Mother Antonia

I have known a remarkable woman.
A saint.

I don’t use this term lightly or with an exaggerated sense of who she was or what she did in her life.  

Mother Antonia Brenner lived in a prison in Tijuana for years caring for 'her' boys. She offered unconditional love for all including the men in the prison, their families, and the guards, the guards’ families the fortunate women who joined her as Sisters of the Eleventh Hour of St. John Edues

This is what she was known for – The Prison Angel - her work in the notorious La Mesa Prison in Tijuana led to a book and a movie and has inspired millions.

However my connection to this saint is our founder, Msgr. Anthony Brouwers – for whom she took the name Antonia.  Msgr. Brouwers was Mary Brenner’s spiritual advisor and his invitation to love and care for those most in need led her to La Mesa – and left her one of Lay Mission-Helpers and Mission Doctors greatest advocates.

Most recently she helped Mission Doctors fundraise to build a Special Care unite for patients with TB or other illnesses requiring isolation for the initial period of treatment at St. Martin de Porres Hospital in Njinikom Hospital – this Special Care unit is named for Msgr. Brouwers and Dr. James Carey – one of our early Mission Doctors. 

During the summer I had the opportunity to bring Dr. Jim and Mrs. Terry Hake to visit Mother in San Diego where we stopped at a Chinese restaurant for lunch.   Jim and Terry had just completed three years in Njinikom and wanted to bring photos of the hospital, and tell Mother just what a difference this facility is making.

I asked her if she had a message for people who may be considering following in Jim and Terry’s footsteps – and I pulled out my camera and she recorded this invitation. 

Just two weeks ago, the Franciscan sisters from Cameroon, Sr. Xaveria and Sr. Raphine were in Los Angeles and I took them to visit her – they were so excited to meet her, Sr. Xaveria couldn’t stop dancing!  Mother was thrilled to meet the missionaries she has prayed for and worked with half a world away.

Listening to everyone yesterday at the memorial service at St. James in Solano Beach, how she was able to ‘invite’ everyone to do more – after telling them how much she loved them – I understood – one could never say ‘no’ to Mother Antonia. 

I will miss picking up the phone and hearing her sweet and cheery voice – usually that meant I had just added a bit more work to my desk – but who could mind when each phone call would end with ‘I love you darling, I love all of you so much’ – all that could be said is ‘I love you too mother.’ 

Big Day Maria and our invitation to say ‘Yes to God!’

The feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is celebrated in Cameroon in a way that most of us can only imagine.

Entire communities create clothes made out of matching fabric for the Mass that will last more or less 4 hours.  Marching to the Church together Women’s groups, student’s, and families set this time as an important opportunity to celebrate the gift and the example of the Blessed Mother. This celebration of the Mary’s ultimate ‘YES’ is our invitation to follow her and say yes to God.  Yes to finding His will in our lives.  Yes to following the call we receive. Yes to recognizing just how connected we all are with our sisters and brothers around the world.

Today I ask myself;  How can I say YES to God, as Mary did? What changes do I need to make in my life to continue to put Christ first, ahead of my own time, my own reputation, my own needs?  As Mission Doctors and their families follow the call to serve, they do so, saying YES to God.   On the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we celebrate Mary’s yes, and the ‘yes’ of all our Mission Doctors and their families who have made sacrifices over the years to care for patients around the world.

Where does the time go?

Sometimes when our long-term mission doctors are preparing to return home, I have to ask myself, “Is that really three years?” 

I know for them, the three years of sacrifice, hard work and greater than these, missing family and friends has at times seemed to last forever.  Yet as they prepare to return home too, they are often struck with how quickly the time seems to have gone.

My husband and I in Thailand

I remember getting off the plane in Los Angeles in 1981 after our three years with Tom and our three children and looking around to see the faces of my sister and her family, I was so excited!  I would meet my niece Shannon for the first time, and my sister would get to meet a nephew and niece born in Thailand, and see just how much our oldest had grown in three years.  She met me with a box of Cheerios in hand - I told her it was the food I had missed the most!  For my husband, there couldn’t be enough chocolate to compensate for three years without it - I think he is still making up for it today!

Hakes on their first day in Cameroon in 2010

This summer we see one couple, the Hakes, return home from Cameroon and a family, the Burket-Thoene complete three years in Guatemala and take their place in Cameroon.  Tim Cavanagh is ‘spanning the gap’ having served there twice before.

Someone once said the days can be long but the years go quickly - this seems very true about mission work, perhaps about everything.  There can be days that the amount of work that needs to be accomplished can seem like an insurmountable hill - yet, as we look back - “has it really been a year, two years, ten….”  Let us strive to use what little time we have in service to others, always grateful for the gifts we have ever mindful that our lives are a gift and we can share this gift with others!

Mother's Day

Being a mom of four and now a ‘nene’ to a beautiful granddaughter – the role of a mother is something I certainly understand.

Seeing the moms in the places where our doctors work, the tender care they give their children, as we do ours, is just one more bridge to the reality that we are one family.

Today there are women, who have received care during a difficult delivery, who are able to bring a well child home in Africa and Latin America because of Mission Doctors.

Today there are children who haven’t joined the ranks of the HIV orphans because Mission Doctors are serving.

And…Today there are Mission Doctors and their families making sacrifices to make all this possible.

When I visit the hospitals where our doctors and their families are serving this connection – mom to
mom – is always so easy to make.  As a newborn is held up for an admiring visitor, or a story is shared of how they have come to be here, making a long and arduous journey  – they tell me how much they appreciate the care their children have received.. and I see the gratitude in their eyes, and as a mother, I understand, we are one family.

Opportunities for gratitude - Looking Up

I generally forget about this moment in Lent - when we stop reading about the movement towards a covenant sealed in sacrifice.  Standing with the apostles bathed in the glory of God in a transfigured Christ, I have to look up. 

I can pause, and remember the joy that the transfiguration foretells of the glory of Easter.

I have often said that when I am old, or sooner if possible,  I want to have the same expression that I have witnessed on the faces of old religious sisters that I have met here in the US and around the world.  There is often a serene smile from a life well lived, but there is something more, and I have always believed it is true joy.  Most missionaries I have known have had moments that they retell where they have felt richer than any king.  They tell of a child, or a family, or a kindness, or an occasion when they truly felt the presence of this transfigured Christ, the beloved Son.

This weekend we had the tremendous blessing of being at the Religious Education Congress in Los Angeles where there is truly an abundance of faith and joy. For this opportunity to be here with more than 40,000 Catholics and for the opportunity to reflect on these moments of joy on the journey, I am grateful.

Our journey begins again

To change and to change for the better are two different things.
          - German proverb.
 
As Ash Wednesday is upon us I think this is true - and I can look at it and consider just how different sacrificing is from sacrificing for the better.
 
The readings reminded me that I need to consider my motivation - ensure that what I do is also going to change me for the better.
 
Fr. Dan, at Mass, reminded us all this morning, that the reason we sacrifice is also to develop the discipline necessary to look beyond our own needs, to feel hungry and not satiate the hunger, to desire something and not give into that desire. Today, we fast and abstain and I am trying to feel grateful for hunger that helps me remember that I can change, and change for the better.
 
We make this journey together!
 

How did it get to be February?

I find myself saying these kind of things more and more – but then I hear that from everyone else too!

It is not enough to be busy. So are the ants. The question is: What are we busy about? 
Henry David Thoreau

January was a particularly busy month for us!   Doctors headed to Cameroon, Uganda and Tanzania.  Our new class begins today with the arrival of Dr. Antoinette Lullo and Dr. Brian Medernach who drove in from Chicago on Friday.  They will be here in Los Angeles for four months for the formation program, will be commissioned in May, and will then begin a three year assignment to Peru.

We are also preparing for the Religious Education Congress, our Annual Retreat / Seminar, the Appreciation Brunch, working with the Auxiliary for the Annual Benefit, well the list goes on and on… but, I think we can answer the question of: What are we busy about?

We are busy with the Mission of Mission Doctors – A Mission of Healing – A Partnership of Hope! 

Thanks to all who help us make the work possible!

Lent is just around the corner….