A Way of the Cross procession reminds a Sister of the all-too-real crosses the poor in Lima must bear.
By Sr. Patricia McDermott

It was Good Friday when we climbed the Way of the Cross with the people from a Lima shantytown. It was a time for me to remember the crosses being carried by some of the families who were honoring Jesus’ Passion.

My thoughts were for Maria, a 30-year-old widow with four young children. Her husband was killed in an accident, and she had just been diagnosed with tuberculosis, putting her children at risk for the lung disease.

There are no social security-type benefits in Peru, and I felt for Maria in her fears for her children. “If I get sick, who will look after my children?” she would ask.

Sr. Patricia McDermott sat with Maria and her family outside their home in a Lima shantytown.

“Give us this day our daily bread,” she prays and means it, for she depends upon God’s providence to provide basic necessities for her young family. They live in a broken-down, one-room shack of matted straw without water, a sewage system or electricity.

Young Eveline, her eldest child, tells me, “When we forget to pray together, these are the days when things are the worst. If we pray, God always helps us.”

I am astounded at the simplicity and faith of this young child. Her innocent smile has known the Way of the Cross, for she has been the confidant of her mother in her hours of need. I wish that she could experience the fresh joys of childhood.

I did witness this when she received a balloon after the celebration of Mass on Easter Sunday. There was an incredible spontaneity and joy in her as she received her treasure. She was able to delight in being a child again and, for a moment, there was a break in the daily chores of carrying water up the hill, washing clothes and helping her mother with the younger children.

Resurrection Follows The Cross
Another face was deep in my memory as I made the Way of the Cross. It was the face of Sylvia, a mother of six, who had moved into our area. Her eldest child was 24 and her youngest was 16.

Three of her children had died from tuberculosis and her 18-year-old son, David, had just been diagnosed with the disease. Sylvia’s 22-year-old daughter, Anna, died in the hospital, two days after the family had moved into their little shack. I felt a deep ache in this mother as she sobbed, “Why has this happened? What have we done? We don’t want to lose faith in God, but it is a hard to believe after the deaths of my children. We want to believe again. Please help us to believe.”

Sylvia’s family is a symbol of the cross of poverty that affects so many in impoverished nations. The lack of good nutrition, adequate housing, clean water and the inability to pay for medical costs make the poor the victims of sickness that should be preventable. But, sadly, these innocents continue to suffer and die.

But the Way of the Cross leads to the Resurrection. In the Columban parish where we live and work, there was great joy when it was announced that a parish in Australia was helping fund the construction of a medical dispensary. Work began the following day, and the people looked forward to participating in this parish venture.

They had named a medical dispensary as their most urgent need and were delighted that something was being done to help solve their medical problems. When we asked for volunteers who could help staff the center, 12 women came forward to complete the three-month training course.

One of the women, Fanny, said she had always wanted to be a nurse, but had never the means to do it. Now, she will be able to help the community by assisting at the center two days a week.

Another volunteer, Lola, said, “Don’t forget to include me in the course. We need this so much in our community. So many people cannot afford medicines, nor do they know how to prevent illnesses. Too many people are getting sick. It has got to stop! We have to do something about it!”

Through this Church-sponsored medical program, people in the shantytowns will be able to buy medicines and there will be an emphasis on preventative medicine so the poor will have a chance to break the cycle of poverty. This new dispensary is the symbol of hope for the people of this shantytown.

For Maria, Sylvia and so many other families in our area, it is the sign that God had not abandoned them and that beyond the Way of the Cross, there is Resurrection.

Sister Patricia McDermott is an Australian Sister of Mercy who works closely with the Columbans in Lima.