The St. Egidio community has been animating the 11AM Mass in our Precious Blood Church every Sunday for about three years.  This Christmas, for the second time and the first since the pandemic, after the Eucharistic Celebration they transformed the church into a dining hall and organized a Christmas meal for the poor in our area. 
This is the 40^th anniversary of this initiative, with 800 lunch rooms for the poor set up by the San Egidio community all over the world! This is truly a commendable experience considering the organization, which began weeks earlier, and involved members of the general administration and the international community for the preparations and organization of the spaces. 
The Adorers did not hesitate to welcome this experience and celebrate Christmas with the poor of the neighborhood, sitting with them to share the meal and the gift of fraternity around a single table.  It was a time to get to know each other, make new friends, and strengthen bonds.  In the dining room there were the guests, members of the St. Egidio community, volunteers ready to serve.   Among them to our surprise there was a show business personality, actor and presenter, Flavio Insinna. The artist, we found out, is from the neighborhood. His mother lives on Via Gallia and he grew up in the Nativity Parish where he got to know the St. Egidio community.
The joy experienced on the day was great. The co-workers and the volunteers leaving at the end of the meal expressed gratitude and appreciation for the welcome and the witness of community, all united in presence and service. For us Adorers, too, the experience gave us the opportunity once again to be a significant presence in the area, available to those in need.