by Nadia Ramoutar      MMM Communications Coordinator         Ireland         15.05.2023

There are two sides to almost every situation but when we are in it, it is hard to see both of them. The excitement of a new adventure and going to a new place also involves leaving behind a home that is both familiar and comfortable. It requires a leap of faith into the unknown.

The MMM Sisters go forth from their homes and families and after many years of preparation, enter into a new life in an unknown place with new people. I know working with the MMMs that they would NEVER make a big deal of what it means to leave and make this type of commitment. They would also not make a fuss of what they leave behind when they go.

Each MMM carries a unique story of where she is from, why she entered MMM and what she left behind to go. You can’t carry much when you go to live in a remote area of the world. The MMM Sisters are not only brave to do this but they are also resourceful in making this lives work in a brand new place.

Being able to make such a change is something to be admired regardless of the circumstances. Giving your life to serve people who are most vulnerable living in remote areas of the world where there are very few resources mean they have to leave behind aspects of identity and expand the meaning of “home”.

For many of our MMM Sisters they spend decades and decades away from their birthplace. Many of our MMM Sisters are active into their 70s and 80s. They then come “back home” to a place that is very different from where they left. So in going home they are now back in an unknown space – again.

The ability to adapt and to get on with life is really notable with the MMM Sisters who provide services of healing and sharing the healing charism wherever they go. They do so modestly, unable to bring parts of their life together at one time. It is often a mutually exclusive set of expectations at one time.

Many of us are creatures of habit and comfort. We like things to be a certain way. Imagine just putting all that aside and entering into a new space that you don’t know the language, the culture or the people. You are thrust into a new situation with trust and faith to guide you. While the MMM Sisters are well prepared for these things in their training years, facing it for real must take huge growth and courage. It is so admirable to see how much they give to follow their calling and spread the healing charism with the world.

So much grief in the world comes from limitations like borders and politics. The idea that “home” is a much bigger place than just where you are born could really serve our world. To see other people as our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, aunts and uncles. To expand our hearts and minds to know that we are all one family. Beyond demographics, the human family is one.