It’s one thing to teach the poor how to fish. It’s another when it’s the poor teaching other poor how to fish.
Such was the perspective Father Michael B. Semana conveyed when presenting a mission appeal at all weekend Masses Aug. 10-11 in Sacred Heart Church, Mount Holly.
In explaining the importance to support the works of The Lamb Shall Lead International, an organization that strives to aid the numerous needs of the impoverished living in the Philippines, he emphasized the organization’s main goal, which is to “empower the poor to help the poorest of the poor.” And when speaking about the poor, Father Semana stressed that The Lamb Shall Lead International, of which he serves as chair, does not just reach out to those who lack the basic necessities of food, shelter and medical care, but also those who are spiritually poor and are in need of coming to know the love of the Lord through the eyes of faith.
Father Semana was one of numerous missionaries from around the globe invited to visit a parish in the Diocese of Trenton and inform the faithful about the challenges their brothers and sisters worldwide face, and offer them the opportunity to provide financial and spiritual support. The missionary visits are coordinated through the diocesan Missionary Cooperative Plan, which seeks to promote mission awareness and to inspire prayer and support for their work in all corners of the world. Each of the Diocese’s 99 parishes is asked to host a missionary on a scheduled weekend.
In his homily during the Aug. 10 Vigil Mass in Sacred Heart Church, and in a interview that followed the Mass, Father Semana, who was ordained a priest in 1979, shared how The Lamb Shall Lead International was founded in 2010. Its mission was rooted primarily on the miracle of Jesus’ feeding 5,000 people, which is recorded by the four Gospel writers, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The goal is to empower the poor to help the poorest of the poor, he said, then focused on how the new evangelization is geared toward promoting systemic change and engaging the poor in the areas where The Lamb Shall Lead International serves to become evangelizers themselves.
He told of how funds raised from the mission appeal will be used for various needs, including providing care for malnourished children, many of whom die from curable illnesses like measles and bronchial pneumonia; assisting ailing elderly with their medical, optical and dental needs; rehabilitating the poor affected by outmigration from rural areas, forced relocation and natural calamities; addressing hand-to-mouth existence issues of poverty through livelihood, farming and livestock development, and replicating best practices for sustainability by conducting trainings to develop capacities for management leadership and by establishing training centers for missionary cooperative empowerment.
Training and formation of grassroots communities, especially among the youth, couples and families are essential, he said. “Your generosity is very much appreciated,” Father Semana said to the Sacred Heart congregation. “ Our Lamb community brings the Good News of sacrificial love of Jesus, The Lamb of God. He provides us with hope and perseverance.”
Laborers Needed
While greeting the faithful during the Aug. 17 Vigil Mass in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church, a worship site of Christ the King Parish, Long Branch, Father Jesu Raj smiled as he shared how special it was for him to visit their parish because his name “Jesu Raj” translates to “Christ the King.”
Father Raj made a mission appeal on behalf of his order, the Heralds of Good News. The order was founded in India in 1984 by the now deceased Father Jose Kaimlett with the mission of promoting vocations to the priesthood, training seminarians and missionaries, who travel to various countries to assist in dioceses where there is a shortage of priests.
“In 1984 we were a young congregation, started with a few priests and some seminarians, and we now have 600 priests all over the world,” said Father Raj, whose home parish is located in Lexington, Ky. He added that associated with the Heralds of Good News are 300 nuns who serve throughout the world, and that the laity belongs to a congregation called Missionaries of Compassion.The Heralds of Good News arrived in Lexington 30 years ago, and in America the community currently has 98 priests serving in various states.
Father Raj spoke about the growth his order has experienced during the last three decades, and attributes the growth to the order’s charism, which is simply to “pray for priests wherever there is a need of them in the world.
“Pray for vocations to the priesthood and pray for the call for discipleship to proclaim the Good News of Christ,” Father Raj said. “There is plenty to harvest, but the laborers are few.”
Father Raj’s message also included sharing his own three-month experience working with Mother Teresa of Calcutta. At the time he was a seminarian, during which he learned from the woman who went on to become St. Teresa of Kolkata, “how to become patient, how to care for others, and how to love others.
“Whatsoever you do to the least of my people that you do unto me,” he said, quoting Chapter 25 of Matthew’s Gospel. “That is a very important verse. Whatever you give to the least of my people, you give to me. So we need to share the good things, not only the Good News in the Gospel, but [to] share the love we have and show that love, and show that we are true disciples of Christ.”