PRAGUE, OCTOBER 31. On Monday night Sister Jaya Matthew, a missionary in the Czech Republic since 1995, received an award during a festive ceremony celebrating Caritas social workers who gave exceptional contributions to the furthering of charitable work. On the prestigious stage, in the presence of the Archbishop of Prague, Cardinal Dominik Duka, the President and the Director of the National Caritas and in front of the ambassadors of Croatia, Italy, Yemen, Mexico, Palestine, Peru, Portugal, Russia, Spain and the Vatican, the humble Sister Jayinka (“Little Jaya”) – as her patients and friends call her – stood as a giant.

The Committee attached decisive importance to the spirit that has permeated Sister Jaya’s work. This springs from her own fundamental attitude to life, her personality and her concrete faith. In the Pilsen Diocese, the loneliest and the poorest among the sick people have been received by Sister Jaya with warm compassion, devoid of condescension.

These people are responsible for the award she received. They recognized her continuous and tireless efforts to make them feel welcome as people, with their own human dignity and the right to respect. Some of them have enjoyed her joyful and loving presence over more than 20 years and they witnessed that every time she has visited them, she has been able to carry them away from their loneliness and sadness and back to an atmosphere of serenity.

“We remember how many people she accompanied during their last hours of life,” says Anna Srbová, one of her colleagues. “There are many footprints of S. Jaya and her ministry in Pilsen and we cannot even imagine all that she has obtained for people through her prayers and sacrifices.”

S. Mariaelena Aceti

Video: https://youtu.be/1YcuuTgHJds