Christ is Risen! Indeed He is Risen!
This is the joyful greeting that we exchange on the glorious morning of Easter Sunday! After the shadow and sadness of Good Friday, this greeting is most welcome and comes bursting out from the hearts of those who have witnessed the glory and love of God. This is the joy and fire with which we wish to fill the moms of Maggie’s Place.
They have come from such sorrow and tragedy, that only darkness fills their lives and many of them do not have hope of happier days. I see hope in their future, and the opportunities that are available to them are right within their grasp if they could only step out of the darkness and enter into the light. Of course I use the word “could” instead of “would”, since many of the moms do not have the power to choose what is best for themselves because they don’t know how to choose the best. How can one choose the best, if they have not been given the opportunity to know the best?
This is the role of the MissionCorps in the homes, to bring that light into their lives so that they might see what is good and be drawn to it by our example. We MissionCorps often have the experience of giving a mom some words of advice, but often times, it will go in one ear and out the other. A week or so later she will come back and tell you about this brilliant idea that she had or which someone else gave her, and you hear your words from a week ago being reiterated! We have to laugh about this, but it is also very satisfying to hear her embracing choices for the better. This is one example of how we bring light into her world, by planting a seed of advice and love. We might not see it grow and blossom within the time that this mom is at Maggie’s Place, but we know that it will eventually be forced to emerge, for the truth cannot be hidden nor contained.
When I first came to Maggie’s Place, I didn’t know what I could give to these women, since I had not experienced life as they had. I discovered that I could offer them what my family offered me, which was something that the Maggie’s Place moms may never have experienced in their own families. I could offer them love, stability, forgiveness, and joy. Embracing them when they are broken, holding them accountable to the rules, rejoicing with them over a goal accomplished or a milestone in their baby’s life; these are the ways that Maggie’s Place can reflect a loving and stable family for the moms. This is how the MissionCorps plant the seeds so that the moms will know how to find good things and choose them even if they are difficult.
This is our simple daily life at Maggie’s Place, and although it is nothing glamorous nor paves the road to fame and glory, it is most essential for strengthening the individual and building a society of love and mercy. We are quietly building a world that will explode with the love and joy of the Resurrected Christ.
By Therese Fetsko, a MissionCorps member
