Three groups from our community of Priests and Brothers went on mission this Christmas and returned on December 31.

In the words of Deacon Deyvid Vargas (Colombian), “To be able to spend Christmas with the poor is the best way to experience a real Christmas that one can have. Since, in effect, we have converted the birth of Christ into a merely social event where the only important thing is how can I buy more and more presents.”

In line with Deacon Deyvid’s words, these village suffer real poverty, not only materially but spiritually as well. They are never visited by a priest and have often forgotten not only the sacraments, but the most basic elements of the catechism.

God has allowed us to visit ten villages this Christmas and we wish it could have been more. When people ask us how they can help the poor, it is important to remind them that they can be helped not only materially. Above all it is important to sow religious vocations in our families.

We are few and we need many missionaries who wish to give their whole lives to the cause of the Gospel.

Let’s not be afraid, parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, to speak to our children about the beauty of a religious vocation!

Let’s be generous! And let us once again ask God to raise up in the midst of our families a vocation to the religious, consecrated and priestly life.