Evangelist and Mom

In the beginning of the year, while I was teaching the catechumen course at St. Columban's Church, two young girls from a home for "problem girls" were brought to me by a religious sister. Later, those young girls brought two others, and gradually increased to five girls. They are between eighth to tenth grade.  Even though they were so young, because of their dysfunctional family backgrounds, they were desperate for love, and expressed this need openly. Their difficult life experiences caused them to grow up very quickly and to become overly sensitive;. In turn, this caused them to keep a distance from others.  So I asked them to call me "Mom" and tried to treat them as daughters.  Thanks to God, I was able to get closer to them and sometimes simply hold them in my arms.  Sometimes they gave me a bear hug back.  In this way, despite the tough life they led, trust started to develop between us. 

As the class continued, this trust motivated them to vigorously pursue God's Truth, to begin to pray, and to prepare for their future life, with its difficulties but also with hope and promise.

One day the Lord asked me during silent prayer: "Look at those children… I am sending you to them!" I cried: "Who is able to love them, except you, Lord? Since you have sent me, I know you will take good care of them." These last 9 month, they have touched my heart, they have given me much more than I am able to give them. 

The Lord arranged a married couple and a grandma to accompany this class. During the class sharing, they heard the voices of these children, which helped their own parent-child relationships. Conversely, the girls were able to hear their perspectives about the difficulties that parents face. In this way the Lord blessed all who attended the catechumen course. They were baptized August 19.  One of the girls told our staff: "I think Mom really loves God a lot, otherwise I just cannot see how in the world she will treat us so good." We started a new course on November 11, and these newly baptized girls desire to bring other girls from their "home", accompany them through the catechumen course and thereby also deepen their own conversion to Christ.         (Lay Evangelist Ying Jr-li, Taipei center)