cannot even stand in the margin of society because they are completely left out.  If we stand in judgement, waiting for those most distant from us to change and become acceptable to our standards, that day will never arrive.  It is by showing God’s love to them that they will be transformed.  It is God’s love that makes the unlovable, lovable.  It is God’s love that makes the broken, whole.

DSC08207
Casa San Tarsicio, Andahuaylillas, where the priests, brothers, and orphans live

It is not necessary to travel to Peru’s high mountains to allow God’s love to transform those who are in need of love.  The margins of society surround us.  Blessed Teresa of Calcutta stated that “the greatest disease in the West today is not tuberculosis or leprosy; it is being unwanted, unloved, and uncared for.  We can cure physical diseases with medicine, but the only cure for loneliness, despair, and hopelessness in love.”  Look around your home, workplace, and community.  Where can you allow God’s love to transform the unlovable in your midst?  The second chapel may be found wherever we enter, wherever we allow Christ to manifest himself where He is most needed.


Browse Our Archives