MMM Blog
Prayer and Healing
by Sr. Sheila Campbell MMM Ireland 19.05.2022
Did you ever wonder why some people seem to cope well with life’s difficulties and other people just can’t cope at all? I was thinking about this the other day when I was thinking about all the people I have cared for as a nurse. There was a young couple I looked after during the early years of the AIDS pandemic in Brazil. The young husband became positive, and then sick, due to a single use of an injection of heroin when he was a teenager. He met and married a young woman called Cynthia. When I met them, they had their first child and Carlos was beginning to have symptoms. Carlos just gave up on life and died within a few months, but Cynthia was more resilient. She had her baby daughter to care for. She told me once that she hoped to live long enough to see her daughter married. And indeed, she did. Along came anti-retroviral therapy and her health remained steady.
Healing Charism and Art
by Sr. Liana de Jesus MMM Brazil/Kenya 17.05.2022I am discovering that one of my strongest gifts is art. I was not even aware of how much I can be creative through art. This has enlightened me about the young people as I work with the youth here in Nairobi. I now see how powerful this type of work can be, and make a difference in people`s lives. It also brings beauty to where ever it is displayed. Besides beauty, it helps to bring awareness of how one can use recycled things and use them creatively in art work in order to bring colour to our environment. It helps to release stress and bring out positive emotions. It can also help to improve, in a way, one`s self-esteem.
International Nurses Day 2022
by Lisa Murphy MMM Archivist Ireland 15.05.2022
International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12th which is also the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. The theme for 2022 is Nurses: A Voice to Lead - Invest in Nursing and respect rights to secure global health. When we reflect on the history of MMM we can see that investment in Nursing and Midwifery was something that Mother Mary worked towards from the very beginning. Documents from the MMM Archive show us that as early as December 1941, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital was applying for recognition as a Midwifery Training School. While the hospital initially fell short of the requirements of the Central Midwives Board, Mother Mary was undeterred. She ensured that the hospital was brought up the standards required. The result was that the hospital was approved as a Training School for Grade I Midwifery on 23 June 1942 and Grade II Midwifery in 1944.
My Eyes to the Mountains
As I read the beautiful blog by Sr. Noleen Mooney with title “I lift up my eyes to the Mountains”, my thoughts ran back to the mid 1960’s when I was an intern in the IMTH, now known as the Lourdes Hospital. At that time, the hospital was not completed, and one could see the distant hills by looking out the windows along the staircase to the six floors. As a young, newly qualified Doctor, I felt overwhelmed by all the numbers of patients and duties to accomplish in a short space of time. I used to look out of the windows then and pray Psalm 121, trusting in God’s help to be as strong and as present as those hills.
A Rainy Day in the Woods
by Sr. Bernadette Fadegnon MMM Republic of Benin/ Brazil 11.05.2022
A rainy day in the wood
She peeped through her widow
It is raining, she murmured.
She wished the rain could stop,
So that she can go in the woods
To enjoy the company of trees, of birds, of animals, of insects.
She sat back for a minute.
She peeped through her widow again.
Ah, the rain is just dropping now
She decided to make her way to the woods.
Today - Grief
Today has been one of the hardest. 
Sit under a Tree and let God find you
by Eilín Teeling, AMMM Ireland 07.05.2022
My colleague was very clear when she said she could not pray or practise meditation or contemplation. She was not sure about mindfulness either. Sit still under a tree for twenty minutes, with no obvious task? No, this was not for her.
I needed some volunteers for my research dissertation, as part of a M.A. in Applied Spirituality. Many have forgotten or rejected the habits of prayer and traditional worship and become lost in a society focused on advertising, spending, and non-stop social media. How can we find a way to hear God’s whisper, bubbling up through our ego, busy thoughts, and self-doubts?
I wanted to explore what happened when we are quiet and still on a regular basis, in the presence of a tree, part of God’s creation, and allow our soul catch up.
My idea came from the Celtic tradition - to use all our senses, to give space to listen to our inner rhythm, and pause the outer busyness of life.
Morning has Broken - Part Two
by Sr. Ese Idogen MMM Nigeria 05.05.2022
As I got more involved in the work in Tourgbene, Bomadi region in Delta State, Nigeria, I realized that the water here is ‘everything”. Everything is done in the water, drinking, bathing, fishing, excreting and it is the main source of waste disposal. Malaria, diarrhea and other skin infections are still quite prevalent. I thought of showing them how to dig a pit latrine, but ‘how’? Everywhere is water. I saw women struggling to feed their children. The majority are fisher women. The majority of the men were either so busy playing the local chess in the jetty or drinking the local gin “ogogoro”.
Morning has Broken - Part One
by Sr. Ese Idogen MMM Nigeria 03.05.2022
I received my letter that evening after a special evening missioning prayer. I was filled with feelings of excitement and at the same time, anxiety. I was going to Torugbene? Alone? As I laid on my bed, I could hardly sleep. I thought of all the stories I have heard. I thought of the water, the life in the creeks, the isolation, the floods and I remembered I heard someone say in amusement, “you will get to attend Mass only once in a month”. I burst out laughing, it was a joke! Oh, so I thought!
The Little Dog
by Sr. Jo Anne Kelly MMM Ireland 01.05.2022
Every morning I take an early walk. Many people are out at that time, staff hurrying for duty in the hospital and others like me just taking a walk- One especially, he is an elderly man with a little brown and white dog. That little dog is so inquisitive. He has to investigate everything on the way- everything- corners, stones, gateways, cracks in the pavement, litter. He hops up unto the grassy patch and investigates the tufts of grass, sniffs every dandelion and daisy. What I admire is the patience of the owner. Though he has him on a lead, he never pulls him back. I said to him one day “Your little dog is very inquisitive” “O yes” he said “He has to check out everything for himself before he decides if it is worth going after”
Share: USA