Life is filled with challenges. In these days, especially, our own reality may seem like an endless Good Friday, as we face perhaps the serious illness of someone we love, or maybe job loss and financial difficulties, or simply the trials of daily living.
For the poor in a remote area of northern Zambia, life too could appear a never-ending stream of hardships. They live in an isolated area, nine hours from the nearest town, a distance marked by mountains and dangerous cliffs.
Sisters offer hope in Zambia
These men, women, and children lack the basic necessities of life. It would seem that they could find little that offers hope — except that the Sisters are with them.
The Servants of the Mary Immaculate Sisters began their work at Our Lady of Sorrows mission in the Luano Valley some five decades ago. Today their convent — falling down and in desperate need of repair — is in sharp contrast to the uplifting, life-giving service they offer to those in this part of their homeland.
Five Sisters work among these villagers. One, Sister Juliet, is a nurse; others teach at the mission school. They help to raise fruits and vegetables for themselves and the people.
The Sisters visit the elderly and the sick; they care for the littlest ones as well, helping them to realize from an early age how much the Lord loves them.
“They have a heart for the people,” said one man. “They give us a message of hope and joy, even with the struggles we face.”
Giving in Thailand
In another part of the missions, a heart’s longing led to similar loving service. Growing up in Thailand, Anurak Chiayaphuek watched her friends marry and start families. “But there was something inside of me, calling me,” she says. “My heart wanted more.”
She answered her heart’s “call” by joining a local Religious community, the Good Shepherd Sisters. “I became a Sister to give God’s love to everyone, especially the poor, the underprivileged,” Sister Anurak explained.
Today she works in northern Thailand with girls rescued from human trafficking and slavery. She also visits local families, offering information on HIV/AIDS, and, along with it, always a “caring heart.”
“Today, my heart is satisfied, joyous in my service to the Lord,” she said.
‘Heart for the people’
This Lent, would you “have a heart for the people” of the missions, like the Sisters in Zambia, and provide a “caring heart,” like Sister Anurak in Thailand? Would you offer your support for Sisters throughout the Developing World?
As little as $1 for each day of Lent — $40 in total — can help continue the efforts of these Sisters, as they offer the suffering and the poor an Easter message of hope and joy. It is a message all of us, in our own struggles, need to hear.
Please know that you and your own difficulties, great and small, are remembered in the prayers of those you support in the missions. May you face your Good Friday challenges, ever mindful and strengthened by the hope of our Lord’s Resurrection!
Msgr. Delbert Schmelzer is director of the Propagation of the Faith for the Diocese of Madison. Contributions to the Propagation of the Faith may be sent to: P.O. Box 44983, Madison, WI 53744-4983.