COVID-19: NOT ONLY DARKNESS, BUT CONCRETE RAYS OF LOVE AND HOPE
At the beginning of the lockdown announced by the local government, we, the Gen of Masbate, asked ourselves what could be the best thing to do, aside from following the social distancing and wearing mask every time we would go out to buy the basic daily necessities for our families. Since many of us come from not well-to-do families, sooner or later we will also be affected because many of us will not be able to go to work. But this did not hinder us to put concretely what we have learned from our formation, “to love!”.
The first thing we did was to put in common our surplus, the small amount of money each had. We decided to live the communion of goods, first among ourselves and we were able to raised 5,500 pesos. This small gesture seem to have brought before our eyes the episode of the Gospel, the multiplication of bread, and the same number seems to coincide with what we have put together.
Seeing what we have done among us gen, our friends in the youth commission asked us to join in and put together the money they have gathered so that we could reach more families. We started packing the goods we bought from what we have gathered together, but we saw that it was too little. So, one of us started posting in her social media account asking her close friends for a can sardines each, and she went to their houses to collect them.
To her surprise her friends gave more than what she asked for. It was truly an experience of “ask and you will receive!” Later on, people who learned about our initiative started sending money and the rest of the Gen with the DCYCM started sharing to their friends too, to participate. And here we have witnessed the wave of love coming from many generous people around us. It is the never-ending outpouring of God’s love!
After the packing of the goods, one of us posted our food packs in her facebook to inspire others and today, we are on our 5th wave! Everything started from a small act of love, by asking for a can of sardines, our friends and colleagues started to donate sacks of rice and boxes of sardines. Everyday cash donations come in and it is unbelievable how this outpouring of love is happening before our very eyes. Now, we have reached almost 250 packs already, from our initial 5,500 pesos.
Narrated by Chinky Paladio
