I caught the members of the St. Monica Prayer Guild of our parish feeding some fifty children from Maligaya VI. The activity is part of the parish's feeding program done in association with the KIWANIS unit of Chrysanthemum Village, San Pedro Laguna. The KIWANIS unit received a large donation of nutritional rice from the US and organized a feeding program that involved the social outreach section of the Parish Pastoral Council of the Mother of Good Counsel. All the parish units were involved in this outreach program, which required their members to cook the rice according to specifications and feed about fifty children from Maligaya VI, our parish's homes-along-the-railway.
The feeding program formally started last April after the monthly mass held at Maligaya VI. During the mass, it was explained that the feeding program will start at Maligaya VI as an experiment and if it succeeds, the program will be extended to Maligaya V and IV. To start the program, children were screened with only those who were showing signs of malnutrition being enrolled into the program. These children will be monitored during the feeding program which will last for several months.
When I got to the place where the feeding program was held, the last group of the fifty children enrolled into the program were receiving their lugaw for the day. For four days a week, representatives from a parish unit would go to the designated place for the feeding and distribute the food which they have prepared before hand. Cely, Evelyn, Leeth, Malou and Gave represented the St. Monica Prayer Guild. Rey, an overseer from the KIWANIS, was assisting them.
The St. Monica Prayer Guild are a group of mothers who have made it their special contribution to the work of the parish to pray for an hour before the Blessed Sacrament. At a time where efficiency and action are temptations for most Church organizations and groups, the St. Monica Prayer Guild are showing us the power of prayer within the Body of Christ. They are showing too that prayer without action can be an excuse for indifference in the face of the cry of the poor.
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