Lead a simple and humble life to share the neighborhood’s reality
We usually get up at 7 a.m. and the day begins with morning prayer. On our way to the Mass in our parish, we take time to greet our friends who are working, taking children to school or just sitting in front of their houses. We then take turns for an hour of silent adoration in the chapel.
The Missionary in charge of the cooking goes to the market place, which is a meeting point for the mothers and grandmothers. We also clean the house as a way to show our respect to our friends and to the community. At noon, we have lunch together and after a break, we gather for the Rosary. Our neighbors often join us as the rosary was originally meant to be the prayer of the poor.
In the afternoon, we go out in pairs to encounter people in the neighborhood, while one of us stays in the house to welcome those who come to visit especially the children.
Most of the services we render are of parental type. Fathers are generally absent and mothers are most of the time overwhelmed by their responsibilities. If a child is very hungry or sick, has a torn shirt, needs help with their homework, or feels lonely and searches someone to talk to… they come to our place.
We also go out from our immediate neighborhood to serve in shelters, jails, hospitals, garbage dumps etc. These so-called “external missions” are opportunities to work with other NGOs and to network with them, so that our friends can benefit from their specific services.
In the evening we gather again in the Chapel to pray vespers (the evening prayer), entrusting to the Lord all the people we have met during the day.
Welcome the unexpected
We must learn to live the unexpected in peace since our schedule can be changed any time according to the needs of our friends and neighbors. We might take a child to the hospital because of an accident, spend time in the street with a homeless person in great need of a human presence, accept to stay with a family for dinner, or intervene in a tragic event occurring in the neighborhood…
As we always ask the Holy Spirit to guide our Mission, a day at Heart’s Home is full of events that are not scheduled.
The source of our Mission: Community life and Prayer
We try to reserve moments to share with the community what happened during the day. One evening per week is usually meant to be spent in community.
However, the very essence of our Mission remains prayer. It is contemplation which reveals to us the meaning of each event, the beauty of each face, the dignity of each person."We learn to see Christ, especially in the faces of those with whom he himself wished to be identified: the hungry, the thirsty, the foreigners, the sick, the prisoners…”.
History back