Every time Sister Rose sends the children in her care to pump fresh water from the well, she says a prayer of thanks to you. She knows that without your regular help, her little ones in Madagascar would be drinking contaminated water from a local river. With limited access to health care, the children would then suffer from serious health issues as well as miss out on the vital education she brings to their remote village.

Father Bede is especially grateful to you -- our sustaining donors -- because you change the lives of his parishioners on the tea plantations in the mountains of Sri Lanka. In a place where Christianity is a tiny minority, Father counts on The Society for the Propagation of the Faith to help him provide supplies to say Mass in a small church for his growing flock.

Before a generous Boston donor stepped in, Charles and Matsautso -- lay catechists in Zambia -- walked many miles each weekend to teach faith formation and prepare the faithful to receive the Sacraments of the Church at rural mission chapels because no priest was available. Now they ride bicycles, praying in thanksgiving for the gift of transportation with each push of the pedal.

Around the world, missionaries depend on your sustaining help to do their lifesaving, faith-affirming work. Your gift to The Society for the Propagation of the Faith -- Pope Francis' own mission society -- is fundamental to their ministries.

This Christmas season, when you offer $50 -- less than $2 a day for all of Advent -- you provide a religious Sister with the tools she needs to serve children. Your gift of $100 in the hands of a mission priest allows more people to receive the Body of Christ. A donation of $1,000 sends a small army of lay catechists riding into rural mission villages armed with the Good News.

YOU are the gift the missions are waiting for this Christmas!

When this season is past, missionaries will still be struggling to make ends meet as they accompany the poor and marginalized of our world on a journey of faith. Please consider becoming a regular, sustaining donor to be a light to their path. Visit our website -- https://www.propfaithboston.org/monthly-donor-club -- and enroll today.

Join us as we support missionaries around the world!

- Maureen Crowley Heil is Director of Programs and Development for the Pontifical Mission Societies, Boston.