ARTICLES

Sweet Deeds of Mercy

Devotee of Sister Faustina Message Walks the Walk

By Eric Reslock

Long-time readers of this paper might know Thelma Orias as the founder of the chapel of Divine Mercy in El Cerrito and organizer of local Divine Mercy conferences and celebrations of the devotion. When we last spoke in 1999, the chapel was not yet one year old. Today it is the only chapel in the diocese of Oakland that is open for perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Orias says there are now150 volunteers for the adoration.

But Orias is not one to bask in the glory of her accomplishments. When we last spoke, she said she was looking for practicable ways to demonstrate mercy, since the first component of the Divine Mercy devotion is to perform merciful works. Last August, she fulfilled this promise by opening a home for pregnant women in crisis in San Pablo. The house will provide a place for women who are essentially homeless and save the lives of children who otherwise might be lost to abortion. In doing this, the home will also protect women from experiencing post-abortion trauma.

The Divine Mercy devotion traces its roots back to 1931, when an uneducated Polish nun, Sister Faustina Kowalska, received a message that she was told to spread throughout the world. She was asked by the Lord to become the apostle and secretary of God's mercy, a model of how to be merciful to others and an instrument for God's plan of mercy for the world. Sister Kowalska saw a vision of Jesus with rays of light streaming from His Heart. He told her to have an image painted to represent this vision and sign it, "Jesus, I trust in You!" After the initial vision, under the guidance of her spiritual director, Sister Faustina wrote a diary of some 600 pages recording the revelations she was receiving about God's mercy. The writings of Blessed Faustina Kowalska are the source of the Divine Mercy devotion.

An informative process was begun in 1965 to investigate the diary and devotions of Sister Faustina. This investigation led to Sister Faustina's beatification cause in 1968. On December 21, 1992, the Holy Father published the Church's acceptance of a miracle as granted through the intercession of Sister Faustina. He announced that her solemn beatification would take place in Rome on April 18, 1993, the Sunday following Easter, which Our Lord revealed to Blessed Faustina as the Feast of Mercy.

Today, the Divine Mercy chapel established by Thelma Orias in El Cerrito is thriving. Through generous donations, the center now has a beautiful handmade monstrance enthroned in a sanctuary. They had to turn people away from their annual conference in March because they only had room for 1,000 people. Because of her prodding, St. Patrick's in the Mission District incorporated the devotion into their Easter triduum. St. Boniface's in the Tenderloin also recognizes the devotion.

When asked to explain the connection between the corporal works of mercy and Blessed Faustina's message, Orias quoted St. Faustina's diary, "Jesus told St. Faustina, 'I demand from you deeds of mercy, which are to arise out of love for me. You are to show mercy to your neighbors always and everywhere. I am giving you three ways of exercising mercy toward your neighbor: the first -- by deed, the second -- by word, the third -- by prayer. In these three degrees is contained the fullness of mercy, and it is an unquestionable proof of love for Me.'"

Orias first learned about the property for the maternity house when she met a Franciscan priest, Father Masseo Rodriguez, on her birthday in December 2000 at the El Cerrito chapel. Another priest, who was supposed to say Mass for her birthday, had cancelled. A friend went to the Franciscan Friary of the Conventual Franciscan in San Pablo to find a replacement. Father Rodriguez answered the door and agreed to come say Mass. Orias explained the Divine Mercy ministry to him.

Four months later, Orias canceled her retreat at Mt. Tabor Monastery in Ukiah for Holy Week; instead she stayed near the center. On Holy Thursday at the adoration chapel, after reposing the Blessed Sacrament at the chapel, Father Rodriguez told Orias that the Franciscans were moving out and offered to give her their San Pablo residence. "I went with him that same day to their place and checked it out. I was interested right away when I saw the convent," Orias said.

When asked if she was specifically looking to start a crisis pregnancy shelter, she said, "No. However, the desire to have a place for them was in my heart, and I shared to our board members about this ministry, which they approved. This desire to help these women came to me when I went to San Bernardino to attend the anniversary of Father Barry's priesthood. Father Barry was the first spiritual director of the Divine Mercy Center in El Cerrito. He showed me their Veronica House, a shelter for pregnant women in crisis. I was touched at the time. The one thing I could not forget was that every time I prayed and reflected on the suffering of people, I always felt the pain of abortion and asked God for mercy. And since then it had been in my heart and mind to help these women."

The board members of the Divine Mercy foundation approved the acquisition of the property in August 2001. In December of that year, a live-in retired volunteer occupied the place to care for the adoration. With the approval of the diocese, Mary's House opened as a shelter last August. With the help of volunteers, the two-story convent was converted to a twelve-room home (nine guest bedrooms and three staff bedrooms), including a large living room, dining room, kitchen, administrative offices and laundry room.

To date, Mary's House has opened its doors to nine women, ages 18 and over. The first baby born to a mother at Mary's House arrived on November 29, 2002 to a mom who came to the shelter in her ninth month. The other residents are still anticipating motherhood and keeping themselves occupied by working part-time and/or job hunting. As with her other endeavors, Orias has gone beyond providing the bare necessities. "We have expanded our base of network providers to include counseling, food banks, public health, medical, and government assistance, information about housing and employment, and training in resume writing, interview skills, and budgeting," she said. The director works individually with each woman to connect her with the appropriate resources and make sure her needs are met." Women are allowed to stay up to six months after pregnancy under a program designed to help them become self-sufficient after they leave. There are strict house rules and a structured, scheduled environment.

The need for the shelter in the area is acute. There are no other formal pregnancy/maternity facilities providing residential care in Contra Costa County. San Pablo has the lowest median family income of any city in the county. It also has the highest unemployment. Eighty percent of the residents are people of color; 35 percent of these are Latino. In recent years, the county received over 5,000 domestic violence 911 calls. In 1999, 2,887 families in the county were homeless, with children. Spanish-language ads for abortions are in the area's phone books.

Orias says the house still needs bedroom accessories such as blankets, linens, towels, pillowcases, baby clothes, maternity clothes, baby supplies, and a new washer. They are also looking for on-call volunteers in case full-time staff and other volunteers go on vacation.

Perhaps the most astonishing thing is that Orias also has a full time job. Asked how she finds time for all she does, she said, "God blessed me with an understanding husband. When I began the spiritual works of the Divine Mercy, promoting the devotion, my oldest child was nine years old, the second one was five, and the third one was three years old. My husband knew at the time that my calling to serve God was part of his sacrifice. He believed on my inspiration. Although he was not physically present or helping me on all the works, he was busy taking care of my three growing children while I was promoting the Divine Mercy. He was active in coaching my two boys in baseball. He never questioned me about what I am doing. He trusts me as I trust Jesus. At the same time, although God has sent me very few people to help and support me, these people that God has sent are very dedicated, sincere; and most important is their deep faith and true trust in our Lord. God sends the right people at the right time that I need them. Aside from those faithful people, God also sends me good religious and priests, to mention some like the Carmelite Community in San Jose, Father Michael Barry, Deacon Tom McGowan (liaison to the diocese of Oakland), and other priests."

Hoping to understand the force that is driving her, I asked Orias if the found her burden sweet. She replied, "Let us change the word 'burden' to 'gift.' All that we are doing for the Divine Mercy are sweet gifts from our Lord to glorify His name through us."

Asked to describe Thelma Orias and the difference she has made, foundation board member Thomas Kennedy said, "I think Thelma has had a profound effect on me and everyone around her. She's a person of great faith, devotion and determination. She does so much, she runs circles around us here in El Cerrito, yet has a family in Union City and a full-time job in San Francisco. I just don't know how she does it all. I've never seen her ask anyone to do anything she hasn't done herself, and she is always pleasant and positive about it. She's an inspiration, an enabler, and a great role model."

Orias said, "although all the board members knew that this was a big project that needed commitment, they gave me full approval and support. And Father George Schultze was a great help, support, and encouragement for us. Father George and I visited many maternity houses, which were not visited by our members, to get ideas and information how they run their homes. Other members of our group made their visits to other homes also."

Some of the foundations that have contributed to the Orias's foundation: Wayne and Glady's Valley Foundation, Y & H Soda Foundation, Lowell Foundation, Trust Funds, Bank of America, and Poverty, Peace and Justice of the Dominican Sisters, and other individual donors, who gave substantial amounts. But For Orias, the most important aspect of the ministry is prayer. She said, "we are trusting just in God's providence. The Divine Mercy [community] is composed of sincere and faithful devotees from around the Bay Area, who operate and run all our projects by just trusting in God's providence. We faithfully believe and follow what Jesus told St. Faustina: 'the graces of My mercy are drawn by means of one vessel only, and that is -- trust.'"

For more information on the foundation, write to: Divine Mercy Foundation, 11152 San Pablo Avenue, El Cerrito, California 94530.

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