Good morning, Mari Carmen Cucharero. We know that you have already been in the HCR Community of El Carmen, in Ecuador, for a year. What is the first thing you want to share with us about your experience in social action there?
The first thing I would like to indicate is that social pastoral care here is a broad field that can access families, children, young people, older adults, disabled people... who for some reason experience fragility in their lives and the need for PRESENT hands and hearts that update the merciful and loving love of God.
Being in El Carmen (Ecuador) allows me to be more open and present to these vulnerable sectors due to the existence of peripheral neighborhoods with situations of limited resources (economic, cultural...):
I give thanks for the gift of having this opportunity, because the Institute, and specifically this community of HCRs, sends me and accompanies me on a mission in which I can experience aspects of pastoral care that have always captivated me: closeness, proximity, being, the presence and the accompaniment... From the Do Good project for the Daughters of Christ the King that helps 95 families in the neighborhood known as Unión Popular, the religious community of 4 sisters from El Carmen can come together, on the second Sunday of each month, sharing a bag (that's what we call bags here) of food; However, we want not only material assistance but a more comprehensive accompaniment and this is what is giving me the possibility of getting closer to homes, visiting families, listening to their problems, being able to pray and find ourselves around the Word of God. that always teach me to value more.
-¿What does contact with this social reality bring to your HCR being??
Really, after a visit to a home, I always see God's passage palpable, the trace of his presence thanks to these people. They teach me a lot from their gratitude, their simplicity, their offering me the little they have from juice to some peanuts to have with the sisters. These gestures allow me to fall in love more strongly with the deep intention that Jesus of Nazareth had when he decided to walk “through all the villages, cities and roads” (Mt9,35) and thus be able to teach the gospel of the Kingdom and heal from all illness and disease making the Father present with his gestures and words.
All these social experiences are making me feel that God has preference for the little ones, the disadvantaged, the different, the vulnerable. Also, in a year of experience, I am experiencing that the social and the spiritual go together. A God who wants us to see him in the face of his brother, because whoever approaches his brother, there is God. This offers me the invitation for the spirituality of detachment, trust, gratuitousness and gratitude to grow more in me, leading me to live more detached from myself and opening myself up much and more to the reality of the fragile and vulnerable, because they suffer.
We are present, the Daughters of Christ the King, in two neighborhoods: Unión Popular and 28 de Octubre. from home visits, offering times of educational reinforcement to children, collaboration in Cáritas and closeness with older adults, in addition to pastoral support from catechesis, worship, M.A.R. group. and other pastoral. We long to be a WITNESS of a living church committed to this line of social pastoral care, wishing to be the good news for those who are suffering from poverty and inequality who are blessed.
-Anything specific that you would like to indicate about the social action?
It has been a very nice experience to see that when visiting families, I never go alone, someone has always accompanied me. Don Dairi always accompanied Mother Lucinia González who every afternoon frequented the homes of the Popular Union, but due to work reasons it was difficult for him to continue, and this year Don José, sometimes also Doña Besy, accompanies me, they are people sensitive to this need and committed to their church and parish community.
This makes me see that Jesus sent his disciples “two by two” (Mk. 6, 7) and I am finding that it is being given to me freely and sincerely.
I am surprised how many times I spend my time on other things that arise and then I find the voice of Don José that reminds me, mother, what?When are we going to visit the families? I give thanks for these voices along the way that help me not change the order of priorities, the first thing is the works of mercy and that wink from God in my life: “Come to me, blessed of my father.” Mt 25,35-36.
-What do you contribute from your being as a consecrated HCR to the recipients of this experience? I feel like I barely contribute anything compared to what I receive. I want to contribute the experience of being a missionary by being “poor with the poor ” a first call that was whispered at the time I was discerning my vocation.
I contribute my time that I often wish was more. My attention, my gaze, my closeness, my presence and above all BEING, in addition to the desire to make Jesus present with some prayer or the narration of his Word.
Some specific actions during this year have been:
On Mondays we have educational reinforcement with children from the Unión Popular in the dispensary there, mother Blanca Arnéz and I. On Wednesday afternoons, at the Jesús Rey School, the four sisters of the community offer reinforcement to the children of the 28 de Octubre neighborhood. In addition to visits to families benefiting from the PHB, I dedicate Friday mornings to sharing meetings with the Association of older adults, “Young Hearts” of the Popular Union and we dramatize the Word of God, dialogue, share life experiences... in addition of feelings and life, I also give a little support on Friday mornings to the users of the “San José” Soup Kitchen.
-How to be an apostle of apostles through social action?
Father Gras wanted us to go “Apostles of apostles"I always long for this constant call from our dear Father Gras and I find that from Social Pastoral it is very important to carry it out by encouraging others to help, and make visible the needs of others, thus trying to find networks and understand that We are all connected and important to each other.
Personally I am surprised that there are so few “loaves and fishes” that I have and I am invited to " give them you” revealing to me that multiplication is achieved and this does good to many.
There are many people who do not know the realities of suffering because perhaps they are not visible or are not at our door, but when they are invited to give a grain of their time, their money, their prayer and concern, it can give rise to the Miracles.
Any anecdote that has happened to you...
With the high school students of the “Jesus Christ the King” School, from the area of Education for Faith, the Sisters. Mercedes Gaspar and Marjorie Vera organize Projects that promote awareness and solidarity by applying the SEE-JUDGE-ACT method. We go with small groups of students to family homes and one of the afternoons when we went with five kids to visit an elderly, blind couple who lived alone, after a chat, a time of questions, laughter and jokes, the man says ""It's been a long time since anyone came here," anecdote that marked me because it made me realize that, sometimes, I give importance to the material that I can give, what I can carry and that is not what is truly important, but what is really important is that moment in which They feel that they think of you and we have helped them feel that they matter, that they are important and that they feel loved.
-Anything to say goodbye and conclude?
To conclude, I would like to indicate that many times I feel that we cannot help with material things, because we also experience Poverty and scarcity of material goods that are limited and yet, we would like to meet those needs. It is there where the experience of authentic social pastoral care can be had, which makes tenderness present, feeling with, showing them that they are not alone and making them feel important and unique despite the need.
And also, this aspect leads me to perceive clearly that there are problems, difficulties, realities in the face of which only words are not valid and it is necessary to respond and act with small gestures of solidarity that alleviate, making visible what evangelical What is deep inside the human being?
GRACIAS! ..
