Following in Jesus’ Footsteps – Your Weekly Catholic Reflection from CMMB
Tune into our audio version of the weekly reflection above!
Today’s Gospel takes place after Jesus performs a miracle in front of a group of onlookers. With only five barley loaves and two fish, Jesus produces enough nourishment to feed thousands of people. We identify miracles like this as “signs” through which our brothers and sisters came to believe in Jesus as the Son of God.
To an intrigued crowd that gathers around him, Jesus explains that as the Son of God, he is the bread of life. It is through his explanation that we come to understand the mystery that guides our Eucharistic Theology.
When we share in communion, we share in the Body and Blood of Christ and invite Jesus himself to join us as one. United as one body with the Lord, we are left with the gift of Christ and the duty to follow in the footsteps of Jesus.
At CMMB, we are guided by the example of Jesus in everything that we do. We work towards the day in which every human life is valued, and health and human dignity are shared by all. This vision allows for no exceptions. And despite the disheartening moments of the past weeks, we find guidance and inspiration from the individuals we serve with. They are paving the way for a world where our vision becomes the reality.
PRN International founder and volunteer, Denise Walsh, is one of those individuals.
Since 2010, CMMB’s Medical Donations Program has supported PRN Relief International, an organization that sends doctors, nurses, and residents on medical mission trips around the world.
After witnessing a gap in care on a medical outreach trip to Haiti, Denise was inspired to start her own volunteer group. Within months she had recruited three doctors and four nurses, identified five communities in Kingston, Jamaica—all in desperate need of medical care—and set out on a mission trip to serve them. This was the beginning of ‘Physicians, Residents, and Nurses,’ or PRN Relief International.
PRN has hand carried 31 different CMMB donations of medicine and medical supplies on their service trips. Denise and her team worked especially close with the now retired Manager of the CMMB Distribution Center, Ralph Barberio to ensure they were bringing enough medicines to prescribe that would last patients for six months until their return.
Distribution Center boxes packed
In the two decades since its inception, PRN International’s impact has grown immensely but its dedication to strengthening the health of communities has remained the same.
Recruiting volunteers from universities across the country, the organization is starting new generations off with a healthy foundation. CMMB’s Medical Donations Program team is proud work with partners who are bringing us one step, one community, and one country closer to a world in which health and human dignity are shared by all.
In grace and peace,
Bruce Wilkinson
President & CEO, CMMB