WELLINGTON, South East India province

The community of «Villa Capitanio», for the first time, chose to celebrate a feast with the auto-drivers of our area. Most of them are young men, between the ages of 20-40, and nobody takes notice of them. We thought that it was a good thing to start to contact them, in order to help them to give some meaning to their working day which they spend chatting with one another, waiting to be called. We have been urged to programme this meeting by the Word of God (Lk 3:11) that invites us to ‘share’ with the have-nots, not out of pity, but for love and as a sign of fraternity.

We invited also the man who comes to repair our electrical systems, the person who carries gas cylinder for us, the driver who carries our tea leaves to the factory etc.; in all they were 35. Our assistant parish priest, Fr. Santhakumar, a young priest full of life and enthusiasm, talked to them about God, a Good Father of all human beings, and he told them that He loves us and for this reason Jesus, his beloved Son, came amongst us.

We have offered them all a lunch prepared specially for them with much cordiality. It was a surprise and a happy event for them; they enjoyed everything and were extremely happy. Also Fr Stephen joined us and was appreciative of our simple gesture and sincerely welcomed it. The participants, although coming from different religions, have grasped the meaning and the value of being together, to know each other and to take care of each other. «Do not give up hope, wait expectantly for God’s intervention in life»: this was the joyful message they took with them.