Apr 25, 2021 | SPIRITUALITY
Maintain and deepen unity
In the last month’s talk we spoke about the fact that unity is not an external matter, but an inner relationship that connects people with one another. We have seen that such a relationship has to be renewed and deepened again and again. Therefore, we were reminded by Sr. Sybilla to be vigilant in order to maintain and deepen this oneness. Today we want to think about how this can be done concretely: maintain and deepen the unity.
Convert us … (GL 266)
During the Easter period of penance – commonly referred to as Lent by us – the focus for many is on fasting and renunciation. That is certainly not bad either. But the liturgy suggests another focus: a time of conversion and reconciliation. When we are marked with the ash cross, the priest says: Convert and believe in the gospel! And in the 2nd reading on Ash Wednesday we heard the apostle Paul’s admonition: Be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20 ).
That should be our topic today: Reconciliation as a building block of unity.
Vulnerable relationships
We know from our own experience how quickly relationships are attacked or even destroyed in everyday life. Righteousness, selfishness, jealousy, arguments … change relationships and often destroy unity. This applies to relationships with one another as well as to relationships with God.
Experienced sin
What is sin, we learned that as children in confession class. And based on the 10 commandments, concrete examples were given: not following the parents, hitting the other, taking something away from him, lying …
What is Unfortunate sin , we didn’t learn that in confessional lessons. But we have felt it in everyday life. When we lied to someone, we avoided them. The word sin and the word set apart have the same root. In sin, unity with God and, as a result, unity with one another is destroyed. The story of the first humans (Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel) in Gen 3 and 4 is a striking example of the destruction of unity. And since the first fall, we have had to deal with the power of evil. All the more important then is the apostle’s admonition to be reconciled to God and thus also to one another.
Forgive but don’t forget,
You probably know the phrase: forgive and forget. I cannot agree with this phrase. Certainly there are things that I can forget after the reconciliation. But I can certainly not forget many things. But I don’t have to forget them either. Reconciliation offers me a new quality of life that includes and surpasses previous arguments and injuries. Yes I know you hurt me but my love for you is greater than any guilt. That is reconciliation.
God wants reconciliation
How often does the Holy Scriptures tell us that we humans have turned away from God and broken our covenant with him. In the Old Testament the people of Israel turned away from God again and again and ran after strange idols. The most impressive example of God’s readiness for reconciliation is found in the New Testament in the parable of the prodigal son (Lk 15). The father answers the lost unity between father and son with his arms outstretched. This is how reconciliation works. God’s love is stronger than our guilt. Hence the apostle Paul’s invitation: be reconciled to God (2 Cor 5:20).
Cut up and knotted together
Finally, I would like to share with you one more wonderful experience that people can have when they are ready for reconciliation. This experience can best be portrayed in pictures. Two children sit 3 meters apart. Both hold a string in their hand as a sign of their relationship (friendship). Suddenly there is an argument. One of them cuts the cord with a pair of scissors. But the two make up again and the cord is knotted together again. This happens several times. I have often shown this to the children in confessional classes and asked the question: Has anything changed? The first time the children didn’t notice anything. But they soon discovered that the numerous knots had brought both children closer together.
This is how reconciliation works: people move closer together – with one another and with God.
Such is reconciliation
Like a feast after long grief
like a fire in the night.
An open gate in a wall
opened for the sun.
Like a letter after a long silence
like an unexpected greeting.
Like a leaf on a dead branch
an-I-like-you-anyway-kiss.
Ref .: Such is reconciliation
such must be true peace.
Such is reconciliation
so is forgiven and forgiven. (2x)
Like a rain in the desert
fresh dew on arid land.
Sounds of home for the missing,
old enemies hand in hand.
Like a key in jail
as in distress – land in sight.
Like a way out of distress
like a radiant face.
Like a word of dead words lips,
like a look of hope
Like a light on steep cliffs
like a continent rediscovered.
Like the spring, the morning
Like a song like a poem.
Like life like love
Like God Himself the true light
Prelate Dr. Stefan Dybowski
March 10th, 2021 Monthly talk, St. Augustinus Monastery, Berlin-Lankwitz
Apr 25, 2021 | POSITIVE IMPULSES
Your relationship with your God, your Creator determines your life. Starts with your concept of your relationship with your Creator. The healthier and happy relationship with God helps to build a meaningful life. Healthy relationship in the sense of the absence of fear and the presence of reason in your relationship. And happy in the sense of the absence of hypocrisy and the presence of truthfulness. Healthy relationship starts with a healthy concept. Good Shepherd is a beautiful concept on which you can develop a healthy and happy relationship with your Creator.
Don Giorgio
Apr 19, 2021 | NEWS
Like every day, I have our sisters who live in the care sector, today too I visited.
Yes, and there was such a nice conversation with our sister Franziska and I don’t want to keep this to myself.
Sister Franziska is 95 years old (I reported on her birthday party in October 2020.)
When I sat down with her today, she said to me: “Do you know who I was” just thinking of – my answer – well, I can’t know that, because I can’t read minds.
“Well, dear Sister Superior – I thought of Mother Roswitha. She was our Superior General when we came to the monastery in the 1950s ”.
I said: I’ve only seen her once, but I’ve heard a lot from her – many sisters say – she was very strict.
Sister Franziska again – no – it wasn’t like that – she followed the straight way. She had to put things in order first. The sisters were scattered everywhere after the escape and she then looked for them together.
You know – she looked stern and proud too – but her heart was warm.
We could already be seen with her.
The Holy Spirit led her – otherwise she would not have made it all.
Love was always felt in its severity.
I am really very impressed with this conversation, because I could not have heard more convincingly about it.
Sister M. Felicitas
from the Klosterberg in Cochem
Apr 12, 2021 | POSITIVE IMPULSES
Our capacity to love is a great gift. That gift can become a grace in so far as we love sincerely. Love becomes insincere when we ourselves become the object of our love. So, it is important not to let our love for each other grow insincere. We must keep guard of our relationships and our behavior to make sure that our love is sincere. Familiarity and hectic life can turn the direction of your love towards yourself. Do not let the thought about many things destroy the most important thing. Be a grace with sincere love.
Don Giorgio
Apr 10, 2021 | FORUM, NEWS
During one of the meditations on the text from the Gospel according to St. John, I noticed the sentence written there: “And there was a division in the crowd because of him” (Jn 7:43). This Word has worked in me in the context of the Year of Unity that we are currently living in our Congregation. I saw the unity and divisions running through the history of salvation, through the history of mankind, through every human heart. I saw the great desire of Jesus himself expressed to the Father in a prayer shortly before the Passion “that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be one in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ”(Jn 17:21). The unity of the disciples is an eloquent testimony of God’s love for man. About the Love which knows “what is hidden in man” (Jn 2: 25b) and tends decisively towards “gathering the scattered children of God into one” (Jn 11:52). Likewise, our unity in the communities and the works we conduct is a testimony to God’s presence here and now.
This great desire for unity includes the truth about sin, which has been divisive since the dawn of human history (Gen 3: 1f). It separates man from God. It causes discord even among the people closest to each other. It destroys harmony with nature and touches the very heart of man, making in it a deep rupture of original sin first, and with time personal sins … Often, external divisions are only an image of what is happening in people’s hearts, souls and minds. St. Paul writes about how sin influences the way we think: “Because, although they knew God, they did not worship Him as God or thanked Him, but vanished in their thoughts and their mindless heart was darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools ”(Rom 1: 21-22). At the same time, the same Apostle grieves over his inner tear despite all his devotion to the service of the Gospel: “Wretched man I am, who will set me free from the body that leads to death?” (Rom 7:24). In these words, he recognizes his own sinfulness, not only from the first stage of life as a zealous Pharisee, but also after joining the community of the Church. How much humility there, how much truth …
During my biblical and life reflections, the words from the Letter to the Ephesians came to my mind about the two races of humanity divided by the wall of hostility which Jesus thus broke down, making us one (cf. Eph 2: 14-16). And though it speaks of Jews and Gentiles,
The inspired word is up-to-date and also applies to modern man, and it is you and me. Hostility, fueled by fear – most often for oneself, resentment or lack of forgiveness, still makes it difficult to build good interpersonal relationships on which unity is based. This also applies to the relationship with oneself and also with God.
The one who heals the wounds of our broken hearts and does not extinguish the wick with a faint flame (cf. Is 42: 3), who teaches to build bridges instead of building walls is Jesus Crucified and is risen. His Heart is also hurt, but because of our sin – mine and yours. He allowed himself to be hurt, pierced, opened. And just like to St. Tomas, he also addresses us with an invitation: “Put your finger here and see my hands. Lift up your hand and put it to my side, and do not be an unbeliever but a believer! ”(Jn 20:27). And faith works miracles. Miracles happen today. Unity in diversity is also one of these miracles. Touching the Heart of Jesus, staying with Him, immersing ourselves in Him, we experience the healing of our divided hearts and … we fulfill the will of Father Founder: “Strive for unity.”
The Mother is closest to the Son’s Heart. It was under her Immaculate Heart that the human Heart of God was shaped, uniting two so different natures. Therefore, let Mary, who is also our Mother, the Mother of the Church, obtain for us the grace of internal unity, that is, unity with God by living in grace – in freedom from sin, especially the deliberate, planned, and willed one. May she also obtain for us the gift of unity with people, of sisterhood through “God’s love poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Rom 5: 5).
Sr. M. Michaela Musiał
