Letter to Friends of Jesuit Mission
This is a letter that appeared in the March-April 2009 edition of Jesuit Mission News.
Dear Friends of Jesuit Mission,
It's Lent, that time of the year when we are reminded of the risks involved in giving one's heart away. Jesus gave his heart to the poor, he told them that they are blessed and as a result the poor experienced an extraordinary sense of freedom. This so incensed the authorities that they dragged him to a kangaroo court and on the basis of false evidence executed him. This gift of self lead to the Resurrection, because God so loved his Son that he raised Him to life again. Jesus story is our own personal story too. In his death and resurrection we find a meaning for all the good and sad things that happen in our lives.
In this edition of Jesuit Mission News we tell the story of a Jesuit who so loves the poor victims of land mines in Cambodia that he has given his life to them. It's a story that begins with the appalling effects of exploding land mines left over in their thousands from a forgotten war and yet daily maiming children who play on the outskirts of the villages. Fr Kike Figaredo gives life back to these children though the wonder of their own Cambodian culture and dance. He does this by telling the story of their Way of the Cross and how they, though crippled, are raised to life again in so many ways, through wheel-chairs, prosthetics, but most of all through the joy of celebrating life in dance.
Please support our Autumn appeal and please join us once again at the Maytime Fair on May 2nd to celebrate the life that has been given back to so many poor people in Asia and Africa through missionaries like Fr Kike and Fr Ken and through supporters like you.
Phil Crotty SJ
