Faith

Maureen Crowley
Heil

Everyone's life is filled with challenges. Our own reality may sometimes seem like an endless Good Friday, as we face perhaps the serious illness of a loved one, the loss of a job and financial difficulties, or simply the trials of daily living. Our hearts may long for peace.

In the missions, a heart's longing led to loving service. Growing up in Thailand, Anurak Chiayaphuek watched her friends marry and start families. "But there was something inside of me, calling me," she says. "My heart wanted more." She answered her heart's "call" by joining a local Religious Community, the Good Shepherd Sisters. "I became a Sister to give God's love to everyone, especially the poor and the underprivileged," Sister Anurak explained.

Today, Sister works in northern Thailand with girls rescued from human trafficking and slavery. She also visits local families, offering information on HIV/AIDS and, along with it, a caring heart. "Today, my heart is satisfied, joyous in my service to the Lord," she says.

God uniquely calls each of us to serve Him and His people. There is, however, a common thread. He asks all of us to reach out to those who suffer, those who are marginalized by the harsh realities of the world.

This Easter, we ask you to answer God's call by using our Spiritual Bouquet and Mass cards. For an offering of $5 for the missions -- supporting the work of Sister Anurak and so many others like her -- enrolled members (living or deceased) of The Society for the Propagation of the Faith will be remembered at the celebration of 15,000 Masses in the missions over the course of a year.

For a suggested offering of $10, a Mass will be celebrated for the named individual(s) somewhere in the missions. Our mission Mass Stipends travel to the far corners of the world, supporting individual priests who may receive no salary to support themselves and their ministry in places like Sri Lanka, Malawi, Uganda, and Ethiopia, to name a few.

By supporting the missions in this way, you help to answer God's call to feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, visit the imprisoned, and care for the sick because you help a missionary answer the cry of the poor.

To pick up our Enrollment and Mass cards, please visit us at 66 Brooks Drive in Braintree, email dmanigat@propfaithboston.org, or go to www.propfaithboston.org. Click on the Propagation of the Faith and go to the Spiritual Bouquets and Mass Offerings page.

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.

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