Jesus we trust in you!

 Blessed 1st week of Easter to each of you Holy People!

It has been a busy season here, as I am sure it has been for you as we together learn how to serve and love others like Jesus. And as we approach the 2 Sunday of Easter along with the Church we reflect on the Divine Mercy of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, we must trust in our Lord Jesus Christ in His mercy for not only ourselves but for all souls. 

With that being said, I wanted to reach out to you and honor you and to give you a short update of all the blessings we have been grateful to receive here. Reflecting on the immense mercy and love that Jesus has poured out over His poor here that we entrusted Him to we are filled with words of gratefulness and thanks which resound within my prayers for each one of you for your love and your partnership.  There is no doubt that the poor here have encounter a Christ like love, and they have had many real encounters with the living Christ because your works of Mercy, so thank you! 

Jesus no doubt is pleased with your merciful gestures and attitudes as we recall the words of JPII when he said 

"It is important then that we accept the whole message that comes to us from the word of God on this Second Sunday of Easter, which from now on throughout the Church will be called "Divine Mercy Sunday". In the various readings, the liturgy seems to indicate the path of mercy which, while re-establishing the relationship of each person with God, also creates new relations of fraternal solidarity among human beings. Christ has taught us that "man not only receives and experiences the mercy of God, but is also called "to practise mercy' towards others:  "Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy' (Mt 5: 7)"  He also showed us the many paths of mercy, which not only forgives sins but reaches out to all human needs. Jesus bent over every kind of human poverty, material and spiritual."

"His message of mercy continues to reach us through his hands held out to suffering man. This is how Sr Faustina saw him and proclaimed him to people on all the continents when, hidden in her convent at £agiewniki in Kraków, she made her life a hymn to mercy:  Misericordias Domini in aeternum cantabo."

"It is not easy to love with a deep love, which lies in the authentic gift of self. This love can only be learned by penetrating the mystery of God's love. Looking at him, being one with his fatherly heart, we are able to look with new eyes at our brothers and sisters, with an attitude of unselfishness and solidarity, of generosity and forgiveness. All this is mercy!"

Pope John Paul II Homily, MASS IN ST PETER'S SQUARE FOR THE CANONIZATION OF SR MARY FAUSTINA KOWALSKA, Sunday, 30 April 2000

So, with our hearts focused on such DIVINE MERCY, it is only fitting to share with you just a few of the amazing and incredible ways our Risen Lord has been working this past season. Amazing things happen when we Trust in Jesus ! 

 

Home visits with a special Guest

Yesterday Father Gilber came up the mountain and spent most of the morning allowing us to take him on home visits to the elderly that we visit each week. He heard their confessions and ministered the anointing of the sick to those who needed it. It is such a blessing, and the morning filled my heart to have Father with us, to have his presence in the homes that we visit gives us so much hope and joy to the poor, but I feel rekindle with affirmation a fire in our hearts as well.  

Lent

Lent was a blessed time for us as a community, we as a community walked and prayed the stations of the cross each Friday. We walked many hours in rain and darkness, and God used this time to bear a lot of fruit, allow areas of forgiveness among community members, allowed opportunities for new friendships and sparked knew hope among many.  

 

Holy Week

We spent Thursday with our Community here and spent the night with Jesus in the Garden. On Friday we had our last Stations of the cross and ended the night with the Celebration of the Word and with the community receiving communion.

Two new short-term guests

At the beginning of Holy week, we received a new mother and her young son. After here Court hearing she is planning to return to her parent’s home, which will be in a few weeks. Please pray that Jesus allows us many opportunities to love her and her son well before they go.

 

Back to School

In March the week before Holy Week the Peruvian children country wide went back to school.

Because of your generosity we were able to provide a small portion of school supplies to all of the children in our pueblo, and we were able to purchase uniforms, shoes, backpacks and all school supplies needed for the year for 15 children that needed a bit more help this year.

College also started back up during the middle of March for Karina.  And we have two new college students this year, Tonya a single mother who completed her Highschool while pregnant is now enrolled in studies to become a teacher, and Gabriel my son was accepted into Holy Apostle College and Seminary to begin dual credit courses through their online program. I ask you to please keep them all in your prayers.

 

Karina 

Tonya with her baby Gorgina

Gabriel and his stoic pose 

Theology of the Body Retreat for teens

At the beginning of Lent, Gabriel and I hosted a Theology of the Body retreat for teens, It was a 4 day intense retreat that dove deep into the question why God create us, and for what purpose? We discussed topic such as, being created for love, loving freely, the language of the body, Marriage, Celibacy, how to discover their vocation, and the purpose of purity. The reaction was positive among the youth that attended. However, I fear it may not have been so for some of the parents.

I say this because one of the young ladies who attended the retreat who lives with her mother and younger brother, I found out earlier this week, was given away to an older man by her mother. Seleny is only 15 years old, quiet, respectful, and very meek. I try to not allow myself to get angry, because I can only image Seleny’s mother feels she was doing good by finding her daughter a man who would take care of her. Perhaps I should be angrier with the fact that it is the sad reality that the poor are faced with here.

In any event it just shows how much more work is still needed here in order that women are treated with dignity and respect.  Please pray for Seleny, her mother, and for Gabreil and I as we navigate the next steps of this situation. Pray that somehow, we can get her back and that her mother will come to recognize her daughter needs her, and her protection and wisdom.

The young lady with the heart around her is Seleny 

The youth and the talk about mistaken Identities, what the world says we are vs what God says we are

The youth and the talk about mistaken Identities, what the world says we are vs what God says we are

The youth and the talk about mistaken Identities, what the world says we are vs what God says we are

The new chapel for Santa Clara is almost complete

We have just a bit more work to do before the Chapel in Santa Clara is complete.  The floors are done the brick walls almost ready to be painted and just a few more finishing touches to be made before the new chapel will be blessed. Stay tuned for more pictures as we get closer to completion.

Gabriel and I cannot thank you enough for your prayers and financial support. The mission here would not exist without your love and mercy. And though we could never repay you, please be confident that we are praying for you daily and that we beg Jesus to see the good work you are doing for His beloved poor. 

May We Learn to Love Like Jesus! 

Mission Post:

Casa de Santa María Magdalena:

Caserio Santa Clara, Amazonas, Peru

Follow the link below to learn more about Santa Maria Magdalena´s home, its mission, and how to partner with us.

https://www.familymissionscompany.com/santa-maria.../

By the power of the Eucharist, We are sent!

     

This past week I have really been reflecting on how my life has been transformed. And how grateful I am for the community of beautiful people I have around me everyday.  With that I have also been reflecting on the immense love I have for each member within it. This love is not by my own merit but from the Eucharist, from Jesus himself, from a real encounter I had with him.

     The encounter I experienced was so personal and though years ago, it still is very much a part of my life still today. In short, the encounter transformed me, and that experience gave me a burning desire for others to have an opportunity to experience Jesus in the same way I had. To experience his love, mercy, and forgiveness.

    You see, years back one night I laid prostrate in front of the Blessed Sacrament alone, crying, and screaming because I felt that I had been forsaken. I was in a pit of dark sin and temptations that haunted me since I was a young girl. I was broken and had been ripped apart by what the world had offered me. I felt like I had no one that cared or loved me. But then in the midst of my dramatic childlike tantrum, I heard the words “Stop crying, it has been long enough my dear, get up and follow me, I need you, I love you”! In an instant my tears, fears and sadness were gone. There is really no human reality in which as mortals we can ever fully understand what happen, so I will not bother trying to convince you. However, by faith I believe it was a mystical experience, an experience of being transported to some higher reality, because that night I saw Jesus’s face, I felt him touch me. This encounter changed my life forever, and every encounter since, be it, through receiving communion or during adoration or through serving His beloved Poor in Peru has been for me, an intimate encounter with Jesus.

    Jesus, knew my faults, my sins, and every time I denied him. Yet he came to me and picked me up off the floor, He held me and whispered in my ear just how much he loves me. He asked nothing in return from me, nor did he find me not worthy of His love.

    This encounter I had with “The Lord, who breaks no one, yet allows himself to be broken. The Lord who does not demand sacrifices, but sacrifices himself, freely giving himself to me”, asking nothing from me, was incredible and Divine.  He held me and loved me and gave me new life in him and invited me to follow him.

    There was a burning desire in my heart to tell others of my experience and found that my personal experience of love and healing that I had with Jesus in the Eucharist was not just for me to keep for myself but to share with others. When he told me to stop crying and invited me to follow him, he was inviting me to share my experience of His living presence in the Eucharist to those who are suffering, sick, held captive by sin, and forgotten. He invited me to share His love with others.

     It has been said that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life! (CCC1324) And Pope John Paul II said, we should feel the missionary spirit, we should feel “sent as missionaries of the Eucharist" to carry to every environment the great gift received.”

     Perhaps to better understand we should reflect on the words of the Archbishop of India, Telesphore Toppo, who wrote about the effects and the mandate we receive at the sacrifice of the Mass “We are sent out into the world to make the symbols of the Eucharistic worship become realities of a Eucharistic life. We go out into the world after the Eucharist challenged by the word of God, prophetically charged by the Spirit of the risen Lord and committed to work for the transformation of the world. This is the meaning of the phrase: We proclaim your death O Lord, until you come. That is, we are going out to continue the work of Christ to bring about the Kingdom of God where Divine love will be translated into human love, where Divine life will be manifested in communion, where creation will be transformed into a new earth and new heaven in which all the peoples of the world will live as brothers and sisters. The Eucharist empowers us to do this. This is the ultimate goal of all our Eucharistic celebrations”.

     So, this week as we the Universal Church we celebrate the Solemnity of the Most Holy Body, and Blood of Christ or Corpus Christi, (depending where you are in the world it could have been celebrated this past Thursday, the 1^st Thursday after Trinity Sunday or like here in Peru it is celebrated on the 1^st Sunday following Trinity Sunday). It is only fitting to say by the power of the Eucharist we are called to go out and bring the Jesus we have so intimately experienced and known personally,  to others who do not yet know Him.  We are called to go out with enthusiasm, without fear, without counting the cost, and with courage and a boldness within us, telling our testimonies from the rooftops, so all will know what Jesus has done for us in our own lives! Not by our own merit do we set out, but by the power of the Eucharist, we are to become tabernacles in procession to those in need of His love.

 

 Mission Post: Santa Maria Magdalena's Home 

Caserio Santa Clara, Amazonas, Peru   

Contact us with your prayer intentions, follow our blog, or make a donation at the following links.
Email:  karendelcastillo@familymissionscompany.com
Web Site: delcastillo.familymissionscompany.com
Santa Maria Magdalena's Home

My 1st year in the mission field in 2018, 
 I saw this done by one of our missionaries at our 1st mission post and had to recreate it and incorporate it into our ministries. 

This past Thursday we had a special adoration here at Santa Maria Magdalena’s home for the Feast of Corpus Christi. The night began with testimonies and teaching about Eucharist Miracles, followed by a procession of the Blessed Sacrament, starting with mediation on Mother Mary as the very 1st Tabernacle than the procession took us to the Chapel in where we meditated on Jesus’s presence before us, offering himself to us,  his humble poor,  so that we may taste the sweetness of his love, mercy and experience if we dare to choose such a divine life with Him and in Him. Knowing full well that He will inflame our hearts in such a way that we become tabernacles in procession to those who need His love and mercy.