Mission has the heart of welcome

“Didn’t you see my mother’s message?” the young Bedouin woman asks as she welcomes us into her home, just as the sun is setting.

I became worried!

“What happened?” I asked her.

***

We had left home early that morning. This was the last Bedouin community in the West Bank desert that we were going to visit that day. Between one visit and the next, we had not even had time to eat.

Mother Jamila told us that another of her daughters, knowing that we would be returning home late and would probably have had nothing to eat, had called her:

“Mum, the sisters probably haven’t eaten anything today. Since ours is the last community they will be visiting, prepare something to offer them when they arrive.”

And that is exactly what she had done. She was waiting for us with a delicious dish of rice and chicken.

What a wonderful gesture!

We were deeply touched by their thoughtfulness, their care and, above all, their ability to anticipate our needs.

Without our having to ask for anything, a mother and daughter had already thought of us, of our tiredness and our hunger.

After such a long day, that simple dish became the most exquisite feast. But what truly nourished us was the feeling of being welcomed, awaited and loved.

Sometimes mission reveals itself in just this way: in the hearts of a mother and daughter who, with tenderness and love, take care of us.

Sister Cecilia Sierra, SMC