God working among us

When things get rough and life leaves me feeling lonely, God has a way of stirring my heart.

Yesterday it was going to a distant village for a Celebration of the Word with Communion at 9 in the morning. The community has had some serious problems, including divisions. At the request of our pastor I spoke with one of the parties involved. What he said to me was the mirror image of what our pastor had told me of the experience of the other person. Both say that they are open to reconciliation but the other one isn’t. I advised the person I spoke with to speak directly with the other person or find a person whom the other respects to pass the message on that he is open to reconciliation. I don’t know if anything will come from this and I felt helpless, unable to resolve the situation then and there. But it is in the long process that reconciliation can happen. I hope and pray that I planted seeds that may sprout in the hearts of these two men.

After the Celebration I went and visited three places to bring communion to the sick and home bound. The first was in a very isolated place. There I found a beautiful couple. I spoke at length with the husband who was a delight. He and his wife were married in the church last year but have been together more than forty years. It was a grace to be able to share the Body of Christ with them.

Then I visited the house of one of the persons guiding me around the community. There I met her daughter who, I believe, is suffering from a severe trauma since one of her young children was murdered. She spoke of how she loved to play the guitar and sing, but I sensed a deep grief. Then we went to visit an older woman up the mountain, the grandmother of the woman. It was a short visit since I was going to a Mass at 2 o’clock in a village about 45 minutes away. I barely made it.

Today I had a meeting of persons involved in Social Ministry in the villages. We had about thirty participants. After some explanation of what social ministry is and can be, I shared some of the areas in which we might be working. It was an eye-opening experience as many shared what they were doing in their villages. I am amazed at some of their efforts.

In one village, I found out that the youth group was visiting the sick and collected corn and beans for poor families.

In another village, they have a group of ten who are working to respond to the needs of the sick and poor. They have organized a solidarity fund to help those in need. I have been trying to push this in the parish since last year and it is taking root in various parts of the parish.

I came away edified. So much being done, with so few resources, to meet so great needs. I ended up sharing with them the thoughts of Dorothy Day from Loaves and Fishes:

People say, "What good can one person do? What is the sense of our small effort?" They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time. We can be responsible only for the one action of the present moment. But we can beg for an increase of love in our hearts that will vitalize and transform all our individual actions, and know that God will take them and multiply them, as Jesus multiplied the loaves and the fishes.

Tomorrow seven or eight communion ministers will go with me to San Agustín to visit the sick and homebound. There is only one communion minister year and she has been ill. So we are going to meet together for prayer and then go out to visit eighteen to twenty persons there and in a neighboring village.

These experiences give me life – and are real gifts from God.