I want to share with you, on the occasion of World Mission Sunday, the missionary experience of a girl I met at the Carmen Parish in Castellón, almost five years ago. Needless to say, her face in all its expression, her look, and everything in her actions was transformed while she explained to me part of what she has narrated here. I think the time has come to evangelize at every step. But let it not remain in words. Start today.
A Missionary Experience in Africa
This summer, I had the opportunity to live a missionary experience with the Missionaries of Charity in Ethiopia (Africa). In addition, it was also guided by the encounter that Saint Teresa of Calcutta had with the Thirst of Jesus.
Our daily life was a very simple routine, but God uses that to do great things. The first thing we did when we got up was a Eucharist with the “sisters” to start the day with the help of the person who gave it to us and also “gain strength” to face it. So, with a renewed soul and after breakfast, we began our days in Ethiopia. In the morning, we left the house to help in some camps that the MC organized in neighboring villages. There, we prayed, played and gave out a small snack to the more than 500 boys and girls who came alone every morning. When we finished, we returned home to eat. However, our day did not end here; since the “sisters” had many people in residence, who needed care, so we spent the afternoons with them. So, each of us went where we felt the Lord was calling us most at that moment. For example, with the babies, to play with the children or teach them English, to be with the women, men or the sick.
When the sun began to set, we met again in the chapel of the “sisters” to pray the Rosary and have a moment of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, to end the day, as we had begun it, hand in hand with Jesus.
For me, these weeks have meant a lot. Saint John Paul II said that “true happiness is not found in comfort and pleasure, but in service to others.” During this time, I have experienced great joy without having anything, but having everything. From the first moment, I felt a great love for all the people there, as if I had known them all my life. As the name of this blog says, I was also filled with immense joy in that place.
On the other hand, verbal communication was very difficult there, since practically no one spoke English, only the local language, which we did not understand. Then, we discovered that the language of love is the only one in the world capable of transmitting so many things. The Lord gave me the grace to love without measure, that is, to welcome each one of the poor people who came to me and vice versa, without caring about anything other than that hand, that look, that hug, because I knew that Jesus was behind them.
The mission is to truly live the Gospel. For example, there is a very beautiful one when Jesus separates the sheep and says to those on the right: “Truly I say to you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” And reflecting, I realize that I have lived this with each baby that I approached to calm or feed or when visiting and keeping company with the sick, among many other things. But this can also be done in our daily lives with the people around us, doing small things with great love.
It has been comforting to see how every day the children came to you and gathered around you to give you a hug and called you by your name so that you would go with them. What these children don’t know is that they have been happy, but I have been happy too, seeing their faces with a smile every day when I called them by name, among other things. Saint Teresa of Calcutta said: “a heart prepared to love, is a hand prepared to serve.” And a prepared heart can only be had through faith and the grace that God grants each of us through the Eucharist, and that is how I have felt.
Of course there have been difficult moments, but I have realized that Jesus is always there, that He never abandons us. Without Him, nothing in our life would make sense because the plan that God has for each one of us is infinitely better than ours, even though many times we do not understand what is happening to us and that is why the Church reminds us of what Jesus said to Thomas, “blessed are those who believe without having seen.”
To finish, I would like to emphasize and remember that the center of this experience has been only the Lord. He has been the one who has led it from beginning to end. Jesus has been waiting for me behind every person I have met, just as He is waiting for each one of us in every situation we may experience.
Simply, to say How little is a life to give it! Teresa Castellet (20 years), Ethiopia and MC will always be in my heart.
