"May the World See This Letter I Write to Mary"

A letter written in the Beth Myriam of Belo Horizonte, Brazil

"Here goes a request of a man with no house to live and no place to hid from the rain and without a family, but I’ve got a big family now.

When somebody called me: "Fellow, I heard about a lady Mary who gives us food. Let’s go there so that we can eat!", I said: "Where in this world does somebody remember of miserable poor like us to feed us?". And he said: "There’s more: she gives clothes as well. They say it’s a very nice place. I won’t die of hunger." He insisted so much that I finally went there. Then, when I saw, it was the house where the poor go there and eat very well.

This place is a piece of glut, affection and tenderness, where everybody wash hands and pray before eating. I didn’t know how to pray, but I’ve learnt quickly. When I got out of there, I thought: "Can it be that I am dead and God is taking care of me?" The next day I went back there: the same thing again.

On 11th January this year I felt ill inside Mary’s House and vomited blood. The Maries¹ were serving, but they left everything and came to help me. One Mary called Samu², it seems it was raining a lot; he stayed with me all the time. He took care of me while the others served. I had to stay in a hospital for one month.

I’m already back to my Mary’s House. I sleep in the streets, but I’m no more hungry or cold, because Mary’s House exists.

I don’t have a piece of paper, that’s why I write here³. May the world see this letter I write to Mary. I am a beggar, nobody listen to me, but there is much love in the depth of the donors’ heart, so that a house like that can exist. God bless this house and all the Maries who help. In my prayer, at night, I say: "God, take care of Mary’s Houses and all the donors."

Amen

Beggar

1 "Maries" are the volunteers who work in Beth Myriam. People who are fed there call every one of them "Mary".
2 Samu is a mobile health care service for emergencies. It seems that the beggar thinks that Samu is a person, maybe the doctor who helped him.