Shared by Xaverine Mukatabaza, Nairobi Kodek Community, Kenya
In our world of today, there are so many situations and events that are happening, and we have no control over them. The wars, famine, floods, displacements, unemployment, etc. Climate change is also causing famine and the high cost of living in our societies.
For example, in some parts of the countries, there has been no rain for some years, which has caused drought and famine. People are wondering, how are we going to survive? Even if the government leaders are to support the people, will they satisfy the people who were used to feeding themselves, to getting fresh food from their own gardens? The lands have been destroyed by chemicals that are being put in the soil. How are we going to survive all these? People are dying left and right, affected by diseases that even the doctors are not able to tell what kind of sicknesses they are.
Let me give you a story of the daughter of my cousin. She was seriously sick in the hospital. The problem was a swelling of the stomach. She was nine years old. They took her to the hospital, but the doctors did not discover what the child was suffering from. They only waited for her last day. It was very painful and traumatizing for the parents. But one thing that I appreciate about this child, she was very courageous; she was ever telling her mother to pray and pray because the world is changing so fast. The mother could not understand. A few days later, the child died.
From the words of this child to her mother, we see how God came to her rescue in order to encourage the mother and her grandmother who were with her in the hospital crying. Her message was clear to her parents, the solution was not to cry for her, the solution was only to pray for courage and strength. Let us act where we can instead of crying and talking day and night without taking a move.
The child herself discovered the sufferings in the world, and she asked the mother to be praying. That was the invitation not only to her mother but also to those whom I am sharing this story with today.
My dear brothers and sisters, our world is changing day by day. People and their surroundings are living in the world of competition and development. Sometimes we are confused, while other times we feel consoled and hope for the future. What can help us to remain hopeful, trusting, and courageous despite what we see and go through?
One thing that keeps me alive and awake is daily meditation on the Word of God. People of Israel suffered, but that was not the end. Their time of joy and celebration in the Promised Land came.
Mary, mother of Jesus, we all know the story of how she suffered seeing her son dying. Even she held the dead body of her son on her lap. We can imagine how she felt. But at the end, you can imagine when Jesus appeared to her and said, “Mum, I am alive.” I believe Mary sang the Magnificat like the day of the Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth.
There are other stories that we can learn from, how to be resilient and perseverant in the middle of life’s challenges.
Did you know that the sunflower turns towards every movement of the sun?
Some say that when the evening comes, all the sunflowers turn towards each other to console and comfort one another until morning comes and the sun rises.
This is how our life together should look like. We need each other whether we like it or not. “No man is an island.” We are created to live in relationship with each other, and we are created that we may give life to each other and support one another.
The images of these sunflowers remind us of our vocation as missionaries. We go out to give and receive life, and when we come together in the community, we share what we have lived throughout the day. I believe those two sunflowers facing each other might be in deep sharing of how they enjoyed the sun and so forth. We can ask ourselves, if the people whom we are staying with or whom we encounter daily: are we life-giving to them?
There is a formation I followed on transforming tomorrow, change with hope. What touched me a lot was “the invitation to be Christ to others.”
“The prayer is to listen with the ears of Jesus, to see with the eyes of Jesus, to feel with the heart of Jesus, to touch with the hands of Jesus and to think with the mind of Jesus in a world that is competitive. Jesus is able to help us slow down and move with new strength and courage.”
We know very well the world that Jesus lived in. Despite the challenges of his time, he was able to laugh with those who laughed, to rejoice with those who rejoiced, and also to weep with those who wept. This is an invitation for each one of us to find balance in our life and in the life of the people whom we serve.
I think this is what we need in our religious communities and in our society today. To let Christ mold us once again into the image that he wants us to be in the world of today and to give us a compassionate heart to heal, to touch and to restore the wounded hearts of our brothers and sisters.
Let us pray that Christ may help us to truly let ourselves be molded by him so that we may become the transformers of tomorrow and changers with hope. Many people count on you and me, let us not discourage them by our harsh words or behaviors; rather, let us carry within us the heart of Jesus even if we face the difficult moments.
Let us keep this in mind: your smile, your gentle gestures, your compassionate heart and your soft voice are a healing for so many traumatized and voiceless people.
“I’ve learnt that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
