Less is "More"

As some of you probably remember, my favorite place to send money this time of year, is to an orphanage in Brazil. I receive a letter each year from Fr. Mata describing the events of the year and about the children he and Sr. Maria de Deus Raposo care for. Each year the letter arrives with a picture of the children and Fr. Mata. As I was looking at the picture this year, I noticed how old Fr. Mata has become these past years. I started to wonder...what will happen to the children when Fr. Mata is gone. Who will take up his cross and tend to those children?

We first met Fr. Mata when friends brought him to our home in Newark, 15 or 20 years ago. He described his orphanage to us and told us what he was doing. Our hearts went out to him and his crusade. Maybe it's because he speaks Portuguese and our ancestors are Portuguese...or maybe because no one else has ever approached us with such a dynamic story.

The children look at me from the picture with smiling faces. Some have forced smiles and some have impish smiles..."full of the dickens and raring-to-go." Who knows how they arrived in this world. Maybe from lust or maybe from love, but all are here now. Such beautiful little faces. The lucky ones found their way to Fr. Mata.

Then I start to think of Christmas, a month away, and what gifts I am going to give my grand kids and what I want to receive from John for Christmas. All of a sudden it dawned on me. What I want and always want is "more." "More" of what I already have. Always "more." Someone told me, awhile back, that "less is more." Guess I am being enlightened about that phrase...cause I am finally realizing what it means.

Maybe it doesn't mean giving to those who have "more"...it means giving to those who have "less." Maybe by giving to those who have "less" we receive "more"...or are "more."

People who live in the USA have much "more" than peoples of other nations around the world. Worrying if we have enough to pay our taxes is "small worry" compared to those who worry about a bite of food. Some people don't worry about the basic food groups...they worry about "any" food.

Last Sunday was the Feast of Christ the King. The gospel for that feast day is one of my favorites. Part of it says, "what you do to the least of my brothers, you do to Me." Powerful words when you think about it. We praise God and worship Him...and go about our daily lives trying to do our best. But, "the least of my brothers," that is the clincher...who are "the least of my brothers?" Who am I hurting when I say I want a diamond ring for Christmas? Do I have to seek out the "least of my brothers?" Are they the ones sleeping in allies in the big cities of the USA? Or are they the ones far away, in other nations, who haven't found their way to a place like the orphanage Fr. Mata operates in Brazil? Obesity is at an epidemic stage in the USA...but some go to bed hungry.

What it "all boils down to" is...I am telling John, that for Christmas I want to send a bigger check to Fr. Mata and that is the gift I want. I want "less" cause I get "more" by having "less." Oh yes, I am not overlooking giving "more" of myself, too.