Opus Dei

When Marianella Mendoza realized how serious the impact of the pandemic in the Philippines was on the daily wage earners in her town, she asked herself: "Was God asking me to go beyond my comfort zone?"

"Stuff" is a conversation with seven couples from a variety of countries and backgrounds, but with a single shared concern: that their children form healthy relationships with material goods and learn how to use them responsibly.

One afternoon while taking a walk with my wife and young son – recounts Reyes, a retired language teacher in Granada – a man playing the accordion on a street corner came up to me and gave me a big hug, thanking me for the classes I gave him in prison.

Monsignor Fernando Ocáriz took part in the second edition of “Harambee Covid-19 Conversations,” a series of discussions among health care professionals from Africa, Europe and Latin America.

The following stories show how creativity and a passion for doing good can cut through walls and cross over oceans. Although we are confined, our eagerness to help others cannot be.

When COVID-19 struck last year, a university professor mobilized her friends to assist the nearby Aeta communities, the earliest known inhabitants of the Philippines.

Despite the many ways that COVID-19 has made life unpredictable, students at Oakcrest School in Virginia have continued doing all they can to serve the needy.

In the Raval neighborhood of Barcelona, half of the people are immigrants and unemployment is over 30%. Nuria recounts what she is doing at Terral to help as many of these people as possible.

Dita, from Portugal, writes about an initiative to connect by phone with elderly people who are suffering from loneliness during COVID-19. Many new friendships have resulted.

A group of ten high school students from the US spent their Christmas break this year serving the townspeople of Santa Caterina Palopo, Guatemala, where they say they received more than they gave.

Lauan University Center volunteers collected and distributed food and care packages to jeepney drivers and their families whose incomes were drastically cut by the pandemic restrictions.

Thanks to the generosity of many people and organizations, since June 1 the Austral Solidarity Covid Hospital has been caring for gravely ill coronavirus patients without health insurance.

Ella, a recent graduate, shares her experience in assisting the needy in Benin City. Despite being in Calabar, she was able to work remotely in organizing a team of volunteers in Benin to provide palliatives and health and safety measures to some indigent people in Benin City.

In a video message for all the faithful just before Holy Week, Pope Francis encouraged us to infuse our actions with "the creativity of love," a quality especially crucial during the current health emergency.

A graduate of Makerere University in Uganda, Dr. Irene Kyamummi has worked for over ten years to provide health care for children in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.