The Moses within

Each of us has been gifted with the courage to take the road to freedom and to live according to God's desire for peace and justice for all

By Lorie Nuñez
May 2007

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In Toronto I have often felt immobilized. This is because for me mission, geographically speaking, has usually meant the Third World, countries like the Philippines where I grew up. To do ministry in a rich country does not seem to fit with being a missionary. Somehow the existence of poverty in Canada seems ridiculous to me. Yet, I am astonished to see the need for clean water, literacy education, childcare and accessible health care becoming more and more visible here.

Zahra from Iran was one of the women I met at the Maryglen Residence, Our Lady's Missionaries' ministry of affordable housing for women in downtown Toronto. Her story made me realize that her struggles were not so different from those of poor people all over the world.

Zahra and the other residents of Maryglen have come from many different countries, cultures, traditions and faiths. In their countries they were deprived of jobs in which to practice their professions. That enslaving situation left them with no choice but to seek employment outside their homeland. And their quest brought me to the story of Moses who led the Israelites to the Promised Land. But where can they find this "Promised Land" now? Even here in Canada a job still seems miles away and out of reach. Where is the Moses to lead them?

Now that my discernment has guided me to go back to the Philippines, I only hope that the Moses within me will reveal the Promised Land where respect for all human beings can be found. I truly believe that each of us has been gifted with a Moses within... the Moses who gives us courage to take the road to freedom and to live according to God's desire for peace and justice among all.

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