As Catholics in this diverse world, we are called to live as the many members of the one Body of Christ. In our ministry, we believe we do this best when we act with love, prayer, and generosity towards the less fortunate members: our brothers and sisters in the missions.

With every phone call, visit, or email from a missionary seeking aid, we are called to do more. They remind us of our shared baptismal promise to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. They call us to be their regular support as they live the Gospel of radical care.

Though most of us will never travel to teach HIV-positive mothers how to not pass the virus on to their babies, our faith in Jesus Christ compels us to help those who do. Can you spare fifty cents a day -- less than the cost of a cup of coffee -- so that Father Joseph in Uganda can do that work? He, and others like him, work miracles with fifteen dollars a month.

Will you ever trade your habit for "street clothes" to safely walk the back alleys of a Filipino city, rescuing women from lives of forced prostitution? Sister Glicy does it every night. Once she has saved a woman, mental and physical rehabilitation is needed as well as remedial education and vocational training. Sister works for no pay. Can you give up a family pizza every other week so that Sister, and many like her, may continue their life saving work? Thirty dollars a month will literally save a woman's life.

Many will never travel miles between rural Zambian villages like Sister Martha does. She searches for children born with physical disabilities. Many times, these little ones are seen as burdens by their family -- unable to contribute to the work of farming life, while needing extra care. With love and education, Sister Martha helps to change these attitudes. She also brings the children to the city for life-changing surgeries. Can you cut some snack foods your grocery bill every month, buying less candy, chips, soda, and ice cream? For a family of four, that may save about fifty dollars. That amount in Sister Martha's hands means a child gets a proper cast after surgery for a club foot.

Our baptism calls us to the Gospel of radical care, daily. Some do it by going to the missions, others by giving.

Please make the commitment to join us as sustaining members. Keep missionaries at work with your monthly donation to the missions.

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.