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Medical Mission
ROSA
MYSTICA V
organised
by ACIM ASIA
Manila, Philippines
July 25 - July 29, 2011
Day Five: Friday 29 July
The crowd of patients on the last day seen from the other end of the court.
Alas, the end of the mission has dawned upon us. While the lay volunteers
occupied themselves with the care of bodies, each day Fr. Castel put
himself at the disposition of the Legionaries of Mary who are very occupied
in Manila with the care of souls. He went around blessing houses and
visiting the sick, all of whom he promised to pray for, and thus we
did not see him around very much during the mission.
Each pair of Legionaries is assigned a barangay (district) where they visit the houses in order to encourage the people to pray and to try to visit the Society’s churches or mass centers. They organise, amongst other things, block rosaries; where a pilgrim statue of Our Lady travels without cease from house to house. She remains for one week within each household who honours her with the daily recitation of the Rosary.
It is a great encouragement for the zealous Legionaries to have a priest accompany them on their visits. They were thus able to carry out the blessing of houses. It is indeed an opportunity to perform this apostolate along with the imposition of the Brown Scapular.
The majority of the houses have a little oratory, a corner where statues, pious images, rosaries and medals are placed. They are not always done in good taste, but the people are very attached to them and they are shown to the priest with great pride. The people were very pleased to have a priest come to visit them, for alas it seems that the clergy does not come often to the houses of the faithful. Full of joy, an old lady paraphrased the canticle Nunc Dimittis of the elderly Simeon : “I am now ready to die,” she told us, “I am happy. A priest has visited my humble abode.”
Meanwhile
Fr. Castel went to bless homes like this one -
Now I can die, said the old lady, a priests has visited my humble abode!
Back at the medical mission, we saw our greatest number of patients
today, nearing the 700 mark. The paediatricians alone saw 461 of them,
and a person upon seeing the large crowds of young patients would have
been amazed at the ability of the tireless doctors to treat them all.
A grimmer thought however crosses one’s mind. Could anyone doubt
that the majority of these children (each of whom is so precious in
the sight of God) would not have been born if the infamous Reproductive
Health bill had been passed?
What
can we do for little four months old Chrisdel (Christina del rosario)
who has pneumonia and tuberculosis?... We baptised her at least
We had an emergency today and we were able to use the army's ambulance
The exhausting but rewarding day ended with a dinner party in the basement
of Our Lady of Victories that concluded the previous five days of fruitful
hard work. A group of disabled children serenaded us with the beautiful
strains of Filipino music while the volunteers and mission organisers
mingled for a last meal together. The French (and French speaking!)
volunteers then proceeded to sing a few pieces before Fr. Onoda, our
welcoming host, gave a heartfelt speech of thanks in English, French
and Japanese to all who helped in the mission, and surprised everyone
with the gift of a cup decorated with the group photo of the volunteers.
Dr. Dickès was presented with a prestigious award, a fitting
acknowledgment of his labour for the needy and sick in the Philippines
over the past five years. Relevantly enough however he added that our
real reward lies in heaven, an appropriate complement to his speech
at the beginning of the mission on the necessity of being animated by
a spirit of true charity when tending to our neighbour. The representatives
of the Barangay were also present to express their gratitude and invited
us to repeat our mission here next year.
Our joyful 2011 medical team with Senior Santo Nino
The handicapped children who played for us
In all, in these five days of mercy, about 2,500 patients came to the
mission, with the heavy rains preventing many, perhaps a good 1,000,
from coming. The treatment of the body was not the only fruit of this
mission obviously. The spiritual gains made through the many hundred
impositions of Our Lady’s mantle (the Brown Scapular), the teaching
of catechism, the house visitations to the sick, the blessing of dwellings
and the distribution of rosaries together with lessons on how to pray
them are eternal and cannot be quantified. One of our young Korean volunteers
even announced her desire to convert to the Catholic faith after hearing
that her Protestant bible was missing some parts!
Doctor Dickes with some of his best nurses, Blandine, Jeanne and Wivine
Tomorrow Saturday, as some of the volunteers will already have left
the missions, a one day bio-ethics seminar will be held on the site
of the mission at which some Pro-life personalities will intervene,
enlightening all present of the latest development in this important
battle going on in the Philippines.
God
is good. We hope, thanks to all who prayed for this Medical Mission,
to have given testimony to His infinite mercy according to His command:
“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 5:16)
Salamat po and please come back next year!