Hola!
Matthew 25:35-36
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
Matthew 25:35-36
“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
This was our scripture for today, and the theme was “Do Unto Me.”
We began our day very early, serving breakfast at 6 a.m. to a shelter that provides lodging for people visiting families/friends at the hospital and/or those needing medical attention. We also handed out blankets to them. Then we went across the street to serve breakfast to a home for expectant mothers who have come to Santa Rosa de Copán to deliver their babies. After serving breakfast, each woman shared her name, her due date and how many children she had. Here we handed out gifts that included a blanket, a onesie, bib, and hat for their newborn.
We began our day very early, serving breakfast at 6 a.m. to a shelter that provides lodging for people visiting families/friends at the hospital and/or those needing medical attention. We also handed out blankets to them. Then we went across the street to serve breakfast to a home for expectant mothers who have come to Santa Rosa de Copán to deliver their babies. After serving breakfast, each woman shared her name, her due date and how many children she had. Here we handed out gifts that included a blanket, a onesie, bib, and hat for their newborn.
Then we headed back to the elderly home to visit and party with them over lunch that included party hats, whistle blowers, pizza, and cake and ice cream. Before the partying, Julie and I had the opportunity to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet with two other residents over a lady who was in the process of heading to her heavenly home.
Next it was time to head to the Hogar de Niñas to visit, hear a presentation they prepared for us, attend mass with them and to say our final goodbyes. This was my first trip to visit the Hogar de Niñas/Hogar de Ancianos. I have felt the nudge to make this trip for several years but have always put it on the back burner (ah, another idiom for one of our interpreters). However, the call this year was so strong that I finally said yes. And I was so glad I did!!!
As I reflected on what this week has meant to me, I learned that to be happy doesn’t mean having “things” but having true relationships and giving of ourselves. God asks us to love others. We do this by giving of our time and reaching out to love as He loves and to serve as He serves.
With the girls and the elderly, I realized that, yes, I could give love, but the real gift was that “they taught me how to receive love”…by the look in their eyes and the tightest of hugs. I still feel their arms wrapped around me. Just being with them and paying attention to them warmed my heart. I learned that, even though I don’t have children if my own, I now have a new family of 40 girls. I was overwhelmed that I received so much more than I gave.
A quote from St. Therese of Lisieux: Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
A quote from St. Therese of Lisieux: Miss no single opportunity of making some small sacrifice, here by a smiling look, there by a kindly word; always doing the smallest right and doing it all for love.”
We all yearn to be loved. Love is sacrificing of yourself because in giving of yourself, you are serving as God desires.
Blessed beyond belief,
Sharon Costello
Sharon Costello
St. Michael the Archangel Honduras Mission Project 
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