In missionary life, one experiences many joys, but one also shares the sadness and abandonment in which our faithful live, as in the case of our elderly. It happens that when we visit them we often find them alone, abandoned by their children, who have gone to the city and live there, forgetting those who previously gave them everything and worked for them. Others have not married or got married, but the spouse died, leaving them alone. Seeing them wiping their faces with their calloused hands, wishing each other death to finally rest, touches the depths of our souls. We embrace and comfort them, listen to them, and invite them to pray. They fervently get down on their knees, though sometimes they can’t even walk. Even so, sometimes they smile. We try to bring them some food, sometimes some hot food. We often return to our convent with a heavy heart.
On one occasion we visited Mr. Mauro, who has been crippled for more than forty years, his mother died and he is now cared for by his sister, who is separated from her husband. When he saw us, he began to cry and told us that his sister had gone to live with her new partner and that he had not eaten for days. We asked the neighbours to bring her food and we gave them food to prepare the meals, because for us this little village is far away from our convent, which does not allow us to visit them more often. In order to move around, Mr. Mauro crawls along a ditch on the ground and can barely hold a spoon with his hands. We wiped his face, but he refused to eat, just crying for God to take him away. With this pain in our hearts we went to our convent, worried and praying to God for him.
The following week we visited him again, and he was very happy because his sister had returned. She is also an old lady, so I could not reproach her for anything. But she alone had bathed her brother, washed his clothes and blankets. A great joy for us, God knows how to arrange things in his own way.
On the other hand, our grandparents are also funny. A little old lady had to go to the city to collect her bonus, and thanks to a lady who lives next door, she made herself very pretty for her trip. When she got there, she got out of the van with two walking sticks to support herself. When the people saw her with those canes, they kindly gave her a pass and took care of her. Then, taking advantage of her trip to the city, she started shopping: vegetables, fruit and groceries. We recommended that she also buy new clothes and some warm clothes. She paid for everything from the van. It was very curious to see that she was happy to take care of her bills herself, paying every penny.
We were very happy after doing him this favour, because the Lord uses us to relieve his children in their pain, loneliness and suffering. May the Lord bless and protect our elderly.
Madre Soledad MJVV
