The Mission in Malawi and Zambia

Witnesses of Love

Fighting against AIDS

Sister Cristina Vargas Rivera, of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, has been working at the Ilute AIDS Clinic, in the Mongu District, Zambia, since 2001. This clinic takes care of pregnant women who have AIDS and prevents the transmission of AIDS to their newborn children. This is her missionary experience.

Zambia has a population of more than 15 million, and it is estimated that 15 percent of the adult population between 16 and 49 years of age is infected with the AIDS virus. This means that 2.5 million people are living with the virus.

Sister Cristina lives her consecration to Christ in this context. She takes care of the pregnant women infected with AIDS that come to the Mongu AIDS Clinic with generosity, love and professionalism day by day. These women are also informed of ways to prevent the transmission of the virus during pregnancy, at childbirth and in breastfeeding. They receive support and food for the children for 18 months.

“We founded the mission in 2001 in response to an invitation of the Bishop of Mongu”, explained Sister Cristina, and she added: “Zambia is divided into provinces and Mongu is the capital of the Western Province. We work specifically in a rural clinic located in the Ilute area, in cooperation with the Health Ministry. Our task is to prevent the transmission of the AIDS virus from the mothers to the babies. Since this project started in 200, we have taken care of more than a thousand women with excellent results.  In the last year and a half the virus has not been transmitted to a single baby, due to the training their mothers have received regarding the care they should give to the children.

Currently, 14 persons participate in this project. Some are volunteers (women who have the AIDS virus), two sisters (Sister Cecilia Zavala Esparza and Sister Cristina), and several professional nurses. Right now, the clinic is taking care of 15 pregnant women. But how does this project work? Sister Cristina explains: “The pregnant woman comes to the clinic for a HIV test. If it is positive, she is given medical treatment free of charge with the support of the Zambia government and of donations received from different foreign countries. The future mothers feel sad when they discover that they are infected, but they have an open attitude. In the clinic we have a section called “Support” where the women express how they are living due to this illness and we help them to handle it so they have a positive attitude”.

Sister Cristina added: “We give the women retroviral treatment, multi-vitamins and lectures. When the child is born, we give them support for 18 months; they receive food for the baby and medical checkups to monitor their development. For example, previously during the first six months, mothers did not breastfeed their babies for fear of virus transmission, and we gave them formulas; but now, due to scientific advances, it is possible for them to breastfeed their babies. We teach them to do it correctly and we give them soap and Vaseline. After six months, we give the mothers the ingredients to prepare a nutritious drink for their babies, which includes peanuts, ground cereal and sugar”.

The Sisters have made great efforts and have had many achievements in this clinic. Sister Cristina explains: “Zambia is one of the countries with higher levels of AIDS. A lot of work has been done in the field of education in order to destroy the stigma toward people who are infected with the virus, but there is still much work to be done”.

She tells us that she feels fulfilled serving God by serving her patients. “My life is consecrated to God and I give life to my consecration through service to the needy and vulnerable, the AIDS patients here. This is the charism we received from our founder, the French Bishop Claude Marie Dubuis. He used to say that the needy were expecting help from our hands. I see Jesus Christ in each one of the mothers and the babies. It is great to see them when they are born and to see them grow. For example, Ruth is a woman who came to us infected by the virus when she was pregnant. Her child is now six years old, is in the elementary school and is a healthy child. She directs an educational theater group with other mothers and is a great leader and an excellent woman. I am very grateful to God, to my Congregation and especially to Doctor Liguali, who has always supported this program. I feel supported by my Congregation and by the Health System”, said Sister Cristina with a happy attitude.

[[photo: Sister Cecilia weighs a child

The voice of a nurse

“My name is Florence Isinonge and I am in charge of the NeedProgram at the Ilute Clinic. I am a nurse specialized in obstetrics. I have been working in this program since 2009, teaching the young mothers how to take care of their babies, especially to breastfeed them adequately because they have the HIV virus. Previously, they did not breastfeed their babies for fear of transmitting the virus to them; in this program things have changed and now they can breastfeed them without fear of transmitting the virus to them.

I feel happy and grateful for the opportunity to work in this program because we give a new opportunity to the mothers infected with HIV-AIDS and to their children. If they breastfeed them adequately, they will be free of this illness. I belong to the International Pentecostal Christian denomination “Bread of Life”.  I believe that we can help all people regardless of their religion, because we are all human beings and therefore, there are no frontiers among us. I also enjoy praying with them, because prayer, especially when we start working, gives us the strength to help others”.

Written by: Claudia Villalobos

Interviewer, Jorge DECELIS

  

Jubilee of Mercy

Our congregation has a as our charism the call the love of God as shown in the Incarnation a real and tangible presence in the world today. Pope Francis said 'In this Holy Year, we look forward to the experience of opening our hearts to those living on the outermost fringes of society: fringes which modern society itself creates. How many uncertain and painful situations there are in the world today! How many are the wounds borne by the flesh of those who have no voice because their cry is muffled and drowned out by the indifference of the rich! During this Jubilee, the Church will be called even more to heal these wounds, to assuage them with the oil of consolation, to bind them with mercy and cure them with solidarity and vigilant care. Let us not fall into humiliating indifference or a monotonous routine that prevents us from discovering what is new! Let us ward off destructive cynicism! Let us open our eyes and see the misery of the world, the wounds of our brothers and sisters who are denied their dignity, and let us recognize that we are compelled to heed their cry for help! May we reach out to them and support them so they can feel the warmth of our presence, our friendship, and our fraternity! May their cry become our own, and together may we break down the barriers of indifference that too often reign supreme and mask our hypocrisy and egoism!' 

So, for us, this eclesial time is very important because Love, is our Mission.

BULL OF INDICTION 
OF THE EXTRAORDINARY
 JUBILEE OF MERCY: http://bit.do/bzpU6 

News about Jubilee of Mercy: http://bit.do/bzpVG 

Ours is a lifelong commitment

By Sister Pauline Nugent, CCVI.

It’s been a privilege to spend my life as a vowed member of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word (CCVI) of San Antonio, Texas. Ours is a lifelong commitment to actualize the love of the Incarnate Word in the everyday ordinariness of daily life.  Sustained by a life of contemplative prayer and Community support, we learn to create a safe and sacred space in our relationship with others so that we may affirm the dignity and differences of those whom we serve. I learned by experience the reality of God’s love in the heart of my Irish Catholic family where my religious vocation was nurtured and supported through daily prayer and Christian living.  At age 15 years, I left all to follow Christ as a missionary, in a life-impacting decision that I never regretted.  This personal call, coupled with the dynamic and personal experience of God’s beneficent love for all His people, has filled me with inner joy and peace even in the midst of the challenges and vicissitudes of life.

My active ministry has been teaching—a profession I cherish and value deeply.   Regardless of the level of instruction or subject matter, I hold this noble profession as the ideal standpoint from which to exert the most far-reaching impact for good in the lives of people.  As a teenager I began with 1st graders— truly a joy beyond compare.  Later I taught Latin, French and German at Incarnate Word High School in San Antonio. Still later, I taught six levels of French to co-eds at Incarnate Word College in Galway, Ireland.  This fall (2014) is my 23rd year as a professor of Biblical Languages, teaching Latin, Greek and Hebrew at Missouri State University in Springfield, MO.  In a very real sense, my life has providentially come full circle, allowing me to fulfill the dream of being a missionary—the reason I left home, family and country so many decades ago.  Each day offers anew the privileged opportunity of interacting on a personal level with young adults—affirming, challenging and supporting them— as their life dreams unfold.  

It is my sincere hope and prayer that the parents of today will nurture in their families a deep and personal experience of the love of God and thus foster religious vocations who will witness to the faithful love of God in the 21st century and beyond.

A Small Seed that is Planted, Grows and becomes Immense

By Patricia Estrada, Novice

My entrance to the Novitiate took place on August 16, at 6:00 p.m. This was an important step for me; it means the confidence of those who believed in the value of little things that can be transformed gradually and silently, but fruitfully. This step means that I will continue growing, transplanted to another soil-one that will offer me the space to continue giving my best, following the callt of the Incarnate Word.

During my ceremony I was accompanied by several Sisters, which filled me with joy in knowing that I am not alone on my journey but that the Sower has placed other seeds nearby to accompany me.

I wish to express my thanks to the community (soil) that helped me germinate, sprout and grow, my Community at the Claudio School. I wish to thank my new community at the Nazareth Novitiate, which is now receiving me. I wish to thank the Congregation for accepting me, because in order for the seed to grow it needs the faith of the sower, the faith that there is life in the seed, the patience required to develop, and the confidence that all of this will bring forth abundant fruits for the service to the Kingdom of God.

I ask for your prayers, knowing that they will nurture and water my perseverance.

Sr. Peggy Bonnot a guiding light for local Hispanic ministry

Our sister Peggy Bonnot,CCVI  is one of the founders of El Puente Hispanic Ministry. For 16 years, she has given opportunities and assistance to  Spanish-speaking families bridge the gap between the two worlds of Latin America and the United States. Families immigrated to Missouri from numerous countries, including Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala. “I look back and say, ‘God is taking care of us. We must be doing something right, she said. “God wants us to continue so the doors stay open.”

Read more: http://bit.do/9tPd 

Sister Louise Ann Delisi

What a blessing it was for me that my parents chose to live in St. Ann's Parish and to send me and my three siblings to St. Ann's School when we moved to Texas from Memphis, Tennessee in 1936!

The Sisters of Charity of the lncarnate Word staffed our school and I can still name each teacher from each grade 1.It was during these years when I experienced the kindness of the Sisters, and the wonderful feeling that they loved us and respected us, that I began to desire to be a Sister “just like them."

However, while I was in High School, my social life was such fun that I began to tell God, "Don't call me. Call my sister, she's the holy one!" Now, after sixty-seven years in Religious Life, l can truly say that l am deeply grateful that God did not listen to me and that He gave me the grace to respond to His loving call.

Religious Life in general is now very different from the experience of those of us who became "Brides of Christ" in August of 1947, but the call, the intimate relationship with our Beloved Jesus, sharing in Community, and the opportunity to serve and accomplish much more as a congregation than one could ever do as an individual, remains the essence of Religious Life. Jesus promised us that if we would leave home and family (and lead a counter-culture lifestyle), He would provide a hundredfold of homes, families and life everlasting! [Matthew 19:29]. Jesus also promised, "l am with you always, until the end of the world!" [Matthew 28-20]. Jesus has been faithful. He has also understood my need for redemption and forgiveness; and especially my need for His love which allows me to pray with the psalmist: “One thing l ask of the Lord, this l seek, to dwell in the House of the Lord all my days, that l may gaze on the loveliness of the Lord." [Psalm 27].

Sister Louise Ann Delisi entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of the lncarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas in 1947 and made perpetual vows in 1955. For ten years Sister Louise served in ministry in elementary schools in San Antonio, Kerrville and San Angelo, Texas. For eighteen years Sister served as Business Manager at lncarnate Word College. She taught at lncarnate Word High School for four years, before moving to Austin, Texas to be near her elderly mother while she served as Adult Education Director in St. Louis Parish. Upon her return to San Antonio, Sister Louise worked for four years at St. Pius X School and five years at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa, before retiring to The Village at lncarnate Word.

Pope's Message for World Day of Prayer for Vocations

To hear and answer the Lord’s call is not a private and completely personal matter fraught with momentary emotion. Rather, it is a specific, real and total commitment which embraces the whole of our existence and sets it at the service of the growth of God’s Kingdom on earth. 

Recalling the biblical exodus from slavery in Egypt and, “ the origins of the amazing love story between God and his people,” Pope Francis calls the faithful to “decisively” turn their lives to the Lord. In his message for this, the 52nd World Day for Vocations, the Pope urges us to “leave behind our comfort and the inflexibility of our ego in order to centre our life in Jesus Christ” and to embrace the Church’s evangelizing mission in everything we do and everywhere we go.

Read all Pope's Message here:

http://c.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/vocations/documents/papa-francesco_20150329_52-messaggio-giornata-mondiale-vocazioni.html

Resources for the World Day of Prayer for Vocations:

http://www.worlddayofprayerforvocations.com

Petitionary prayers | Song | Vocation prayers

During the Year of Consecrated Life and beyond, we encourage liturgy planners to include petitionary prayers in each liturgy that celebrate the lives and witness of those in consecrated life and invite others to consider a religious vocation. 

We also hope that you will sing our specially commissioned song “Wake the world with dawning joy,” and include prayers for vocations in other parish services and resources.
See: http://www.vocationnetwork.org/articles/show/485-for-liturgists-petionary-prayers-song-vocation-prayers

Prayer for Discernment 

God our Father,
You have a plan for each one of us,
You hold out to us a future full of hope.
Give us the wisdom of your Spirit
so that we can see the shape of your plan
in the gifts you have given us,
and in the circumstances of our daily lives.
Give us the freedom of your Spirit,
to seek you with all our hearts,
and to choose your will above all else.
We make this prayer through Christ our Lord.

—Based on Jeremiah 29:11-13

SONG: Wake the world with dawning joy

The VISION Vocation Guide and the National Religious Vocation Conference commissioned world-renowned composer Steven Warner to write a song in honor of the Year of Consecrated Life. The result, “Wake the world with dawning joy".

AUDIO MULTILINGUAL (Verses in French, Italian, Spanish, and English)

In the Year of Consecrated Life, 2 interesting Videos.

The Game Life. Four friends enjoy some time together over a board game and learn something in the process.

Evangelization Prayer Intention. In response to the declaration of Pope Francis to celebrate a Year of Consecrated Life.

Year Dedicated to Consecrated Life

The first Circular Letter addressed to those in consecrated life has been published.  It opens the spiritual itinerary toward 2015, the year the Church is dedicating to Consecrated Life.The Letter entitled, “Rejoice”, written by the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, was presented on Wednesday, February 26, 2014.

The entire Letter is permeated with the Pope’s Magisterium and opens with an enthusing declaration, “I want to say a word to you and the word is JOY. Wherever there are consecrated people, there is always joy!”

The solid Biblical foundation of the Letter (Isaiah 66: 10-14 and 40: 1-2) is summarized in the key words:  Rejoice and Console. These words often return in moments of crisis, sadness, and sterility, to evoke God’s power of giving meaning and fullness of life, transforming a people of fragile bones, and opening new horizons of hope. God makes Jerusalem and all of us a joy, because when fear is removed, we can be a prophecy of joy and consolation for the world. The beauty of consecrated life lies here… it is the response to a call of love in the joy of a faithful yes. Read more: clic here