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Allie Sherwood studied Nursing at Villanova University.
She spent the year serving in the San Diego community as a
nurse at the St. Vincent De Paul Clinic.
In looking to reflect on faith in action I instantly think
of the many verbs that can describe our service and lifestyle
this year… giving, cooking, cleaning, talking, doing, running,
playing, crying, laughing, showing, and telling... However,
quick as I am to think of these words I then think of inaction…
inaction in which we are challenged to make these active words
more passive… to understand when inaction can truly be the
best intervention to intervention… these inaction words like
praying, and listening, and not just listening to listen,
but listening to hear… these are the words and times in which
I am truly challenged in service… in which I have learned
that when our ears our opened our minds and hearts are thus
open to human exchange…
Coming out of nursing school I thought that I had all the
tools to make an instant difference in the health of the homeless
population in San Diego. I thought I had enough skills to
make an immediate impact; whether it was through health teaching
sessions, or changing the wound dressing bandage of a patient’s
foot ulcer, or giving medications to the patients we serve,
I thought that all these combined interventions would be a
way to let my faith be exuded in the action of healing… As
the case would be I have found faith in action through the
mere presence alone of the very nature of the homeless men,
women, and children of San Diego I have had the pleasure of
meeting. It is seen in their resilience, their spirit, and
their unwavering faith amongst the many systemic barriers
they are faced with; barriers that are compounded by the temptations
of drugs and violence on the streets, this down-turning economy,
and their lack of options for essential needs like healthcare
treatment, sustainable food options, and dependable housing.
Faith in action is found in the residents of the shelter
who venerated the cross during Good Friday Mass, faith in
action is found in the patient who praises Buddha for his
health and healing, and faith in action is found in the man
who tells me he was never blessed enough to be raised believing
in a god, but in living on the streets and seeing good works
of mercy each day he has found the presence of a higher power
through the people he encounters. Faith in action is found
on a daily basis all around us, and perhaps it took a year
of “service” to show me how to simply slow down and “look,”
and “listen” for it…
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