As imitators of the Heart of Jesus, our Sisters try always to closely follow the example of our Lord. And what was this example? “Jesus went around to all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the Kingdom, and curing every disease and illness. At the sight of the crowds, His Heart was moved with pity for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mt 9:35-36). Such is a good summary of the apostolic works that the Lord entrusts to our Sisters –teaching, evangelizing and nursing, particularly in mission countries such as Jamaica.

Jesus went around to all the towns and villages…” The Lord makes Himself present. He goes. He seeks out. In a similar way, our missionary Sisters are sent to various regions to seek out the lost; to be God-bearers to all, torchbearers of the light of Christ even to the most distant lands shrouded in darkness of error and sin. At the cost of great personal sacrifice, the missionary Sister leaves behind her homeland, her family, the security and comforts of our society, in order to live in regions where the climate is harsh, the resources limited and where the work is great and tiring.
Our missionaries want to go to places like Jamaica, so that they can be able to walk to the outlying villages surrounding Maggotty, their hearts “moved with pity,” for those in need of help and hope. They seek out the suffering. Individuals like one Jamaican boy suffering from a terrible and terminal illness causing him constantly to shed the skin of his body. Our Sisters, like angels of mercy, visit this child, applying bandages and ointment to his skin and drops in his eyes.

“Jesus went out teaching in their synagogues…” The missionary Sister can only effect lasting change if she will work to transform the culture in Christ by means of education. Like the Lord who went and taught, the Sisters in Jamaica are engaged in both practical and religious, values-based education that seeks to improve the morality of the region in which most children are raised by single mothers having multiple male partners.
Teaching more by the example of joy and love, our Sisters want to influence the next generations of Jamaican citizens to be strong and integrated, moral and productive members of society, and above all, faithful children of God.

“Jesus went proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom…” The Servant of God, John Paul II constantly reminded us that we area called to engage our minds, hearts and hands in what he termed the “new evangelization.” Affirming the sanctity of human life and the dignity of the human person, we must be ambassadors for introducing Christ to those who do not know Him; spreading the good news of salvation, the Gospel of life. By their very presence on the island of Jamaica, our Sisters give witness to the hope that is within them (cf. 1Pet 3:15).

“Jesus went out, curing every disease and illness.” Our nursing Sisters in Jamaica run a free clinic for the poor, providing much needed medical care to all, particularly to the weakest ones, to women, children, and the elderly, to those who suffer from chronic pain and illness. The Sisters tell us of the infection children can incur from insect bites and describe their wounds from the sharp machetes the islanders use to clear foliage. But it is not only physical illness that must be cured. God is using our Sisters to fight the illness of ignorance, to treat the festering wound of apathy, to attend to the scars on human hearts that make people callous and hardened so that they can no longer recognize their worth and dignity.

It is a great and important mission our Sisters in the West Indies are engaged in. We too can share in this work, we too can impact that region, whether it be through prayer, through our financial support or through organizing a truckload of needed supplies – doing whatever we can, enables us to be a part of something great; it enables us too to be teachers, evangelizers, healers….in Christ’s name.

Love is born in the heart

expressed in words,

but lives in deeds.

St Joseph Sebastain Pelczar

Saint Joseph Sebastain Pelczar Convent

Sr. Superior Emila Malczak

PO 22

St. Elizabeth, Maggotty

Jamaica, WI