Mission Rosa Mystica In the Philippines (7) : We came to heal souls...
We have come to the end of the 4th Rosa Mystica mission in the Philippines. Throughout our articles you were able to follow the work that has been done over the past ten days. The figures speak for themselves: 5.778 patients came to see us among whom 63 had x-rays, 94 had small operations and 430 had laboratory tests in our medical laboratory that came over just for them! Furthermore, this year we were mobile: Rosa Mystica covered three islands and cared for patients in 8 different places. That represents many months of preparation, a huge organization, important funds, almost 150 volunteers doing fieldwork accompanied by 3 priests- Father Daniel Couture, Father Philippe Marcille and Father François Castel- and lots of other things as well…!
During this mission we accumulated delays and material problems. Here are just some of them: the plane that was to take the team to Leyte was cancelled which led to long hours waiting and delays in the following day’s program. The medicine for this team arrived two days late. You can imagine how easy it was to make a prescription and tell the patients to come back not knowing whether the medicine would arrive…
Among the volunteers, several were ill; four of them spent several days in hospital as they were struck by Dengue Fever, a local disease…
But do not imagine that all those problems broke our troupe’s morale: Father Marcille was able to show us the positive angle by explaining that in spite of appearances, our woes were a good sign because if the devil was annoying us so much, it was because he considered there was too much good work being done by Rosa Mystica!
So, take heart! Jean-Pierre Dickès reminded us several times the aim of our expedition: we came to heal bodies but moreover, we came to heal souls.
Therefore, to avoid slipping into layman activism and layman humanitarian relief, we must always keep at heart the apostolic aim of the mission. Lots of associations do relief better than we do …For the volunteer, the mission is like an active retreat: by the poor he cares for and by the virtue of the charity he offers, he is in direct contact with our Savior: “Whatsoever you do to the least of my people, you do unto me”
We were often moved to see that mutual aid was really a two way deal : we came to give our time to help this underprivileged population; but how many times did we realize that we received more than what we gave : a child’s smile, a willing hand, a sandwich lovingly prepared for three volunteers who were fed up with rice, a “thank-you mam” from a toothless mouth, a long handshake with thankful eyes, a promise to make daily prayers for us and so on… we have many accounts!
Last of all, we would like to thank our readers, many of whom support this mission and thanks to them, Rosa Mystica exists! We entrust all our patients to your prayers so that with the help of grace they may keep a few scraps of the spiritual luggage we tried to bring them … Salamat pô!
Donations for ACIMASIA may be sent to :
Dr Jean-Pierre Dickès
2, route d’Equihen
62360 St-Etienne-du-Mont
The whole amount of donations is send to the mission without any deduction.
Volunteers are welcome all year round.
