John was alone and was poor, too. How could he help other poor people? Yet, he cared for hundreds of patients in his hospital and of needy people outside. So he had to organize a network of volunteers and benefactors. At the same time he started his letters with these words:
« In the name of Our Lord Jesus Christ and of Our Lady the Ever-Virgin Mary; God before all and above everything in the world. God save you, my brother my sister, in Jesus Christ…».
So he put God and Jesus Christ before everything, and called Our Lady Ever-Virgin. In Spanish it is more meaningful: “always whole”; that is, with no stain or sin, in the sense of the Immaculate Conception to whom he was very devoted.
To a young boy called Luis Baptista, he wrote, at the end of his letter:
«I shall stop now, although I shall not stop praying to God for you and for everybody. I must tell you that I have been getting on very well with the Rosary, and I hope in God that I shall recite it as often as I can and as he wishes».
He called all his benefactors, volunteers and patients his brothers and sisters.
From one letter we can have an idea of the people he cared for. To his benefactor Gutierrez Lasso, he says:
«this letter will let you know in what dire straits and in what very great need I am… my most beloved and dear brother in Jesus Christ, so many poor people flock here… many poor people come here… – the sick, the healthy, servers, and pilgrims – there are more than one hundred and ten».
And he goes on, specifying the categories: «there are cripples, the maimed, lepers, mutes, the insane, paralytics, people with ringworm, and also very old people and many children – and… pilgrims and wayfarers who come here and to whom we give fire, water, salt, and pots, so that they can cook».
He describes a touching story to the Duchess of Sesa about the needy whom he helps in their homes.
«My sister, I must tell you that while I was walking through the city of Cordoba the other day I came across a household in very dire need: two girls whose parents had both been sick and bedridden for ten years… So poor and in such distress that it broke my heart. They were half-naked and totally lice-ridden, and their bed consisted simply of bundles of straw. I gave them what little assistance I could, since I was in a hurry to go and talk with Master Avila; however, I did not give them as much as I should have… They have written me a letter and what they tell me in it is heartbreaking…»
And he proposes a kind of a strange deal.
«Thus, good Duchess, if it so pleases God I should like you to gain these alms which the others have lost. They consist of four ducats: three for those poor girls, so that they may buy two blankets and two skirts».
And to persuade the Duchess, he put the values of people above everything.
«Because a soul is worth more than all the treasures of the world and those girls should be saved from sinning for such a small thing». And he adds that «the other (ducat is) for Angulo, my companion, for his journey to and from Zafra, because I am expecting him to come back with some assistance».(I DS).
In the II letter to the same Duchess of Sesa, he pictures a realistic scenario of his work of hospitality.
«This letter is to let you know… my needs and troubles… The debts and the poor increase by the day, and many of the latter arrive naked, barefoot, and covered in sores and lice, so that one or two men need to be employed (with their cloths) just to kill the lice in a cauldron of boiling water. This work will continue throughout the whole winter, from now on until next May. Thus, my sister in Jesus Christ, my work grows each day». (2nd DS).
So were the merciful saints. And what about us? … (To be continued)
Fr. Aires Gameiro, OH,
(Brother of Saint John of God)