KINGSTON, Jamaica — My wife, Kathryn Kranack, and I went on yet another medical mission this past winter, with a group of healthcare professionals celebrating their 20th annual mission to Jamaica.
Preparation for the February trip began last November with monthly meetings for team members to get to know each other, discuss what is expected, and emphasize the mission statement which is “service above self.” The mission statement is not just a motto; the people on the trip put these words into action.
The 55-member team consisted of primary care doctors, dentists, an optometrist, nurses and support staff who felt the call to serve the poor. They placed the words of the Gospel into their heart: “For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me” (Mt 25: 35-36).
Our usual day started at 7:30 a.m. The team was divided into two or three groups; each group went to a different town where the local church was converted into a clinic. The vans were loaded with medicine and medical supplies and it was off to work.
When we arrived at the church, people were lined up waiting to be treated. There was no pushing or shoving, and no cutting in line. Courtesy among the people toward their neighbors and the missionaries was genuine and obvious. They were a very kind and Christian people, who showed us the love of Christ as much as we showed it to them.
We would see people from the time of our arrival until 12 p.m., when we would take a 15- to 20-minute lunch break, and then resume our work until 5 p.m. We would then pack up the leftover medication and equipment, and return to our base, arriving at around 6:30 p.m., eat supper, then pack medication and equipment for the next day. Each day we went to a different village.
Everyone on this trip gave their time and professional abilities to provide medical care to the underserved areas of Jamaica. One doctor even treated the housekeeper at the hotel for tonsillitis. The cooks at our base were also given medicine and dental care.
Why is this mission important to Byzantine Catholics? Why should we be concerned about poor people living in the mountain villages of Jamaica, when there are poor people in the United States? Because many charities help the poor in this country, whereas the poor of Jamaica are a forgotten people, with little hope of pulling their lives out of poverty. There are no soup kitchens or food pantries. Much of their medicine is given to them by missionaries on trips similar to ours.
My question and challenge to all Byzantine Catholics, then, is: Are you interested in helping the marginalized and the poor? If you want to live out the words of the Lord on our mission trip in February 2020, contact me through Horizons or at St. Luke Parish in Sugar Creek, Missouri.
Let us keep in mind the words of our Lord: “Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me” (Mt 25: 40).
Caption:
Deacon Nicholas Szilagye (back row, second from left), a physician from St. Luke Parish in Sugar Creek, Mo., poses with other volunteers on a medical mission trip to Jamaica at the start of Lent. He went on the trip with his wife, Kathryn Kranack. (Photo: Kathryn Kranack)
As published in Horizons, April 21, 2019. Sign up for Horizons’ e-newsletter.