One of our friends that I have gotten to know from the past month and a half is Margareta. She comes from a Gypsie family, but she also has a disability, and so, some of the Gypsies discriminate against her. Thus, we are her family. She has been a close friend of our community for almost ten years, knowing every volunteer that comes here. Yet, she has become a true friend for me personally– someone around whom I can openly be myself in full honesty. 

I met her on my first morning in Deva. She was shy, as I was a new volunteer, but now, a month and a half later, she is like a mother, sister, daughter, and friend to me. She helps me know what to do everyday, as she tells me exactly what is needed: to work in the garden, pray, sleep, clean, or play with the children in Deva. She comes to us when she needs a friend, a place where she is loved and can be understood. Yet, she has become a true friend for me personally– someone I can openly be myself in full honesty. She is not afraid of my faults, and loves me like a mother loves her children, recognizing all that I am and all that I have not, and she patiently waits for me to grow. On each step, she is there to say “Bravo!” or “Harnica!” (hard-working).

Yet, Margareta’s motherhood is even more profound. One day at lunch, Margareta told us, “When I get to Heaven, I will open up the doors for you.” I truly cannot think of a better example of a mother who models Mary, the Mother of God, who patiently waits for her children, always trusting Christ to them again and again, all the way to the gates of Heaven. I came on mission with Con-solatio to be the presence of Mary, the Mother who stood beside the Cross. Yet, who do I find here? Mary, beside the cross, in Margareta. In her, Christ says to me “Behold, your Mother” (John 19:27)–behold the one who says with Me, “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). These are the moments when Christ presents Himself to me, showing me His humility in that He allows me to be accepted into His eternity through Margareta, a friend who is hidden and unseen in this world.