A child fell down while Catholic missionaries were teaching during Holy week. There was a little blood, so one of the missionaries went over to help.
What she did would have been no big deal…if it happened in the United States. She cleaned the child’s wound with alcohol and covered it with an adhesive bandage, the kind people buy in boxes all the time in America. But this simple act turned into a very big deal on an island in the Philippines.
Once the other children realized the missionaries had alcohol and bandages, chaos broke out in religion class as the kids begged for them. Things as basic as rubbing alcohol and adhesive bandages are treasures to families on this island. None of these children have any medical supplies at home.
Considering the poverty that plagues these families, it’s easy to understand why Catholic World Mission (CWM) was excited a few weeks ago when an anonymous company donated a 40-foot container filled with $4.6 million in medical supplies. Those supplies are ready to be loaded on a ship, and a group of Catholic sisters is waiting for them in the Philippines.
But there’s a hitch: Catholic World Mission needs $12,650 for shipping. CWM President Fr. Pedro Pablo Elizondo, LC, doesn’t view that as a problem: “It’s an opportunity because every dollar someone donates will deliver $366.69 in medicine for the poor. Apply some terminology from the business world, and you’ll see that as a tremendous return on the investment made by our supporters.
“A gift of $55 delivers more than $20,000 in medical supplies to the Philippines; $100 sends $36,669 in medicines to people who have so little that their children clamor for band-aids. A return on investment of 366 to one can achieve extraordinary things!”
Surely this is the kind of work our Lord asks of us. Think of the tenth chapter of Matthew when Jesus sends the Apostles out on their own to “proclaim the good news.” The first thing he tells them to do is “cure the sick.”
As our Lord brought salvation into our world, he placed great emphasis on ministry to the sick and disabled; and certainly he still wants us to take part in this ministry today. Few of us are required to go to remote places like the sisters in the Philippines who are waiting for CWM’s container of medicine.
But as Pope John Paul II explained on World Day of the Sick last year, we do have a duty: “Recognizing the presence of the Lord in our suffering brothers and sisters, [the Church] strives to bring them the good news of the gospel and to offer them authentic signs of love.”
CWM urgently needs help raising the funds to deliver that container of medical supplies to the sisters in the Philippines. To do your part, just click www.catholicworldmission.org.
