Street Mission Butterworth Celebrates 1-Year Anniversary with Sr. Fatima
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On June 30th, volunteers from the Parish of NBVM and SCIC celebrated their 1-year “Street Mission Anniversary” with Sr. Fatima. The event began with a mass, followed by a sharing session by Sr. Fatima and a time of fellowship.
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Since the first street mission in June of last year, Sr. Fatima has consistently visited Butterworth to keep the fire going, under the leadership of Theresa and spiritual guidance of Fr. Dom. The volunteers have dedicatedly carried out their missionary duties, feeding the hungry and homeless on the streets of Butterworth.
During her talk, Sr. Fatima shared her story to be a missionary disciple of Christ on the streets. One day when she visited the Carl’s Soup Kitchen, still as a sister from Little Sisters of Poor to serve some homeless people, she heard a call from Christ : “Can you help me? I am suffering.” It was a call within a call. She heard the same voice every time she prayed. It took her two years to say, “Yes.” In the second year, she heard a voice asking, “Do you love me?”
That question changed her life entirely, and thus Samaritan Hope was born. After a period of discernment, she left the Little Sisters of the Poor to answer a call within call to service of the homeless. Within a year, Samaritan Hope was established to provide a better service to the homeless. It was in the street mission she sees the “disfigured face of Jesus in every one of them.” She emphasized, “It is not social work; it is God’s work.”
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During her talk, she shared the story of Bavesh- a migrant on the street wounded and bereft of the necessities. Samaritan Hope took him in, bandaged him, helped him get his legal documents and sent him back to his country. While he was with them, he learnt to recite the rosary and the Divine Mercy chaplet. Until today, he keeps in touch with them and joins them in prayer via online. Sr. Fatima explained that these are some of the success stories.
She highlighted that “simply identifying as a believer in Christ and not participating is not sufficient for our faith journey…. we need to become a disciple of Christ. A believer knows about Jesus, but a disciple truly knows Jesus. A disciple can lead others to Christ and continues to follow Jesus even when it is challenging and uncomfortable.” She further added that “a missionary disciple is one who is capable of sacrificial love, willing to serve until hurts and exemplifies Jesus on the cross.” So, are you a believer, a disciple or a missionary?
In conclusion, our call to be missionaries are founded on three principles shared by Pope Francis- i)by virtue of Baptism we are all missionaries and disciples of Christ. We are to exude the fragrance of Christian living as an Apostolate of Rose; ii) Service of others- we are commissioned to bring the good news to everyone; iii)by the power of the Holy Spirit we are to be witnesses of Christ.
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Street Mission Butterworth volunteers are motivated in continuing the missionary work on the streets and hope to establish a home in the near future. With guidance from Fr. Dom and inspired leadership by Sr. Fatima, Theresa and her team are recruiting more volunteers.