Let's Bring Jesus to the Heart of the People

Below is an account of a Mission Trip from Sr. Sophia Marie and her students at Colegio Mallinckrodt in Juncal, Buenos Aires, Argentina. They spent one week in the Argentine Province of Corrientes.

After months of prayer and spiritual deeds of love and sacrifice, deciding on a motto, planning, organizing, fundraisers, food and clothing drives, students putting together catechetical material for kids, teens and parents, and shipping boxes of donations and supplies, with great excitement and enthusiasm, 96 missionaries gave a week of their winter vacation and left Buenos Aires at 7pm on Friday evening, July 17, in two coach buses, heading 11 hours northeast towards the province of Corrientes.

During the sendoff Mass, we were given a wooden Missionary cross that was to symbolize our motto “Let Us Bring Jesus to the Hearts of the People”. For the next week we would be going at the invitation of the Bishop of Corrientes, to an area served by Fr. Daniel, who is in charge of two parishes

and 25 Chapels.

We were assigned four separate rural locations with their Chapels as our field of mission: Casualidad, Gobernador Martinez, Cafarrenio and Yatay Ti Calle. The local schools of these four places would become our home, as classrooms were transformed into dining rooms and bedrooms, packed with air mattresses and sleeping bags.

Once we had swept, mopped and made ourselves comfortable in our new home, we divided ourselves into 5 groups who would take turns throughout the week.

Daily in the mornings between 9am and 1pm, four groups would walk to the homes, introduce themselves, pray for and with the families, and invite the children, youth, and parents to join us daily for evening Mass or a Communion Service. Then from 4 - 7pm we had games, catechesis, fellowship and refreshments.

The fifth group would stay home in the mornings and make breakfast, clean, and prepare lunch; and a different group in the afternoons would prepare hot chocolate and snacks for the kids, as well as our evening meal.

It was so touching to experience the gratitude and tears of the people as we would come to their homes to visit and pray with them, to give them a blessing, but most importantly, to listen to them and their life story. What a privilege having been allowed to share this sacred space, to see these kids’ transformation throughout the week as they came out of their shells and shyness, and hear the beautiful sound of joyful laughter as they played soccer, jumped rope, eagerly awaited their snack or learned about the love of God during their catechesis!

To know that at least during the week we were there, Mass would be celebrated and the sacrament of reconciliation offered more than just the usual once a month if at all, was worth any sacrifice we could have faced.

All priceless gifts of grace !

What an amazing week of blessings it was to have the possibility of experiencing Jesus together “in the heart of the people”, not only with the 22 missionaries that were in my small community; but with so many beautiful people in Yatay Ti Calle. We were received into their homes as if we were family and over a sip of “mate” shared not only their joys, struggles, hopes and fears, but also the very essence of who they are. And like the Widow’s mite, they shared all they had to offer.

Pope Francis said: “Go, do not be afraid, and serve. Follow these three words: Go, do not be afraid, and serve. If you follow these three ideas, you will experience that the one who evangelizes is evangelized; the one who transmits the joy of faith receives joy. Person-to-person apostolate means spending time on our neighbor, and its strength is nothing other than prayer, charity-filled patience, understanding, friendship and love for freedom. It means coming out of ourselves to be concerned about others and share with them the truest and most beautiful thing we have: our Christian vocation.”