All Things Are Possible: Our Visit to Jacob’s Ladder

On Wednesday, our team took a day off of our work at Blessed Assurance to visit another of Mustard Seed’s communities: Jacob’s Ladder. Jacob’s Ladder is a massive facility that houses many adults with special needs, providing them with a safe and happy environment in which they can work and find a home. Upon arrival, we were shocked at the sheer size of the place, which is divided into several residential “villages,” a full-scale chapel, a smaller Adoration room, work facilities, administrative buildings and many acres of farmland. The whole community aims to be self-sustaining, producing its own food and products for sale, many of which are crafted by the adult residents. It was an extraordinary operation.
After morning Mass in the chapel, Father Garvin (the second-in command at Mustard Seed) spoke with us about the miraculous history of Mustard Seed Communities. It began with the extraordinary vision of one priest, Msgr. Gregory, who 40 years ago came to Jamaica from his native Trinidad. One day during Mass, he saw a woman with two children sitting in the pews. When she turned around during the Sign of Peace, he saw that her face was completely covered in sores. After Mass, he saw the woman, afflicted with HIV, begging outside the church with her children. Realizing that he could not play bystander to this crisis, Monsignor decided to take action. He began squatting on the property now home to Jacob’s Ladder, which at that time was an undeveloped mass of tropical foliage. He built a small facility in the woods, and slowly began to build up the community. His first residents were the woman at church and her two children; soon, many more residents (now over four hundred) flooded to the little compound. Through prayer and extraordinary trust in God, Monsignor finally acquired enough funding to properly purchase the massive farm property, bringing Mustard Seed out from the “underground” as an official organization.
The government soon began to approach Monsignor with the children and adults in their own care facilities, asking if they could be transferred to Mustard Seed. Now provided with government funding, Mustard Seed began to accept missionaries like ourselves, who helped not just with their hands but also with their funds. The impact of the mission program has been staggering: donations now account for over a third of Mustard Seed’s annual funding, around $2 million per year. Because of this, Mustard Seed has opened thirteen communities in Jamaica (including Blessed Assurance, our home for the week), and several others around the globe.

As I listened to this story, I couldn’t help but place myself in Monsignor’s shoes back when he began this project. He hiked deep into the jungle with a shovel and a profound trust in God; forty years later, that same simple trust (and many more shovels) has saved hundreds of people from death, abandonment and neglect. It is simply extraordinary. The whole process began very slowly, doubtless with many long days of much toil and little result. Monsignor’s perseverance in God’s call did not falter; he knew that saving these people was the unique mission of his priesthood, to be carried out at any cost. As men studying to become priests, I pray that Monsignor’s example may resonate in our hearts as a witness of God’s presence even in darkness and struggle, knowing that in Him, all things are possible.
Make sure to follow the rest of our trip on social media using the hashtag  #SemsOnMission