TORONTO (CCN) — The profound peace and joy Veronica D’Andrea felt in teaching young children about Jesus has led her to embrace the call to serve as a lay missionary in Bolivia this autumn.
On Sept. 13, D’Andrea, 22, will fly from Toronto to Panama, where she will meet her 19-year-old mission partner. Together they will travel to Montero, Bolivia, where they will serve at Hogar Sagrado Corazón (Sacred Heart Home), an orphanage for about 120 girls, run by the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Dozens of lay missionaries have served at Hogar Sagrado Corazón over the years. However, D’Andrea and her mission partner will be the first to return to the orphanage after about five years. They are expected to serve in Bolivia for four months, with the option to extend their stay.
Last month, D’Andrea, a parishioner at St. Benedict Church in Etobicoke, Ontario, was the only Canadian among nine people to be commissioned as a Salesian Lay Missioner at a Salesian retreat center in Haverstraw, New York, Aug. 14.
Salesian Lay Missioners work alongside Salesian priests and sisters, congregations of men and women religious founded by St. John Bosco in the second half of the 19th century to care for the young. The Salesian province for Canada and the Eastern United States is headquartered in New Rochelle, New York.
While wrapping up her bachelor’s degree in neuroscience at York University in Toronto this summer, D’Andrea said she experienced more stress than usual and was reflecting more about her future.
Ever since her older sister went on a three-week mission trip to Haiti years ago, she also desired to go on mission. She mentioned this interest to her spiritual director — a Salesian priest — who suggested she consider opportunities with the Salesian Lay Missioners. A discernment weekend for potential lay missioners was to take place in New York two weeks later.
Returning from the weekend experience, D’Andrea wrote a letter to Jesus — her form of prayer — asking for clarity in her discernment. That Sunday, as she helped out with the children’s liturgy in her parish, she said she understood God called her for this purpose when she felt “a huge flush of peace.”
“I was just loving to tell the kids (about) the Gospel and then read it to them and just hearing their cute little answers,” she said. “Sometimes they’re very profound. You know, the kids and their simplicity, they just teach you so much.”
Her experience with her young niece also contributed to her discernment. “She sees me as a second caregiver,” D’Andrea said. “And the fact that I could be that person to my niece could mean that I should possibly go to kids who don’t have a mother or a father and be that person (for them).”
During the commissioning ceremony in New Rochelle Aug. 14, each lay missioner was given a mission cross, prayed over and blessed. They signed a document of commitment and wrote a short mission statement.
D’Andrea’s mission statement reads: “My soul desires to love, for I have received so much peace in unravelling the heart of the Father and loving Jesus through the simplicity of his children.”
The lay missioners were encouraged to read their mission statement during their time abroad “before you sleep,” “when you feel lost … or you’re crying in your pillow,” D’Andrea said, referring to anticipated challenges and sorrows of serving abroad.
She and the other lay missioners completed three weeks of orientation and formation that included inculturation, safeguarding, service projects, a retreat, a hike, and an introduction to St. John Bosco and the Salesian charism.
Preparations also included fundraising for travel expenses, including vaccines and airfare. D’Andrea raised about $3,500 in a few weeks to cover her expenses. Any donations beyond this amount were earmarked for the needs of the orphanage.
The lay missioners also received the advice to “protect your ‘yes’ with no’s.” Therefore, until her departure, D’Andrea decided she would be intentional about how she spent her time.
“I’m saying no to a lot of things that would bring a lot of noise in my life,” she said, like hanging out with friends. “I want to be with them, but I need to be more in silence, just really allow my brain to figure things out and then just be one now with Jesus.”
“A lot of the kids (at the orphanage) went through abuse within the family, so it’s really going to come to navigating those things when I’m there, too,” she said. “But I know God gives the graces to do that stuff, and he has given me the graces already to say yes. His peace is leading me, and so I’ll let it keep leading me.”
