Our Supporters

Why: To raise funds and awareness for Nazareth House Apostolate, Sierra Leone, and to pray for their ministry

GRACE is inviting you to be involved in the ministry of Nazareth House Apostolate in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Many of you met Fr. Seraphim and Vicki Hicks, founders of Nazareth House, last month during their visit to Columbia. This Fast for Africa will allow you to participate in the ministry you heard them speak of.

Nazareth House Apostolate is especially called to pray in areas that have been abandoned and forgotten by the rest of the world. During the horrific ten-year civil war in Sierra Leone, Nazareth House went there to pray and and share God’s love. Today, Nazareth House operates a free school in Kabala, Sierra Leone (along with one meal a day to students) as well as providing medical help to those who fall between the cracks. All of this started simply with prayer! Read more at www.NazarethHouseAP .org.

Attached is a sheet for supporters to pledge a certain amount for each hour you fast. At the bottom of this page is a handy table to compute several different levels of giving, but any amount helps, and donors are free to choose their own. Ordinarily, you should collect the gifts after you have finished the fast (no fair accepting funds, and then not following through on the fast). Check off the right column when you collect the donation. If you have medical issues that preclude you from a total fasting from solid food, just do as much as you can, but be upfront with your donors. The normal fast would mean only consuming water during the 24-hour period, but if you need to adjust it to your own situation, then do as much as you can. It really only means missing two meals (breakfast and lunch on Saturday, assuming you eat just prior to the 6:00 p.m. start on Friday), and very few people have ever had to be rushed to the hospital for missing two meals! You may also choose to fast from something besides food, but it should be a real sacrifice of something you ordinarily partake of (tv, computer, etc.).

As with any fast, use the hunger pains as an opportunity to remind yourself that your hunger for God is more important than any physical hunger you may experience. When your stomach grumbles, turn it into a prayer. You may want to use the following prayer, which is recited by the students daily at the Nazareth House School:

“Merciful God, receive the prayers we offer for our anxious and troubled world. Send thy light into our darkness and guide the nations as one family into the ways of peace. We, together on the earth, belong to you. May we see one another as you see us. Help us to love one another, teach us to understand each other, just as you understand us. Make us as fresh as the morning, make our hearts free of fear. May we forgive each other and forget the past. Strengthen in us, day by day, the desire for you. Amen.”

You will be able to participate in the fast completely on your own, but we will have group activities at the beginning and end of the fast, if you would like to participate. Friday, we will start with Evening Prayer at 6:00, praying especially for Nazarath House, and our efforts in this fast. We will follow that by a screening at 6:45 of Blood Diamond, the 2006 film starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Djimon Hounsou, which tells the story of Sierra Leone’s brutal civil war (Location TBA).

Saturday, we will end the fast with Evening Prayer at 5:30, followed by an African supper at 6:00.

See us in action on our Youtube Channel;   www.youtube.com/SaloneNHA