by: Tom Famulari

Recently ChristLife’s program Discovering Christ was presented to the residents of the Little Sisters of the Poor home in Baltimore, MD. Discovering Christ had never been tried in a nursing home setting.

Due to the setting of the facility a few modifications needed to be made to fit the needs of the residents and the home. One of the modifications was instead of running it in the evening and providing a dinner, we decided to hold the sessions on a Saturday afternoon after lunch since they would already be eating together.

We were not sure how many residents would come, but we knew that the Holy Spirit would bring those who needed to be there. We were blessed to have 27 residents come. They came with their walkers and wheelchairs, and ranged in ages from ages 70 to nearly 100 years old. Even some of the sisters joined us.

Discovering Christ started out with songs that were projected on a big screen television, followed by prayer and the video teaching. We then broke up into four small groups to discuss the teachings.

This is where the Holy Spirit took charge.

The discussions were very open. One example was a resident in her 80’s, who described herself as a religious person. During one conversation, she started to cry. When asked, “Why?“, she responded, “I never knew why I was here, now I do.” She just praised God for this revelation in her life.

It goes to prove that you are never too old to be renewed in the Spirit.

Many residents shared that they were very uplifted and excited by the talk and the small group sharing. Several said that they had gone through Catholic schools and attend Mass, but were never touched as personally as they were with this program. Several said they feel they truly discovered Christ.

The news of what was done here and the results spread to other homes and they have asked that Discovering Christ be brought there. Plans are in the works to serve those homes.

We should not assume that the elderly and infirmed have it all together. They too can discover Christ and get to know Him better.

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Since the writing of this article, plans have been made to begin ChristLife at the Little Sisters of the Poor homes in Indianapolis and Washington DC. Tom and Mary Jane Famulari, residents at St. Martin’s Home in Baltimore, MD, introduced ChristLife to Little Sisters of the Poor in 2022.

 

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