I am Mari Carmen, I belong to the UPA Burela-Cervo-Cordido and I am a volunteer for Cáritas in the CON-VIVINDO program to accompany older people in solitude.
On March 18, we celebrated the Feast of Mercy in our Diocese of Mondoñedo-Ferrol; excellent opportunity to meet and share the celebration of forgiveness.
For this occasion I was invited from Cáritas to animate one of the workshops: “Next to unwanted loneliness.” I have to admit that at first I received the proposal with some fear and many doubts; Would I be able to convey what the experience of accompanying means to me, not only as a person but, above all, as a committed Christian?
Finally I accepted, surely with some unconsciousness, the challenge. When I was preparing it, I really stopped to think: what is Mercy for me?
Mercy is the expression of the great love that the Father has for us regardless of our lack of love, our failures or weaknesses; an immeasurable love always ready to forgive and look at us with the eyes of a generous Father who invites us to conversion and to live that mercy with others.
Since we are called to be merciful like the Father, my way of living it on a day-to-day basis is accompanying the elderly in solitude.
Unfortunately, in today’s societies it seems that the elderly have less and less and are separated from the public sphere, giving more cases of unwanted loneliness and even deaths in the absolute solitude of older people in their homes.
I live this volunteering not simply as a contribution to society but as personal growth and the possibility of feeling redeemed and loved by God despite all my failures and weaknesses.
The opportunity to share this experience with the workshop participants was very gratifying and I only wish I had been able to convey the joy that volunteering with the elderly brings me.
#unwanted #loneliness #Diocesan #MondoñedoFerrol
