MISSIONARY PRAYER INTENTION “That all those in Africa who are sick - the victims of AIDS and other serious diseases - may experience the consolation and love of God thanks to the services of the doctors and those who lovingly take care of them”.

Comment on Missionary Intention of Pope John Paul II for July 2003 by Rev. Sister Nirmala Joshi, Superior General of the Missionaries of Charity

Vatican City (Fides Service) - The missionary intention of our Holy Father John Paul II for July 2003 shows Holy Father's great concern that all those in Africa who are sick - the victims of AIDS and other serious diseases - may experience the consolation and love of God. For it is God's love that flows through our human hearts that heals the wounds of our suffering brothers and sisters and gives them new life.
The Holy Father also recognises the great role the doctors and all those who lovingly take care of the sick and thus become channels of God's consolation and love to the sick under their care and he expresses his deep gratitude to them for their services,
This is also an invitation to all of us wherever we are in Africa or abroad to allow God to use us as His heart, His hands or His voice in whatever way possible through prayer and action to reach out to our sick brothers and sisters in Africa, especially those who are victims of AIDS and other serious diseases, bringing them the experience of God's tenderness for them personally, filling them with God's own comfort and new hope,
Those who are outside Africa and have no way to reach out to the sick in Africa may pray for them and serve the sick in their own families, neighbourhood, towns and cities, especially those who are suffering from AIDS and other serious diseases and be the instrument of God's healing love for the sick under their care and thus also for those in Africa.
Once, while our Mother, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, was visiting one of our homes for the sick and the dying with AIDS and other diseases in Ethiopia, she called it "an open Calvary," and asked the Sisters to take care of the sick with great love and devotion, for they were really serving Jesus dying on the Cross in the distressing disguise of these our beloved sick and dying brothers and sisters.
The Holy Father's missionary intention calls us to satiate the thirst of Jesus on the Cross for our love and attention as He, the Son of God, presents Himself to us in the form of our brothers and sisters with AIDS and other diseases in Africa. We know very well if we heed the cry of thirst of Jesus for our love and even make an attempt to reach out to tend to His needs, we ourselves are satiated with His own love, consolation, peace and joy. For this is how God works.
We commend this intention of our Holy Father to the prayer and care of Mary the Mother of Jesus and Mother of Africa, Blessed Comboni, the great missionary to Africa, and our Mother, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, the Venerable Servant of God whose sons and daughters, the Missionaries of Charity, are all over the continent of Africa, wholeheartedly, freely and lovingly caring for the sick and the dying children of God there, so that there may be an explosion of charity in the hearts of countless people in Africa and around the world, who may freely opt to be good Samaritans to our brothers and sisters in Africa who are sick with AIDS and other serious diseases and be blessed a hundred fold themselves with God's peace, love and joy now and in the life to come, for He has said, "whatever you did to the least of my brothers, you did it to Me." Sister Nirmala, Superior of the Missionaries of Charity. Sister Nirmala Joshi MC (Fides Service 24/6/2003 EM lines 41 Words: 606)