Joseph Andrise, 29, a teacher from Notre Dame de Lamerci de Robillard school in Haiti, with her first grade students. (Photo by Oscar Leiva/Silverlight for Catholic Relief Services)
OFFICE FOR SOCIAL MINISTRY
“The compassion shown by the Good Samaritan is an image of the infinite mercy of God, who always sees our needs and draws near to us in love.” (Pope Francis, as quoted in the 2018 CRS Rice Bowl Calendar)
Along with the Good Samaritan, what are some other images of God’s infinite mercy in our midst today?
Hawaii is blessed with two saints, Damien de Veuster and Marianne Cope, whose images are in nearly every parish and in many public places throughout our Islands. These saints’ lives are inspiring reflections of the “mercy of God” with the vulnerable. On March 11, Bishop Larry Silva led a pilgrimage to Kalaupapa following in the footsteps of St. Damien and St. Marianne who showed us how God draws near to us in love through accompanying persons in need. That same weekend, parishioners from Mary, Star of the Sea Parish on Oahu were also encountering Christ by sharing some of their Sunday talking story and doing crossword puzzles with some of the remaining Hansen’s disease patients at Leahi hospital.
On that same weekend, other parishioners from Windward Oahu parishes experienced God drawing near in love when they gathered to pray with women inside the Women’s Community Correctional Center. These parishioners also accompany women after they are released from WCCC, transporting them to and from Mercy House, their transitional home, and helping them secure documentation for social services and employment as well as educational opportunities needed to successfully re-enter their communities.
Over on the Big Island, parishioners at Malia Puka O Kalani, at the end of their weekend Masses, were viewing Catholic Relief Services Rice Bowl videos of vulnerable persons in far-away places overcoming natural and man-made challenges. At the same Masses, the parish collected donations for their food pantry run by the Knights of Columbus serving persons in need. After Mass, some parishioners, nourished by the Eucharist, went to share Communion in elderly care homes and hospitals.
One of the videos from Rice Bowl 2018 being shared this Lent in churches, in classrooms and in homes around the family dinner table, shows how God draws near to us in love through people in Haiti reaching out in the midst of natural disasters and crushing poverty.
“Education is the foundation of everything,” says Joseph Andrise, who’s been teaching for 11 years at the same elementary school in northern Haiti from which she graduated. A lot has changed since she was a student. CRS has partnered with the Catholic Education Commission to provide new teaching techniques and resources for students.
“We use poems, dances, songs — all sorts of activities to help the students improve their literacy,” Andrise says. And unlike before, every student has books of their own. The students love it, and Andrise was named “teacher of the year” at her school.
“They call me ‘my mother’ and I call them ‘my son, my daughter’” she says. “They’ve already promised that next year, when they’re in second grade, they’ll take time out of their recess to come and visit me.”
This year’s Lenten Rice Bowl materials relate Andrise experience to the ninth Station of the Cross where Jesus Falls for a Third Time by pointing out that teachers like Andrise believe they can help their students understand that we all fall, but God is always drawing near to help us get back up.
To learn more about Haiti, please visit www.crsricebowl.org and also please check out how Rice Bowl 2018 is happening this Lent in Hawaii at www.officeforsocialministry.org/ricebowl or www.catholichawaii.org/ricebowl. These sites show some of the images and resources which can help us all experience God “who always sees our needs, and draws near to us in love.”
Mahalo,
Your friends at the Office for Social Ministry
