"The poorer the Church is, the more powerful. The more the Church is attached to God, the more it finds ways to get to the men"

The Mother of the Eucharist often asked us to pray for the people of the third and fourth world, because they are without food, medicines and any sort of assistance. H.E. Mons. Claudio Gatti, during the H. Mass celebrated on last November 1, feast of All Saints, informed our community about the state of decay of millions of people, citing one report of the F.A.O. Nowadays in the world there are 854 millions of people who are undernourished and many of them die of hunger. The lack of nourishment and drinkable water causes the birth and the quick diffusion of a great quantity of deseases. One of the most terrible ones is blindness, which concerns especially the children. This desease is due to a microrganism which is present in the unhealthy waters drunk by the children. The microrganism attacks the cornea and progressively paralyzes all the ocular system. Unfortunately, as the desease is contagious, it is spread by the child to all the family members. The balance of the consequences of this deasease is very serious: every hour 600 children become blind. What is most absurd is that, if the desease is at the first stage, to heal a child is enough a tube of ointment whose price is 2,50 euros, and in some cases can be necessary a simple surgical operation whose cost is only 15 euros.

Comparing these modest numbers with those spent every year for making armaments, our Bishop said: "Each time any kind of armament is made, it kills even before being used. If the money needed for making weapons was used to assist people who have neither food, nor drinkable water, nor medicines, nowadays there wouldn't be 854 millions of hungry people and every hour 600 children wouldn't become blind. I can't accuse only the politicians, but also the men of the Church and I do it in the name of God and spurred by the Mother of the Eucharist. How much money they manage, if it was used for deeds of charity, could make children smile again, could give back serenity in the heart of their parents and hope in the soul of those who suffer due to all privations. The "Woe betide you!" of God is terrible. Not richness itself is unhealthy, but the negative and selfish use of richness becomes unhealthy".

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the priestly ordination of John Paul II, newspapers reported the new that the cardinals, that is about 130 persons, had given to the Pope 500000 euros. On the occasion of the feast of the Mother of the Eucharist, celebrated on last October 24, our community, that is a number of people just a little higher than the number of cardinals, could collect 2550 euros, which was given to the African children who die of hunger. Also in this case the contrast of numbers is blatant and it led our Bishop to affirm: "The Church can't go on like this. John Paul I said an emblematic sentence: "If Christ came back today, would he recongnize his Church?". The Church must be ready to sell its own riches to give the gained money to the poor, not only through the simple material assistance, but also making social realities that can get job opportunities and assure security and economic tranquillity. How is it possible that men of the Church live in the luxury, in the abundance of comforts, in the most shameless security, in the most scandalous elegance and at the same time there are people who die of hunger? The Church must be poor: the poorer the Church is, the more powerful; the more the Church is attached to God, the more it finds ways to get to the men. Today we give glory to the Saints and first of all to God, source of holiness; just the Saints today invite us to address our glance not towards the sky, but towards the Earth, to see how much alms must be given and how much love we must give to the needy, poor and suffering people. The world and the Church don't change through the meetings of powerful men or by writing many documents, but only through love. We must not seem good, like those Pharisees who gave alms by throwing handfuls of money to let themselves be seen by all, as haughtiness and ostentation were in them, but we must be good and goodness takes shape only by love".