“But for your just ones there was a very great light, as a guide for their unknown journey. The whole world was illuminated with a brilliant light, which went about its work unhindered, while over the unjust, night was spread, an image of the darkness that was ready to receive them; but still heavier than the darkness were they to themselves.” (The Wisdom of Solomon,Chapter 17)

Maybe our usual idea about grace, about God’s merciful blessing, is that it descends upon us and covers us. But consider this: It is equally valid to believe that it is an ascending light drawing us ever higher; to a higher humanity, a higher culture, a higher ability, and eventually into the heart of God.

This is not an idle idea. Upon those who believe it, a huge obligation falls. The obligation not to do “our best” but to do “the best” so that all words, all deeds, all dialogues and exchanges produce an ascending fruit.

In terms of our mission, it is not enough to teach children in the slums to read. They need to learn the language of today’s culture and today’s world. This involves not only reading and writing, but using computers to connect to the world via the web.

It is also not enough to give orphans their daily bread. They need to be brought into families, or tight-knit communities, and taught the value of making their own bread. They must grow to adulthood so that they can teach others to make bread. They must grow with solid human bonds and taught the wonders of God and the world.

It is never enough to subdue and imprison the delinquent. The problem runs deeper and we must help free them from their inner prison, to solve the problem at it’s roots. We must do this as many times as it takes.

Sometimes we think that when we are helping the poor, it is charity, and we just do what we can. Pope John Paul II said often the obligation to help the poor is not an extra activity, or something to be done with a half measure (we do "what we can"), but an obligation to perform excellence. There are no poor in the eyes of God, only people. We are all the same, even if we are found on different sides of huge obstacles.

Aren’t we lucky that this is the nature of life, that the light of God is doing its work unhindered, inviting us to join in so that we all might be lifted up? This is the base philosophy of our “mission” or “what we were sent to do”.