The Lenten season we have now entered is a time of testing and purification for the People of God.  Moses led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt into a long 40-year journey marked by the trials of scarcity and want in the desert. They patiently endured the desert hardships by taking comfort in Yahweh’s promise that they would finally come to settle in a land “…flowing with milk and honey” (Ex. 3:17).

Promise greets us with a smile upon our arrival.

The burdens and trials known to the ancient Israelites who wandered in the desert are also known to the poor and marginalized orphans, widows, and rural villagers served in the mission of HEAL. Through the spirituality of Jesus’ self-emptying (cf. Phil 2:6-11), HEAL meets God’s people in their dire conditions and attends to them through our uplifting mission programs.

One such program is specifically designed for widows, who have no opportunity to fend for themselves and their children because, in this cultural context, they are stripped of their rights and socially ostracized. HEAL assists by employing such widows as domestic laborers on behalf of the mission and also by organizing them into small spiritual empowerment groups.

The small groups foster theological reflection among the widows on how God is working in their lives to bring healing to their present and hope for their futures. In time, HEAL will guide the empowerment groups into entrepreneurial ventures through agricultural skills training and acquisition and micro financing. This initiative will be known as the “Kindred Redeemer Farm Cooperative.”

Our widows, like the Israelites, are on the long hard journey through the desert but on a path to a land of promise! This Lent, include HEAL in your prayers and almsgiving so that our KRF Cooperative vision becomes a reality!