Samedi dans le parc

By: TONY MARKS
Editor

Despite the heat, dozens of volunteers turned up on Saturday, August 5, to help clean up the Ville Platte Native Plant Heritage Garden.
The clean up event was organized by the Community of Jesus Crucified in St. Martinville. Sister Marie Therese with the CJC said, “Today we’re having a service project to help people understand that if you’re going to serve it has to come from a personal relationship with God for it to be fruitful and full of love because love comes from God.”
Sister Marie Therese went on to say, “We’re trying to just do good for the community because if we know God we should be doing good. Today is just an opportunity for everyone to come together and be able to serve and beautify God’s creation.”
The volunteers and other members of the community also had the opportunity to receive the Sacrament of Confession inside the Spiritual Care Unit, which is a mobile Confessional.
“It’s been busy this morning, which is great,” expressed Sister Marie Therese. “People are coming to the Sacrament of Confession, which is something we don’t utilize as much as we should. Catholics are supposed to go to Confession at least once a year. Confession is not only for forgiveness of sins. It gives us the graces we need to avoid sin in the future.”
“With the Spiritual Care Unit,” she continued, “we try to bring Confession out to the people so that, if they’ve been away for a while, it’s not as intimidating as going inside a Confessional in a church. It’s a different kind of way to reach people and to educate them too.”
The event kicked off with a Holy Hour on the night before and Mass on Saturday morning. There were also encounters with homeless people living in the park. As Sister Marie Therese said, “We were able to have some good conversations with them. We’re hoping they’ll come back for lunch today.”
As for the volunteers who braved the weather conditions, Sister Marie Therese said, “I’m very grateful for all the people who are coming out. The heat is terrible, but it just shows how on fire they are to help and to love the Lord, which is a beautiful thing.”
She continued, “I think it’s a great sign of where people’s hearts are. People just need an opportunity to serve, and we need to come together and do that. The Church can come together and organize things to make it more fruitful and visible. We just need to point this machine in a direction.”
The service project was part of a three-year Eucharistic revival across the country known as “Remain With Me.”
Sister Marie Therese explained, “On the diocesan level, we’re trying to help communities light that flame. ‘Remain with me’ is Jesus’ words to us. It’s Him asking us to remain with Him in the Blessed Sacrament and not leave Him, to not be pulled by all the different temptations of the world, and to lead His Church which is where we have Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.”
“‘Remain With Me’ is helping people see the Lord is here and is present,” continued Sister Marie Therese. “We don’t want to leave that, and we want to go out and serve. They go together. To love others and to know the Lord, you can’t have one without the other.”