by Sr. Sekunda Kimario MMM                                    Tanzania                                   29.01.2025

I answered the doorbell this morning, and found a 9-year-old girl wearing a tracksuit and a woollen cap. She introduced herself as Dorothy and said that she came to ask me to teach her how to pray so as to become a Medical Missionary of Mary. Dorothy comes from our Parish and was touched by an MMM celebration that was held there last Sunday.

Dorothy is in Standard 5 of her primary education, so she has a long way to go.  But I have found in my experience that some young girls feel ‘the fire in the belly’, and they are dying to be listened to by someone who would understand.  When the seed of a vocation is sown at a young age, the girl concerned is more determined and perseveres more resolutely.   St Benedict talks about the ‘School of the Lord’s Service’, and how we should ‘See and Seek God in all things.   Dorothy may not yet have heard of St Benedict, and how basic his spirituality is to us MMM’s, but she feels the call exactly as he describes it.  Of course, Dorothy is too young to make this decision.  It is something she will need to think and pray about as she grows into adulthood.  We take this kind of decision as adult women.

We pray that Dorothy may not lose her determination and that she will one day take her vows and live a full life as an MMM.