Our Lady of the Poor, we thank you

Virgin of the Poor,
you came a long time ago,
to this wild and lonely place,
and you have been coming ever since,
beckoning to each of us,
calling us on the way.
You smile at us, without a word,
you walk ahead of us.
You lead us into the woods,
where the wind whistles,
where the Spirit blows,
where water gushes from hidden lakes.

Virgin of the Poor, we thank you
for coming and coming again
to relieve our loneliness,
to put us back on the road, 
to dispel our doubts and anxieties,
and to open us to the Beatitudes.

Virgin of the Poor, 
teach us to pray more,
to believe wholeheartedly,
to cry out from the depths of our misery,
poor sinners that we are,
prisoners of our own comfort;
to open our doors,
to open our borders,
to open our hearts 
to the calls of our Father
and to the distress of our brothers.

Léon Wuillaume

Belgian Jesuit priest born in 1926