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Let Prayer and Simple Love Change the World…

In 1994 I was a Junior in high school and I was invited to spend my summer in Russia helping drug addicts and orphans. That summer changed my life. I went on to study at the University of Notre Dame and to major in Theology, also concentrating in Philosophy, Russian and Italian hoping to give myself a solid base for a life of mission work with the poorest of the poor in the world. Upon graduation I took a year sabbatical to pray and discern how and where the Lord wanted for me to work, and in 2001 I took off with another religious sister for the barren land of Siberia to minister to the victims of Communist concentration camps who were released, yet stuck hidden away in the middle of nowhere. After two years of mission work in Eastern Siberia I went on to spend the next 15 years as a missionary all over the world, simply ‘filling in the holes’ wherever I was needed –from the trash dumps in the Philippines to the orphans in Africa, the Lord took me all over the world to pray with, suffer with and hope with the poorest of the poor. In 2011 I returned home and made three year vows under our Bishop to live as a hermit, consecrating my life more particularly to prayer for all of the souls I met throughout the world. I continued to live a life similar to a hermit in the past four years (2014-18) while I discerned what and where the Lord wanted my life to go.

One thing that I learned from the people I served all over the world is that people need people, people need love, and people need simply the presence of prayer in the midst of their lives. The gift of simply being present is a powerful tool one can use to save and transform lives. When I was with the ‘hospital people’ in Gagarinka, Russia (who were kept trapped in cages outside) there was very little I could do for them. But I learned that first summer of mission work (1994) that being present to them –singing a song and holding their hands –was enough of a gift to make their tears stop and true joy and laughter enter their hearts. When I was on the streets of Siberia and regularly came across the abandoned children scavenging for their daily bread (often ‘alone’ because their parents were at home intoxicated or worse), I realized that my smile and a carton of milk went a long way in lightening their heavy hearts. When I found myself in an orphanage in Tanzania with 13 babies all to myself I figured out that all they needed was a dry diaper and my voice singing to them in order to be peaceful enough to fall asleep without a mom or dad at night. And when I visited the trash dumps in the Philippines and found 200,000 people living in a city created from trash I realized that love and my prayer was all they needed to find a smile and some hope in their plight. I can’t fix all of the problems in the world, but I can bring love to and prayer to suffering souls and create a place for God to enter in and help them. As a hermit I began to receive letters from my people (too far apart for my hands to reach them all, but close to me through the presence of prayer) saying that through prayer and simple letters, I was still sustaining their hearts with hope for a brighter future.

After years of such work in foreign missions, the Lord has asked me to go out to our own poor people in Chicago and to found a house of prayer –a simple place to pray and welcome the lost women and children of the neighborhood to rest their weary hearts over a cup of coffee, a piece of bread and a listening ear. Violence is best squelched by a giggle and authentic love. There are many people who simply need to see a woman of prayer willing to live among them and share a drop of grace from the Lord.  Recently Mother Teresa’s sisters told me not to fear begging door to door for the needed funds to start this ‘House of Prayer’ in the midst of the poor, and so I decided to literally try out their advice on my neighbors. All I need help with is the first few months rent for an apartment next to a good Church in Chicago, and I am sure that the Lord will provide the rest.  I will continue to withdraw to Pleasant Place for prayer from time to time. Won’t you help me to love those who are forgotten and lost here in our country? I will be getting a job to supplement any donations. Donations can be put in my mailbox (26650 Pleasant Place) or here: https://www.gofundme.com/houseofprayerandcrucifiedlovefiat

A lot of people donating a little can go a long way. After years of serving without any compensation I simply need other’s help to get going again here in this country. I learned over the years that for a mission to flourish you need three things: 1.) Those who pray for it; 2.) Those who pay for it; and 3) Those who go and do the groundwork. I can do the first and last, but I need help with the middle one. Please pass this along to anyone you think would be willing to help me. Thank you in advance for your generosity. –Mary Kloska, Fiat. +