True mission isn’t about imposing but about immersing, learning, and loving, overcoming every personal and cultural barrier to bring consolation and hope to the persons with whom we serve.
The “Sweet Hearted Women” Group: Hope and Self-Sufficiency
My dynamic vision led me to take on the ambitious initiative of the ‘Sweet Hearted Women’s’ group, recognizing a critical need.
While it meant my efforts were initially “spread even thinner,” this expansion became a powerful force for holistic community development, empowering others and multiplying our collective impact – a profound consolation of shared purpose.
The idea came from realizing that many women, victims of forced displacement and living in the urban area, found themselves unemployed, thus lacking basic needs such as food.
This hard reality faced by many displaced families made the community reflect and seek strategies to respond to the situation.
After seeing and hearing the women’s great dream was to have land so that they could cultivate food and sustain their families. Surely, as the word of God goes, knock and the door will be open. Our first knock was at the municipality, seeking the possibility of allocating land to the women.
Surprisingly, the municipality granted two hectares of land. The formation and listening of women started, and they tirelessly worked on the land like ants, without resting until the land was all cultivated and planted.
This initiative had an impact far beyond simple sustenance. It helped the women not only to provide food for their families but also to find a place where they could share their lives and dreams.
The “chacra” (cultivated field) of the Sweet Hearted Women became a therapeutic place, where they share their secrets, worries, and offer each other support for the difficult situations experienced in their families.
These women have become a true family to one another. They encourage each other not only in agricultural activities but also in family development, saving, participation in Mass, and supporting the Church.
For me, all this translates the concept of consolation as a “significant presence with another person.”
Accompanying Youth: Sowing Trust and Future
Another significant experience was accompanying young people. My engagement with youth didn’t just start with catechism classes or with those who came to church.
My experience with them was about finding them in the town square, starting conversations, asking to play with them on the sports courts, and gradually, with the help of other young people who were interested in forming a youth group, we managed to form a stable group of 42 young people.
This group follows a methodology divided into 4 or 5 weeks in a month. The first week’s meeting is about catechetical formation, the second week is spiritual formation, the third week is mission, the fourth week is based on the life of the group, and when we have a fifth week, the youth meeting is based on evaluation and planning for the youths’ activities.
We encourage each other to be faithful in all activities projected for personal nourishment and growth, both spiritual, physically, and toward the concentration of a society and the planet we dream to live in.
After a long journey of accompaniment and reflection, the group has been able to stand alone to facilitate their formation and to be a group that can enlighten other groups within the jurisdiction and neighboring parishes.
The joy of hearing the young people, maybe who ask to receive the sacrament after being in the group, or pinpointing some mission that they see important and that they can do within society, is fulfilling.
We continue as a group listening to the impetus of the Holy Spirit who continues inviting the group to row the boat toward the deeper water of personal life. Thank be to God for this positive experience which has been fruit of many support from many well-wishers who have helped in spiritual support, material support, or emotional support.
The True Essence of Mission and Continuous Formation
This profound testimony reminds me that true mission isn’t about imposing but about immersing, learning, and loving, overcoming every personal and cultural barrier to bring consolation and hope to the persons with whom we serve.
Every experience, positive or negative, on life’s journey, helps me to grow and to attune my life towards true consolation, a mission that continues to illuminate and accompany my path.
Sr. Gladys, mc
