By Missioners

Maryknoll stories from around the world

During a recent parish fiesta in Mérida, Mexico, I was sitting comfortably in a chair—for Mexicans have a tradition of taking good care of senior citizens—and watching the young people dancing, especially one 16-year old boy named Josue. Later, I asked him who taught him to be such a terrific dancer that all the señoritas wanted to dance with him. He replied, "My mother taught me to dance at home and said I should have something to talk about when dancing with the señoritas."

"Does you mother like your music?" I asked.

"No, my mother does not like our music," he replied, "but she knows that we like it."

What a terrific mother!
Robert V. Tobin, M.M.

 

One of the poor families I visit as part of my mission in Taichung, Taiwan, is a single mother trying to raise her teenage son. Like many young people his age, John is careless, avoids responsibility, and is wound up in a world that concerns only himself. Recently John's relationship with his mother had been strained more than usual, and with Mother's Day coming up, I was afraid that John would completely forget it. Several days during prayers I asked God to help John remember Mother's Day and do something nice that would touch his mother's heart. John has only a part-time job with very little salary, so I wasn't expecting that he buy his mother an expensive gift but rather just do something to show his love and appreciation for her. 

A few days after Mother's Day I stopped by to visit, and I asked the mother how Mother's Day had been for her. She broke into a big smile and then chuckled. It seems John had spent most of his meager salary to buy her gourmet seafood as a special gift for Mother's Day. The gesture touched his mother's heart, but John was so disappointed when she gently told him she couldn't eat any of it. In John's eagerness to please his mother, he forgot she was allergic to seafood!
Katrina Eggert, M.M.

Recently, Maryknoll Sister Marilyn Belt passed away in Bolivia after countless years of service here. She was a tough woman who was active until a few months before her death, which is why she died in Cochabamba, Bolivia, where I serve as a Maryknoll lay missioner, rather than in the United States. Although no one from Marilyn's biological family in the States was able to attend her funeral, her death brought together her Maryknoll family of priests, Brothers, Sisters and lay missioners who also serve in Bolivia.

Just last year being in mission in Bolivia, I was unable to attend the funeral of my grandmother, but now I was able to attend Sister Marilyn's funeral as a "grandson" in our Maryknoll family. It was an experience that revealed what we only strive to describe with words. The Maryknoll family of missioners, thrown together by chance but held together by love for one another, is a lived example of Jesus' message—we are all family. Sister Marilyn's family in Bolivia wasn't just limited to Maryknollers. The church was filled with Bolivians who had become her family because of her love for them. Being a model of God's family, bound together by our love for one another, may just be the most important thing any of us will accomplish in mission or in life.
Jason Obergfell, MKLM