Nine years ago my dear mother passed away. She was the closest friend to me aside from my husband. I took care of her from the moment we found out she was sick with cancer until the time she was wheeled in to be embalmed. Great grief engulfed me. When she was gone, there was this vacuum that preoccupied me. I was an everyday mass goer and I thought my encounter with the Lord was only on every daily mass basis. Then a wild wind hurled me to the unknown and I found myself washing the feet of the sick and dying at the National Bureau of Prisons hospital.
First I thought it was their stomachs that had to be fed every Thursday lunch for an average 600 sick prisoners but then the Lord led me to a more expressive form of love. Along with other volunteers, we sponge bathe, massage while we sing and dance to the tune of praises to the Lord. We see them as souls waiting to return back to their creator.
We call ourselves the Thursday group because we are at the NBP hospital every Thursday. On Holy Thursdays, we literally wash the feet of the sick prisoners. The main thrust of our group is the Holy Eucharist. We celebrate mass together and after which we, with the lay ministers, give the holy Eucharist to the sick and dying prisoners at the hospital. First we feed on the graces at the adoration room or at the tabernacle near the altar of the maximum security chapel and we form a line and pray the rosary with our hands clasped on our way to the hospital to show love and reverence for the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are heard praying the rosary on using PA system.
I personally am aware that while I am working for the Lord, I only occupy a tiny space and the Lord works through me. A simple touch brings the sick prisoners to tears for the Lord has entered their hearts! The lord takes hold of my hands and feet with and the rest of my body. I then open my heart, soul and mind and my whole being is offered to Jesus. Surprisingly my work is easy because I do very little because the Lord always takes over!
From the first moment I stepped into the NBP hospital, I was instantly filled with joy though the situation around me was surrounded with misery and pain. They lack medicines and most of the time they die alone, abandoned by friends and family. Most of the time they die, without anyone holding their hands. They are sick with from tuberculosis, leprosy, hepatitis, scabies and all the diseases known to man. About 300 or more die every 6 months and are easily replaced.
They die hungry and sometimes they die completely naked because all their garments when soiled are thrown away.
One time a prisoner asked me why I am always happy. I explained that I feel privileged to be a witness for the Lord for he has promised heaven to Dimas and the same way he will surely do it for his beloved sick and dying prisoners, as long as they ask for the Lord's mercy. It is enough that their purgatory is the state they are in with their pain and sufferings here on earth and upon reconciliation with the Lord, they will go straight to heaven!
The unfathomable mercy and love of the Lord overwhelms me. Their purgatory is the state they are in and their pain and sufferings when offered to the Lord will bring them peace and happiness. I know the gravest sins will be given the greatest mercy! This also comes from the promise of the divine mercy. I know I am talking to common criminals but I firmly believe they are the Lord's beloved and I am their servant because the Lord had told me so!
Because of this privileged experience, the Lord has taught me to be amore compassionate person. I truly believe the kingdom of the Lord is here among the least of the very least of our brothers. What joy it is to literally send souls to him in heaven!
Bobbie M. de Vela
Thursday Group
