I wake up every morning and go to morning Mass. Like, my
body has stopped protesting and just switches on now, up and ready for the day.
(I start yawning around 6 o’clock at night though. However,
that is irrelevant.)
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| Also, here, have a picture of an awesome flower |
Anyway, this week there was an amazing homily given by the very
talented Father Felice. And considering it was 6:30 in the morning, you can
imagine it had to be pretty engaging if he wanted people to remain, you know,
engaged.
So here is the question he posed to us: Do you welcome
people or do you search for them?
Father Felice pointed out that there’s a difference. One is
a lot easier than the other. It’s best to do both. Jesus welcomed the poor, the
hated, the untouchables; more importantly, he searched for them. He went out
into the streets and looked for the beggars, the blind, the Samaritans, the tax
collectors. His was a walking ministry, searching for the least and welcoming
those who looked for him.
For the Salesians in particular, Fr. Felice asked whether
the sisters go out and search for the youth they are called to help. Let’s put
that into perspective.
The Salesian sisters often work in areas that have great
poverty and a strong possibility of violent outburst. When I was at orientation
in San Antonio the sisters warned us not to go walking outside the convent
without someone else. One of the women who worked at the house had been mugged
recently. Someone had been shot on the street outside the gate. The site
placement information for Dagoretti told me that I would not be allowed to walk
around the area without accompaniment because security is an issue.
Welcoming people means staying in a safe place and waiting
for them to come to you. It’s more comfortable. It does still mean you have to
do some work. You have to make the environment safe, make the place available
to everyone. But welcoming in a sense is synonymous with waiting.
And then there is searching. It means going out in to the
world and physically making an effort to find people. It is a constant state of
uncertainty regarding whether you will be able to find who you are looking for.
Searching isn’t comfortable, isn’t pleasant, and isn’t easy.
For the Sisters, searching means walking into the slums and
trying to convince street children to come to their schools. It requires
walking through mire and muck. It brings with it the fear that someone will
take issue with their work, and thus take issue with them. There are positives
and negatives that come with very a habit. On the upside, people who are
looking for help can easily identify you. On the downside, people are looking
to cause trouble can easily identify you. So searching involves risks that a
lot of people don’t think about for the sisters.
Fr. Felice asked if we welcome or search. Do we do the easy
or the difficult? We'll have to decide ourselves which one we pursue.
Interesting Stories of the Week:
- I got to go back to Mazzarello for a few days (more like a day and a half, but still) and it was awesome! Except apparently the electricity did some sort of surge thing and literally melted basically everything that was connected to a port when it happened. Which meant that the kids had no power from Saturday until yesterday when the electricians were able to come and get the problem under control. So we got to break out the kerosene lamps!
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| The girls set those lamps on fire! |
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| And then used them to eat dinner and study |
- You know what, I just really like taking pictures of flowers.
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| So this is the rose Day 1, 9:00 am |
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| Rose Day 1, 6:00 pm |
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| Rose Day 2, 9:00 am |
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| Rose Day 2, 3:00 pm |
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| Rose Day 2, 6:30 pm |
- I also downloaded the Hamilton soundtrack for one of the sisters here (she’s Spanish!). She is totally into musicals and we talked about the Tony’s and the different musicals we’ve seen and it just made me really happy!
Project Update
I have created a fund!
Perfect timing considering the unexpected expenses that have just been piled on
Mazzarello Village after the electrical surge destroyed a significant number of
lights and appliances. So please, follow the instructions below to donate to
Mazzarello Village! I’ll post more about what the fund will be going towards in
my next post, but the information is all in the link below as well!
Donations may be tax-deductible. Send through VIDES+USA.
Be sure to dedicate your gift to
"Kenya-Mazzarello Fund."
(1) Use a credit card at PayPal or Network for Good
on the VIDES+USA donate web page
(2) Or mail a check made out to VIDES to: Sister Mary Gloria
Mar 6019 Buena Vista Street, San Antonio, TX 78237 USA.
Kwaheri na Asante! (Goodbye and Thank you!)
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