Margarita
Infection of the right eye

I don't think we have ever been as busy as we have been in the last several months. We have been over our capacity for several weeks now and there does not seem to be an end to the children that come to our door.

It is not just the physical aspects of this work that are so demanding; the emotional aspects take their toll as well. Our children come to us with illnesses that have been neglected, at times for years, making their chances of a successful outcome remote. Margarita, a 7 year old, suffered a severe infection of the right eye at the age of 4 years. The eye is now withered, sunken and sightless with no hope of a cure. Anita, a 3 year old, was born with congenital dislocation of the right hip. Surgery was only recently performed and the chances of normal function of the hip are poor and she will probably always suffer some disability and pain. Our little Alex, a 5 year old, suffered facial burns at the age of 3 years. Surgery was not opportunely performed and he now suffers from scar tissue that is slowly contracting his mouth and making it difficult for him to eat. He will require extensive reconstructive surgery which may not be successful.

As I write this, I can hear the children playing in the patio, oblivious to their physical ailments, exuberant in their embrace of life, a life which has not been fair to them. And that is what makes it possible for those of us who care for them to continue this work despite the seemingly insurmountable problems we are faced with, despite our inability to return them to their previous state of health. They revel in their existence, in their being alive despite their physical impediments. They demonstrate that of all the gifts that God has given us, the greatest is life, no matter how limited it might be. And they teach us patience in suffering. They are the very image of the God who became as one of them; poor, defenseless, totally dependent on others. They demonstrate His unconditional love and give us the courage to continue our pilgrimage through this life.

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[Jesus says:] "I do not hide myself, I am very near you, within you...I am very simple. You seek me too faraway, as an inaccessible God... lam a God who has made Himself your brother... Because you seek me too far off, you pass beside me without seeing me... The interests of this world fascinate you, but they wither in a flash of the eye... Whereas I live on, and no one can ever finish discovering me and no one can ever exhaust the source of my treasures.

Sister Mary of the Holy Trinity