On our first-ever Oncological Surgery Mission Trip, cancer patients and their families offered lessons in hope and trust, even when the outcomes they longed for were not guaranteed.

The thread of “pushing the envelope” was consistent throughout our week-long neurosurgery mission that consisted of mentored surgeries, patient consultations, meetings with hospital leaders and course instruction in both Bolivia and Paraguay.

As Christ’s passion unfolds we soon see that we are not being invited to live lives of pleasure or power but of suffering. We are invited to empty ourselves to make room for God in our lives. So what draws us to accept such an invitation? It is astounding that Christ should have so many followers in the wake of such an unattractive proposition!

On her first mission trip with Solidarity Bridge, office Intern, Megan Sheridan, is serving as the supply coordinator for our Oncological Surgery Mission Trip in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. In this blog, she reflects on the experience, the reasons we are called to heal abroad, and the beauty of human relationships. 

As three simultaneous trips take place in Bolivia this week, our neurosurgery and general surgery teams are working alongside each other in the city of Cochabamba, sharing in these experiences of training and equipping to build a healthier world. 

In today’s Gospel, we hear the story of Martha and Mary, and their feelings of despair at the death of their brother, Lazarus.  The human experience of struggling to maintain hope in the face of despair unites Martha’s story with our own, and teaches us to find  God’s goodness and grace in our most fragile moments. 
 

Our first-ever mission trip dedicated solely to cancer surgery begins at the Cancer Institute of Eastern Bolivia.

Three mission teams heading to Bolivia in March 2018 will take part in important “firsts,” either for Solidarity Bridge, for our partners, or for patients in need of specialized surgical care.

In today's Gospel, Jesus heals the blind man, and Chaplain Jim Manzardo, invites us to consider where in our lives we may have been blind, with closed hearts and minds. 

In the third Sunday of Lent, we hear about Jesus’ choice to visit Samaria, a place and a people looked down upon by the Jews. Once there, he engages in a theological discussion with a woman, and not just any woman, but a woman that the Evangelist’s audience would have frowned upon.   

In the second Sunday of Lent, we reflect on this week’s Gospel, recounting Christ’s transfiguration, which has commonality with my experience as a missioner in Bolivia. Five words came to mind sequentially as I reflected on this passage and my work with Solidarity Bridge: privilege, remoteness, intensity, uncertainty, and humility.

“In the gospels, the particular word used for repentance is metanoia. Literally this means to do an about face, to turn around, to face in an entirely new direction.” And this is the invitation for this first Sunday of Lent - to turn our lives around - to face in an entirely new direction. Jesus is urging his listeners - and us - to change our lives, to see anew.