By: Fr. Bobby P. Sagra, MSP

A personal experience of working with the Missionaries of Charity Sisters of Kerema, gulf Province, Papua New Guinea.

It had been more than a year now, since I arrived here in Kerema, taking the position of a Parish Priest. The Sisters Superior of the Missionaries of Charity Sisters told me upon my arrival that one of my responsibilities is to take care of the spiritual needs of their small community of six sisters. This means acting as their Father Confessor on a bi- weekly basis, and also giving them spiritual talks on the various aspects of their religious life. With cheerfulness I assumed the position, not only on the spiritual needs of the people and the sisters, but also of the challenging pastoral work of visiting the villages around Kerema.

From Monday to Friday, the missionaries of Charity Sister and I work hand in hand. I go with them to the different villages as their priest co-worker. Once we arrive at the village, we gather all the mothers for sewing class and the children for pre-school. In those villages with community schools, the sisters give religious instructions. I help giving instruction to adults in preparation for Baptism and Marriage. The sisters also go for house visits, and whenever there is a very sick person in need of Holy Anointing, they call on me to give Sacrament. Other than helping in the Catechism and the giving of the Sacraments, I have unique task of driving the buggy for them, of acting as their personal security while walking in the bush, and of helping them to carry heavy things when necessary.

I have learned that the secret of the shining lives of the Missionaries of Charity Sister is their wholehearted and free service to the poorest of the poor, and their intimate relationship with Christ in prayer. They also have a love for Mary, which is above every religious sister I know. Their joy is a spark from their humble devotion to Mary, whom they call, Cause of our Joy. They considered themselves as victims of their Crucified Lord; they seek more “to comfort than to be comforted; more to understand and to be understood; more to love than to be love; for it is by forgetting self that one finds, it is by forgiving  that one is forgiven, it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life”. In their white and blue saris, the poorest of the poor when they are serving as the new little flower of St. Francis for our generation.

As a Filipino missionary, I cannot help but marvel at the Missionaries of Charity Sisters. For me, their charism, is to promptly, wholeheartedly and free serve the poorest of the poor. Like Mary, who thought of others at the wedding feast at Cana, and asked Jesus to provide immediately for the needs of the newly wed poor couple, the Missionary Charity Sisters is full thought of others. Mother Teresa of Calcutta, their Foundress says: “Thoughtfulness is the beginning of great sanctity. If you learn the art of being thoughtful, you will become more and more Christlike, for His heart was meek and He always thought of needs of others-our lives to be beautiful, must be full of thoughts for others.” I have never met Mother Teresa personally, but in each of her Sisters whom I met here, I see the aura of Mother Teresa. She herself said that “I will give saints to Mother Teresa Church”. The witness of joy and holiness of the MC Sisters I’m working with, brings to me an honest re- examination of my life as a missionary priest. One of the humbling realizations of my life here, is that, while I preach more with my words, thee Sisters preach by their example.

It is my loving and prayerful wish that for all those young Filipino girls and boys who happen to read this article, their hearts will be touched to consider becoming a missionary. In my missionary work with the Missionary of Charity Sisters, I have found a treasure, Christ.

 

By Fr Joseph Panabang SVD

Incorrigible cat
“You fool! Stupid! Get out! Just because you don’t know how to read, you scatter all my books around?” on hearing my outburst our cook was frightened; thinking I was fighting with somebody he rushed into the  room, “What happened Father?” “Oh, it’s just our cat who always wants to sleep on my study table knocking all my books onto the floor.” The cook went back to the kitchen shaking his head.

Health is Wealth
Window shopping is one of my hobbies wherever I go to Accra the capital city of Ghana. In one of those shops famous for Kente cloth (Kente is to Ghana as Barong Tagalog is to the Philippines.) I asked an old saleswoman how much a full piece was. The price was rather fantastic. “Oh that is for the rich and I am not rich,” I told her trying to bargain. Apparently not convinced, she said seriously, “You are not rich? So long as you are alive and healthy, you are rich.” I left the shop with the old woman’s wisdom with me: “Health is wealth.” A saying found everywhere.

Let There not Be light
All their head were turned up towards the street lamps and they seemed to be praying out loud; it was such a strange sight that I was compelled to ask John Baffoe, my companion, “why are they gazing at the street lights like that?” “Oh those are kerosene vendors and they are praying that the lights will go off so that they can sell their kerosene.” I stopped and went back deliberately and checked it out more closely. True enough, around them were cans of unsold kerosene. That remind me of Ghanaian proverb: “One person’s sorrow is another’s joy.”

City Driver
He came with me from the village so excited to see Accra City. It was his first time ever. Unknown to him was the fact that actually I was not yet used to city driving. In the busy street, drivers to left and right at me blew their horns and even at my back too. Then he said in his innocence, “Oh Father, everybody knows you here.” That helped to ease the tension a bit.

Marriage Encounter
Everybody was sad. Frwons aand long faces. The usual smiles and rejoicing were gone. Reason: the most admired and model Catholic couple in their village had separated temporarily because of the heated arguments the previous night. Scandal indeed. Before we could start the mass everybody was eader to her what I would say and how I would reconcile the two. Conivnced the evocative approach would be the best move, I asked the people, “what is the best way to kill a fire?” Just after the catechist translated it, a woman at the back so confident of her answer blurted, “knife”, I was shocked more than anybody else. Before a pause of embarrassing silence could end, a teacher stood up and corrected the catechist telling him that Father said, “fire not fowl.” As the question was repeated correctly, the congregation exploded with laughter with all eyes on the catechist. As they all relaxed I zeroed in: At the end, the argument between the couple turned out to be a complete misunderstanding exactly the same as the catechist misunderstood my question. The case was solved instantly

Ear Snipping
Looking for a barber who really knows how to cut Asian hair is a problem here where everybody’s hair is curly. Once when i could not get the right barber, I was obliged to have my hair cut at a street side barber shop. The barber looked questioningly; I looked at him and knew immediately he had a problem. “oh , just cut it the way you like so long as you don’t cut my ears off” I said,” because those parts are irreplaceable.”

 

By: Teresita Bernad, MSSC

Sr. Teresita Bernad is a Filipino Columban Sister from Ozamis, Mindanao. She tells us here two little stories about the dignity of every single human being and their longing to step into Mystery of god. For Irma and Luisa Sacraments are the door into this mystery.

The Dragon’s Tail
The City of Iquique, where I am stationed, is in the northernmost part of Chile, in the province of Tarapaca. The northern part of Chile is a desert. Iquique is situated between the vast Pacific Ocean on one on one side of the desert hills on the other. One of the hills, the Cerro Dragon, is so named because it is shaped like a dragon with its tail reaching down to the edge of the city. One would imagine the desert to be the most boring sight to see, but I have traveled across the desert several times with the Sisters on our way to the pueblos, and the scenery is spectacular. The mountains are of varying height and shape with different shades of brown; others are greenish, blue or red, depending upon the mineral deposit.

Tail is Cut
The city has a population of one hundred sixty thousand. With the presence of SOFRI (the center of free trade), and plenty of opportunities for employment, the city is expanding fast. The slopes of he hills are being covered with houses. The Cerro Dragon has lost the tip of its tail.

Kathleen McGrath
The Columban Sisters are working on the outskirts of the city, forming a community after Our Lady of Fatima. Sister Kathleen McGrath is in charge of the community with all its organizations. She is also the coordinator of the missions into the interior pueblos.

First Communion at ‘92
Shortly after my arrival, I began visiting the sick in their homes. I found these visits satisfying because we usually ended up by praying together. In my rounds I discovered that most of the people did not know how to pray the Rosary and some old ones had not made their first communion. One of them was Luisa who was ninety two and blind. The day I brought the priest for her first communion, the old lady whom before I had never seen out of her bed, was sitting on a chair in the sala, awaiting the coming of the Eucharistic Lord.

Jolly Irma
Another was Irma. I met Irma for the first time at the “Club de Ancianos” an organization of elderly people who meet once a week at the Fatima Center for socials and for prayer. A jolly heavy –set woman in her late fifties, Irma had not been baptized but her husband was, and since their marriage she became a faithful church-goer. Later she joined the club.

Three Sacraments
Sometime later Irma became seriously sick: Cancer. There was nothing else the doctor could do. She was already suffering from excruciating pains. She sent word that she wanted to see a priest, because she wanted to receive Holy Communion. I got Father Sean O’ Connor, a Columban, and accompanied him to the house. He asked her a few questions about the sacraments which she answered very well. He then told her that now she could make her first communion. “But Padre” she said “I have not been baptized.” So Irma received three sacraments that day: Baptism, Eucharist and Anointing of the Sick.

She Clasped My Hand
When we were leaving I asked her if she would like me to visit her occasionally to pray together. She said “Yes and please come in the afternoon when the house was peaceful and quite”. Somehow, I did not manage to make that visit. Then the news came that Irma was very sick. I went at once and found her restless and breathing heavily. She was actually dying. I took her hand and felt hers clasping mine. I stayed with her and started the prayers for the dying. I look up and saw the Rosary hanging at the head of her bed. Not long after, she died.

Two or Three Together
Thinking about Irma later, perhaps she had been waiting for the two of us to pray together. Perhaps she was remembering what she had learned from heir prayer-sharing in the club that when two or three are gathered together in His name, Jesus is in the midst of them, and Irma wanted to make sure of her companion for the journey.

Sharing the Mystery
A missionary going to another country will encounter many difficulties, caused by differences in language, customs, traditions, climate, and not so seldom, the attitudes of the people like Luisa and Irma remind me that there are many important things that really matter that go beyond of language and customs.

 

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By: Sr. Ma. Loreta G. Jamelarin, ICM

I am an I.C.M. sister from Iloilo. I arrived in Cameroon in 1980. For the moment, I am in the same community as Sr. Emma de Guzman. People here in Cameroon give me different titles because of my present work. Up in the North, they gave me the title: “Doctor of the plants”; in other places, “Sister herbalist”; here “la petite sorciere”-the little Sorceress. Why all these titles? Just because I try to teach Medicinal Plants, making the people aware of the benefits they can derived from them when they are deprived of health care because of the crisis situation the country is experiencing now.

No scar Needed

Early one morning, Sister called: “Come and see if you can do something to help the baby of Emillience”. I looked at the baby with a swollen face due to an abscess, “Have you been to the dispensary?” I asked the mother but. “Yes, but they told me to let it ripen first and then they will make an incision.” Imagining the sleepless nights the baby and the mother had endured, and my repugnance at seeing a big scar on the face of such a cute baby, I did some mental gymnastics to find out appropriate plants to give in order to hasten the cure of abscesses without opening them.. I took a cabbage leaf, some gumamela buds, and gulasiman plants, crushed them all together to make a paste, and applied it to the abscess. I gave more materials to the mother, encouraged her to continue faithfully the treatment at home using a hot compress. Within a week’s time, the abscess naturally healed without incision or any expense.

Same Treatment
When Emilience left, came Blondine, a post-office employee and a practician of herbal medicine, dragging her feet. “Sister, this big furuncle bothers me and other small ones are coming out. I tried to use this plant. It helps a bit but I’m worried.” And again, I gave, I gave her the same treatment as that for the abscess, and she was relieved of her furuncles within a week. These are some examples of the healing wonders of herbs which most of us tale for granted, but at certain moments of crisis, they work wonders. “The Lord created the medicinal herbs which grow on the earth and these a sensible person will not despise.” (Sirach 38:4).

CBHP Back Home
My interest in Medicinal Plants was stimulated during my first home leave in 1983. Medicinal plants were introduced in several Community Based Health Programs. I thank our own Sister Arsenia Joquino, I.C.M. who initiated me during my stay in Bukidnon and in Iloilo. I did not start this program immediately here in Cameroon. I tried first to experiment on myself and some people asking for help when hey had no means to go to the dispensary or buy medicines, or what we call hopeless cases, meaning they tried to seek medical help but in vain- the sickness showed no improvement.
Afraid of Sorcery
I was hesitant to introduce my knowledge of Medicinal plants openly as usually traditional and herbal medicine is identified with sorcery or malpractice which is harmful and often times discouraged by us. Besides, there are many traditional medicine men in the in the country: people usually go first to them before consulting the doctor or going to the dispensary; sometimes they combine the two without telling their doctor.

Jealously Guarded
Traditional medicine patricians guard jealously their secret- no laymen has any access to their knowledge, and they ask an enormous price for their treatment: aside from money, they ask for twenty liters of red wine, a goat or other items. Imagine the surprise I evoked when I showed to people who come to ask for help, that some plant which grows wild in the backyard or that we step upon is a medicinal plant.

Bacolod Connection
I started to engage myself seriously in this program when I came back from my last home leave in 1991. In the Philippines, I stayed for a week with the Sister of the Rural Missions in Camingauan, Bacolod City where they run a clinic using Medicinal plants as remedies.

Club St. Luke
Back in Cameroon a Brother of the Gospel organized a club in the Parish where he is working. The club’s name is Club St. Luke, composed of nurses and health workers, laymen and religious, mostly sisters. He conscienticized them as to the value of Natural Medicines, which included Medicinal Plant of course. He contacted me to help him, and since we collaborate together: I give the session in Medicinal Plants and he takes care of the printing of the booklets on an experimental basis; he also gives Core Energy exercise.

New Book Coming
I brought back material from Philippines which where translated into French, and we got some information from booklets available in the Central Africa Republic, Tohad and Burkina-Faso. Now, I have enough materials on which to base my research work.  Some people have also been kind enough been kind enough to share with me their knowledge and experiences. At this moment, a new booklet is in the making- a definitive one, hopefully, based on the benefited from this program, and ours too.

 

Seminars Spread
More demands for sessions came in. Last January, I took the plane for Garoua in the Northern Province where I give six sessions in five parishes. The sisters of the region do the follow-up. I also have been to the Western Province, in Bafoussam and in Bafang –here it was an Evangelical Pastor who invited me. He, too is very much interested in Medicinal Plants coming from Europe. Here my help was appreciated as I spent two days initiating him in the identification of local medicinal plants. Here, we have our Ecumenical dialogue.

 

Enthusiastic Participants
For the moment, I go from one village to the other to launch this program in our parish. It is impressive to meet such enthusiastic participants eager to learn the science in which their ancestor had been the specialist, some not hesitating to share their knowledge.

Practical Demonstrations
The most interesting part of the session is the practical demonstration of the preparations of medicines: instant ginger tea, cough syrup from mango leaves and other pomade or oil.

Healing Touch
Several Old folks participate in order to receive “healing touch!” They show their rheumatic knees, aching joints and backs or unhealed sores. It is during these moments that I feel real fraternity surging through these encounters. I feel united by this same experience with God’s Providential wisdom and healing touch through the nature which he gifted to us human beings. I close them with this text from the Wisdom of Solomon: “He (God), in fact has given me true knowledge of what is the world and the properties of the elements...the variety of plants and the medicinal properties of roots.” (Wisdom 7, 17,20b)

 

By: Fr. Alejandro Gobenciong, SVD

Ten Priests in Ten Years
When I returned to Argentina after my renewal course in Nemi, Rome, I got a new assignment to a new parish, the parish of San Jose. This parish includes four large zones. We are two priests and ten religious sisters. We have thirty nine chapels and communities in all. This parish covers almost one fourth of the entire Diocese of Iguazu. In the last ten years ten priests worked here without noticeable success for the some reasons: 1) Because the parish is remote and very big. 2) The parishioners are mostly poor immigrants from Brazil working on lands without land ownership, without titles; 3) And the priests who have worked here usually do not survive for long.

Basic Needs
We started working on lay leaders’ formation, family catechism and bible studies. This is a remote preparation for the celebration of the word in the outlaying Christian communities. We now have two urban centers and thirty seven basic Christian communities at about one hundred forty kms. from end to end of the entire parish. Our three main needs are: 1) daily food; 2) the car maintenance and 3) pastoral funds and materials to be able to train our lay leaders better.

They Speak Portuguese
The children can hardly read and write. Among the adults one has difficulty in finding someone who can read. They are mainly agricultural workers. They plant Tobacco, cereal and root crops. There are no industries here. There no industries here. Since we are the border of Argentina with Brazil the population speaks Portuguese and purchases all their needs in Brazil which has cheaper prices. Mostly the roads are not in good condition and the communities can not be reached during rainy days.

Simple Times
We have no church or parish house. We make use of the parish catechetical hall as a church and a house. We cook our own food, we wash our own clothes and we do the house cleaning ourselves. The parishioners give us fruits, vegetables and other offering in kind instead of a money. In spite of the shortage of many things I feel okay in this new mission because of the people’s care and living faith. Maybe our very lack of material things will be the reasons the Holy Spirit will use for bringing grace and life to us and to our people.

 

 

By: Jasmin Peralta, SSC

Sr. Jasmin is a Filipino sister who is on mission with the Columbans in Chunchon, Korea. Here she tells of her life “accompanying” the sick and dying on their journey. She does this through her special connection with the Hospice.

Hospice for the Dying
When I first came to join the hospice team in St. Columban’s Clinic in Chunchon last April, our two paid nurses kidded me about taking the night calls when the sisters in charge is away. I firmly told them that I would not, besides not being trained in the medical field, I can’t bring them back to life if ever they die.

Alone with the Dying
But this very night when I took the call, I know I just couldn’t refuse this poor creature. She saw alone with her dying husband and had already made several calls to friends and her pastor to be with her in this moment of grief as she waited the death of her husband. None of them could come. Her last hope was to call us from the hospice, hoping we could be with her and maybe even cry with her.

Unholy Hour
I wanted to call one of our hospice nurses  but since it was the most unholy hour of the morning, and knowing them to be devoted mothers to their families, I didn’t. I tried calling one from the team who lives near the convent but I never got any reply so I thought of going alone. But the sister who got the call suggested that I shouldn’t go alone. So I asked one of our pre-novices to come with me to which she obligingly agrees. We were lucky to get a taxi, and I explained in my best Korean that I wasn’t sure where the house was but I could direct him as we went along.

Distress
When we got into the house the wife had broken down, while the daughter –in – law and two grandchildren were crying. So we sat beside the dying man and started to pray.

No Cash
Though I know that all we could do was to wait for his death, my instincts were telling me to do something to save him and bring him back to life. I even suggested at one point if we could bring him to the nearest hospital but their medical insurance wasn’t available and there was no cash on hand so there was nothing we could do but wait. As I silently cried beside him, my prayer to God was to relieve him and his family from the suffering of his terminal illness.

 

 

I Held his Hand
It was after 3 a. m. when I held his hand and started praying the Rosary using our fingers since there wasn’t any rosary at hand. I tried to moisten his dry mouth with water and wiped the cold sweat must be the same sweat Jesus sweated out in the garden of Gethsemane.

Sorrowful Mystery
It was the second sorrowful mystery when he made a deep sigh and took his last breath. It was over, he had gone to meet his Creator.

I Bound his Body
No one in the family seemed to know what should happen next. I once saw how the corpse was laid out and remembered how it was done. So I asked the wife to put the funeral cloths on her dead husband, then I bound the ankles, then the knees, and arms, and then I had a cloth around his head. Once all the binding was done, we covered the corpse with a piece of white sheet and waited until the people from the funeral parlor arrived.

It is Finished
We prayed once more for the repose of his soul while the rest of the family were wailing. At around 4 a.m. the pastor came and some family friends started coming

It was time for us to leave.