“The elderly are those who carry history, that carry the faith, and give it to us as an inheritance.
They are like a good vintage wine who have this strength from within to give us a noble heritage.”
Pope Francis
Dear Friend,
Cande Basurto, age 90, is one of the treasures of our community. Cande grew up very poor as her widowed mother took in washing and cleaned houses to try to feed her children. “Often we only had a corn tortilla sprinkled with salt to eat for the whole day,” recalls Cande. “We ran around barefoot wearing hand-me-down clothes that were too big for us.” Cande got married at the age of 14 “to escape the poverty,” marrying Manny, who was 18 and worked as a mechanic. “But my life didn’t get any easier.” Manny was an alcoholic who drank away the money he earned and left Cande mostly on her own to raise the 13 children that they eventually had. However, Cande’s strong faith sustained her as she begged God for the conversion of her husband. After many years of fervent prayer, Manny had a complete change of heart and became one of our directors and active in ministry until his death.
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| Mary Ann Halloran visiting with Cande Basurto. |
When we go to visit Cande we know we are going to be encouraged in our faith. She has witnessed many miracles and has great stories to share about her work with Father Thomas. Cande is a tremendous prayer warrior and spends her time interceding for us since she is now unable to walk very far and rarely leaves home. She recently told me that a few months ago, her next-door neighbor who was very sick with bone cancer, was not expected to live through the night. Cande hobbled over to see him, put her hand on his forehead and said a prayer. The man, who had been unresponsive for days, sat up in bed and started talking. “Glory to God!” she smiles.
As we enter into this holy season of Advent and Christmas, we join Cande in praying for you and your loved ones. Thank you for your support this past year which enables us to keep reaching out to our brothers and sisters in need.
Merry Christmas!
