Fr. David works with a member of the SHSM staff
Fr. David is a part of the SCJ community that serves the Catholic Church in the nine northern counties of Mississippi. Recently he wrote about his experience joining members of the Sacred Heart Southern Missions’ staff in rehabilitating a home for a local resident.
I believe that at Sacred Heart Southern Missions we are keenly aware that the mission of the Priests of the Sacred Heart and the mission of the Southern Missions is to be active agents of the love of Christ. We all know that many people support us in this effort: donors, co-workers, volunteers, prayer partners, and many others. But, just as importantly, we too are part of that active love of Christ.
I believe it is important to have an active experience of what we do to truly experience the impact our actions can have on the lives of the people we serve and their communities. The concrete experience of sharing the lives of those we work among gives us a window into the ways we can transform and change our communities and ourselves. In working with other employees of Southern Missions I had the experience of putting the love of Christ into action. I also experienced sharing that love of Christ.
I had this experience in the Wooten house. It was a fun experience working alongside others I do not see daily. During the day of labor I saw first-hand that we are able to make the lives of others better in a profound way. The work that our team did –– preparing a house to be rewired and re-dry walled –– was a sharing of Christ’s love from our hearts and lives and was felt by the family whose house is now safer and warmer. I believe that the witness we offered, the willingness to share what we have to make the lives of others better, is the reason we are here together. It does not matter what our task, it only matters that we want to share our gifts and talents with the people we are called to serve.
-Fr. David
