Sharing the Love and Mercy of God in the World

Laredo Mission – November 4th -11th, 2023

Original on October 7th, 2023 - Revised on November 14, 2023

Welcome Home, Medical Missionaries of Divine Mercy!!!

Thank you for your love and service of God and His people!

The following was the presentation of our Spiritual Retreat before the MMDM Laredo Mission. In reflecting on our time in Mission, it is good to focus on the love of God for us and how He has used us to bring physical and spiritual healing to his people. We are all created in the image of God and we have reflected by word and action His love for humanity. Thank you, dear friends.

For those who are sick, we pray that our Lord will place

His divine hands upon us and heal us quickly.

Hearts on Fire, Feet on the Move

Pope Francis declared that the 2023 theme for the Mission Day is “Heart on Fire, feet on the move.”

“Hearts on Fire, Feet on the Move” is what happened to the two disciples who encountered Christ on the road to Emmaus.

As Pope Francis says:
“Those two disciples were confused and dismayed, but their encounter with Christ in the word and in the breaking of the bread sparked in them the enthusiastic desire to set out again towards Jerusalem and proclaim that the Lord had truly risen. In the Gospel account, we perceive this change in the disciples through a few revealing images: their hearts burned within them as they heard the Scriptures explained by Jesus, their eyes were opened as they recognized him and, ultimately, their feet set out on the way. By meditating on these three images, which reflect the journey of all missionary disciples, we can renew our zeal for evangelization in today’s world.” (Refer to Luke 24:13-35)

Just imagine a small mustard seed that grow as a gigantic tree.

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“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in a field.  It is the smallest of all the seeds, yet when full-grown it is the largest of plants. It becomes a large bush, and the ‘birds of the sky come and dwell in its branches.’” Matthew 13:31-32

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We are to plant a small seed, like a mustard seed of faith in the human heart, and it will grow into a gigantic tree of mercy for generations to enjoy. We plant the seed of mercy in the heart of a mother and the environment in the homes will change for the better because where there is mercy there is God.

Their hearts burned within them as they heard the Scriptures…

When Christ spoke to the disciples on the Road to Emmaus they heard and their hearts were burning but they only recognized our Lord Jesus when he broke the bread.

When the human heart hears the Word of God, it is transformed.

Our hearts burn with the desire to follow Christ, to share the Good News of His Divine Mercy with anyone who would listen.

How do we proclaim the Word of God as Missionaries? By doing the Corporal and

Spiritual Works of Mercy.

In the Scripture we read that their eyes were opened as they recognized him – In our world today, we have been transformed by the love of God and His Divine Mercy. In serving others, we remember the love, the pain, the mercy we have experienced and seen as we attend to the need of others.  The faithful will be guided by our actions of mercy and love. As we encounter, the faithful and the unfaithful alike, we treat them with the mercy and love that Christ taught us.

… their feet set out on the way.

We begin our healing walk when we follow the steps of Christ. We begin our missionary walk when we let Christ show us the way.

The faithful in seeing our walk will be inspired to follow the footsteps of Christ in following our own footsteps.

We will travel to attend to those in need. Why? Because in person, we communicate at difference levels, in ways that the love of God is not only read or heard but felt in the depth of our hearts as we embrace the poor and the needy, as we share the sacraments, as we teach and proclaim our Catholic Faith- Words are transformed into action and many hearts are converted, refreshed and renewed by the Divine Mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.

As we prepare to go out as MMDM. Let us prepare our hearts to receive Christ.

Let us try to attend daily Mass, pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the Rosary often. Let us reach out to others with the Mercy and love of Christ for us.

Remember:

All the good that is in me is due to Holy Communion. ... Herein lies the whole secret of my sanctity. (Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska #1392)

One thing alone sustains me, and that is Holy Communion. From it I draw my strength; in it is all my comfort. ... . (Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska #1037)

O Living Host, my one and only strength, fountain of love and mercy, embrace the whole world, fortify faint souls. Oh, blessed be the instant and the moment when Jesus left us His most merciful Heart!

(Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska #223)

… sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.
Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you
for a reason for your hope…                   1 Peter 3:15

My help comes from the LORD, the maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 21:2

Dear Lord Jesus,

We entrust ourselves and our families to YOU!

Jesus, We Trust in YOU!

Marta Alves – Medical Missionaries of Divine Mercy