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Before writing this article, I asked myself: what is a Madonna House mission house? My answer: A place where the Lord sends us to bring his word, his light, and paradoxically, to receive his light.
My first assignment as a Madonna House staff worker was in Canada, in Combermere, right here on our farm.
Then after seven years, after I had received much healing, I arrived at the point where I was content to give my life to the work of the farm. So, one day, praying in the middle of a field of beans, I told the Lord of my offering.
Two weeks later, I was sent to another mission—Marian Centre Regina, our soup kitchen in a prairie city in western Canada.
In the past, before I joined Madonna House, I had lived for a time among the poor in both Toronto and Vancouver, but I had never really noticed them. Well, now was my opportunity to help them. But, really, who were the poor?
My first week there, I saw a vision of one of the men in the soup line transformed into a glowing figure, into Christ. This was an incredible revelation to me of how the poor man is Christ. And as it turned out, it is the poor who taught me the love of Christ.
After four years of experiencing much love in Regina, I returned to Combermere for a time.
Then it was off to a new mission, our other soup kitchen, Marian Centre in Edmonton, another city in western Canada.
There in the dining room, where the men ate their soup, I saw, to my amazement, a mural of Christ in a breadline! What a confirmation of the vision I had seen in Regina!
A few years later, when I was assigned to England, I asked for a few days to pray and be quiet with the Lord to see if he had a word for me about this mission in Robin Hood’s Bay in England.
I was able to go to a quiet cabin on a beautiful lake. Perfect! So each morning, after a good cup of coffee, I opened the Bible and asked the Lord for a word.
The first three mornings, I opened to three different readings of Christ’s crucifixion. After the third time, I said to the Lord, “Can you lighten up a bit?”
The fourth day, feeling a little anxious, I opened the Bible—to the story of Daniel in the lion’s den!
I burst out laughing at the Lord’s humour.
So off to England I went. It was my first time out of North America. What could the Lord possibly want with me in England?
Our house in England is a house of hospitality. We have poustinias for people to come for prayer and silence. We receive various groups, both young and old, for days of recollection. We give retreats at different places, including Scotland.
To me, one of our most beautiful works is a group called, “Churches Together”—Baptists, Anglicans, Methodists, Catholics and whoever else wants to share the Word of God together. These gatherings have been the occasion of a most beautiful meeting of hearts.
We do other things, too, but I won’t list them all.
Part of my work in that house was maintenance and gardening, and through this simple work, I made many friends. Through other ways, too, I got to know many people at a deep level. I really got to love the people of England.
But really, according to the readings I received from the Lord before I went, what was my mission in England?
The answer came. Christ was really crucified in England in many places. The Reformation still weighs heavily on the country. Then there are the two world wars in which England lost many of its youth. What pain those wars caused!
Slowly I began to see that my real work in England was atonement. This atonement business was a real mystery to me, but I know that it is real.
So what happened? Here I was in England! What a great opportunity to travel to the holy places of England and Europe and the Middle East. I had lots of opportunities, but it did not happen.
No, the word from the Lord was: do the gardens, create beauty, do the maintenance. Make this a place of beauty for God’s people and pray, pray, pray.
Part of the prayer was a seeming abandonment by the Father. For three years, I could not pray. As in the readings I received before coming to England, I really felt like I was on the cross with Jesus.
What finally happened? I learned to sit in silence before the Blessed Sacrament and receive Jesus in my heart. What a gift from the Lord!
I’m back in Canada now, in Combermere. What is my mission? To let people know that they can receive the love of Christ by being present to him in the tabernacle of people’s hearts. Truly our mission is always before us.
