To be a missionary !

A missionary work should be a work « with » the poor, « beside» the poor and « for » the poor; for this to be so, the work must be rooted in our hearts. We must be missionaries of Jesus Christ, giving ourselves completely, being totally available and, above all, happy to announce his Good News. We are not missionaries for the poor but for the Lord, whom we encounter in the poor.And to be able to encounter Jesus in our work, we have to pray; prayer is, in fact, the essence of the missionary: to follow the Lord and his ways, to live with his sentiments, to give ourselves in total availability.Such are the reasons for which I am ready to undertake missionary work Ad Gentes. I feel myself called to missionary work, not as social work but as an expression of love for Jesus and the poor, in the person of Jesus.I am not sure of how to go about it, but I believe that the first message is the one that flows from our witness, from the simple fact of being there, of sharing the life and fortunes of the people, their cares and their hopes, their joys and their sadnesses.I am being sent to Bangkok, in Thailand. __________________Neiva Hoffelder, Province of Brasil Centro-SulDavao, 14 September 2010