The following story first appeared in the Winter 2004 Glenmary Challenge.
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Sharing 'Jewels' Along the Way
Missioners, like the fourth wise man, see the Christ Child in the needy and neglected
By Father Dan Dorsey

DEATH ROW: Father John Rausch (left) visits the man second on the execution list at the Kentucky State Penitentiary at Eddyville. He is just one of the many lost and forgotten that missioners seek out in their journey to discover Emmanuel—God with us.

Many of us have family Christmas traditions that involve going to Midnight Mass. I bet, if you close your eyes for a moment, you can transport yourself back to your childhood and the experiences associated with attending Midnight Mass for the first time: the excitement of the night; the late hour; the cold, dark night contrasted with the warmth and brightness of the church when you entered; the beauty of the crib; the smell of the evergreens; the joyous sounds of the choir.

The best part for me came with the reading of the Gospel of Luke and the retelling of the story of Jesus’ miraculous birth.

A personal Christmas tradition that I have sustained over the years is to read The Story of the Other Wise Man, by Henry Van Dyke (Ballantine Books). Artaban, a Persian physician, sells all that he possesses to buy three precious jewels which he hopes to give to the newborn Christ Child. Hastening to join three fellow Magi for the long journey into Judea, he pauses to help a dying man and is left behind.

So Artaban sets out alone. But on his journey to Bethlehem, he stops time and time again to tend to the sick who desperately need his skills. Along the way Artaban gives away his jewels—one after another—to help others. Close to death, he finally arrives in Judea, just in time to see Jesus on the cross and be rewarded with the vision of his Lord. But, unknowingly, he had already found the promised King in the naked, the sick and the hungry he had helped at every stage of his journey.

The life of a Glenmary missioner is akin to that of Artaban. We are called to search out the Christ Child among the lost and forgotten and to share our “jewels” with them. Often our lives and travels take us to unexpected places and unplanned encounters. And, like Artaban, we often experience the conflict between the expectation of faith and the impulse of love.

Such is the case for Brother Virgil Siefker and Father Mike Langell who, in August, were sent to open a new mission in Windsor, N.C. Glenmary had never ministered in this isolated, northeastern part of the state with a high mission need. Many years ago there was a Catholic Church in Windsor but, as the Catholic population dwindled, the church fell into disrepair and was abandoned.

Why, in this day and age, with such a shortage of brothers and priests, would Glenmary send two men to serve just a handful of Catholics?

Simple! The missionary call is to serve those who are forgotten and most in need—and to establish the Church.

Let me again ask you to close your eyes and to use your imagination. Picture a scene 50 years in the future. Maria Gonzales is telling her grandchildren the story of the first time she attended Midnight Mass in Windsor, N.C. She was just a child, but she vividly recounts the sights, sounds and smells of that special night. She tells of how missionaries came and shared their gifts—and how the Church was re-established in Windsor.

It was a night of firsts, a time of worship, and a time to retell the glorious and timeless story of a true deed of love: “God so loved the world that he sent his only Son…”

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