The entrails soup has a strong flavour. It is made of sliced innards and lots of fat. With vinegar and pepper it becomes edible. For a long time I had to force myself to eat it, but for the street children in Bucharest this is a holiday meal. It used to be that I had to search for a sleazy dive in the area of the train station which would serve me and my small friends. Now, I can welcome the children into the Social Center Lazarus and give them a festive meal at Easter.

Today I took Florin home from the train station. The children gave him the name, "Mieluschelu", Little Lamb. Florin himself explains to me that Jesus had thousands of sheep. When he counted, one was missing. He searched until he found it again. That's why Florin is happy about his new name "Little Lamb" which his friend Blondu gave him.

I picked up our little lamb out of the sewer system in which he had sought refuge with many others. Almost every day I climb down into the underworld of Bucharest. Here is my Holy Mass. The children put away the plastic bags with drugs and begin to sing. "We are a family, unified in Christ." It is dark, everyone respects the silence, individuals speak prayers. We call to you, dear God, with pure hearts. Thank you for the community, thank you for the bread and soup. We make petitions for our benefactors, forgive us our sins. CONCORDIA is supported by the prayers, spoken and sung in a sewer under the city. This is where I get the power. I ask the children to pray with me for good priests and good assistants.

Resurrection occurs when we pull a child up from the depths. When a child wants to go up the many steps with us from the sewer, to the Social Center, into a community, to school, to vocational training to independence. Some have returned to us to be helpers.

We are God's assistants in the resurrection. With donations. Through contact to the children. Through compassion, teaching, enduring set backs and through hope.
Our engagement with the children reveals our goals to us. It gives our lives a dynamic. We would like to save more and more children. Our friendship is real. The entrails soup becomes enjoyable, it tastes like Easter.

In Romania we are experiencing resurrection. The Social Center Lazarus represents a country on the move. The name means what we experience: God helps.

Greetings and thanks from Bucharest,

Easter 2003