The Friends of Mary Aikenhead have spread to Malawi! Here Sr Rosemary Ng’andu explains how two new groups started.
In January 2015 I gave a short talk to a group of the Legion of Mary on the life of Mother Mary Aikenhead and distributed the leaflet we have about her that is written in the Chichewa language ‘Mary Aikenhead and her legacy to us all’. I thought that was the end of it. At the next Legion of Mary meeting one of the members who had been at the previous one told others about the leaflets and they also wanted to get them. I went to get the leaflets and when I returned I found the one who had brought the others to me telling them how Mary Aikenhead got her vocation to serve the poor after she had heard the sermon of the Rich Man and Lazarus. He was telling it so well that I did not want to interrupt him. I just stood behind him until he finished. They seemed to be very interested in the story. I asked them if they would like to help Mary Aikenhead and the Sisters of Charity to serve the poor in their own villages. Some accepted the invitation and started the group of Friends of Mary Aikenhead.
The second group is at Konzalendo Centre and they have started doing visitation of the poor in their homes. The two groups are eager to grow in their own spiritual life and to help others. They feel honoured to be the first to be called Friends of Venerable Mary Aikenhead. All the members will took their pledge on the 22nd July. They was a memorable day with Mass followed by a celebration.
Below is the first ‘newsletter’ from the Friends of Mary Aikenhead in Malawi.
Newsletter from Friends of Venerable Mary Aikenhead, Konzalendo, Malawi
In May 2015 Sr. Rosemary spoke to us on the life and work of the founder of the congregation of the Religious Sisters of Charity. She told us the congregation is 200 years founded this year, she also told us that Mary Aikenhead had been declared Venerable. The sisters are going to have great celebrations. Sister told us that we could also follow Mary Aikenhead in serving the poor and vulnerable in our area. A lot of us were interested in helping the poor but we were afraid that we would have nothing to give them, because we were thinking of money.
Sister told us that it is not the giving of money what is important in helping others. Being compassionate, doing small things such as visiting the sick, the lonely, cleaning homes for old people and giving what one can afford. Sister told us that Mary Aikenhead used to tell the sisters to give to the poor what the rich can get with money – this impressed most of us. Thirty-two of us decided to start helping the poor in the villages around Konzalendo. Sister told us that we can start a group of the Friends of Venerable Mary Aikenhead. We were all happy to start the group. Sister Imelda came to talk to us and impressed on us that we need to be people of action not just talking, Mary Aikenhead was a woman of action and that is our aim in life to be people of action.
We hope to take our pledge as Friends of Venerable Mary Aikenhead on the 22nd of July, we will be joined by another group from Nyalugwe out station. We are looking forward to this great day. The two groups have met once to learn about the Spirituality and Charism of the Sisters of Charity. We will be praying for our sisters in the parish, the Congregation and that Mary Aikenhead may be called a saint soon. We have started visiting the poor. We have already seen how much these appreciate our visits. Most of them appreciate our ‘presence’ more than other gifts.
By Martin Haward.