Community Life

Community life is an essential part of Heart's Home. In all the Heart's Home centers around the world a group of people committed to the charism live together sharing in all of the aspects of missionary life. We begin the day at 6:45 with morning prayer. I dislike this very much. I'd rather start the day no earlier than 11 and preferably 12. Unfortunately, I don't get my way.
We go to mass at 7:30 to St. Boniface parish. I like this parish. There are four priests who say the mass there, so I never know which it will be on any given day. Friday I met Fr. Mark. He was really nice and gave a good homily.
We then return to the house for breakfast. Later at 2 pm we pray the rosary. Sometimes we pray it in our chapel, sometimes walking down the street, and sometimes with the people in the nursing homes. On Saturday people are invited to come here and pray it with us. I don't mind this since I like praying the rosary in a group.
After the rosary we go on apostolates. We go either to nursing homes, into people's houses, we meet them on the street, or at a women's shelter for the homeless. I haven't been to the women's shelter yet. I'm not sure if any of the male missionaries ever go there or not. The aposolates are really the core part of the day, but they're also the most demanding part.
Mostly we just make conversation with the people and listen to what they say. It's always amazing to me to hear how much people appreciate our visists. We don't give them money, we don't give them food, clothes, or anything. All we do is give them our friendship and it transforms their lives. Fr. Thierry, the founder of Heart's Home, said that the greatest poverty is to be alone. To not have friends. Perhaps he is right.
After the apostolates we return for evening prayer. Then we have dinner. Then we wash dishes and attend to whatever matters. Finally it's bed time usually around 10:30 to 11.
The days are quite busy from start to finish. I'm more of a laid back easy going person, so it can be a little hard for me. I'm getting more used to it though. I like everyone in the community here. All of the missionaries are kindhearted and friendly as one might expect. All of the missionaries except one are from France. We do many things in a French sort of way. The food that we eat is also tailored to the French style. I'm not saying that it's not good, but sometimes I just want a hamburger. All things considered the community life is my favorite aspect of our missionary lifestyle. It would be impossible for me to carry the mission of Heart's Home without the support of the others. I'm very grateful for each of my missionary friends here.