Birthday in Cochem

Aug 13, 2020 | NEWS

Happy 100th birthday

Here is a small excerpt from the work of our sisters in the St. Hedwig retirement home in Cochem. The convent is small and the sisters are mostly old and partly self in need of care. But they continue to try to help and do the services that they can still do. In addition to their praying presence with and for the residents, contact with the residents, employees and visitors in the house is very important to them.

The superior of the convent, Sister M. Felicitas, regularly visits the residents in the senior citizen center.

This time it was a very special occasion, because Ms. K. was 100 years old and so she brought the congratulations to her.

Ms. K. can no longer get out of bed, but she is very grateful for every visit and is happy about the conversations. Ms. K. is very interested in all the news in the house and in the city of Cochem.

May she continue to trust in God’s help and thus walk the path into eternity.

Testimony

Aug 10, 2020 | NEWS

Sister Lucy.

I knew she was going; these were the last days of her life. I tried to keep up with her, understand and grasp the essence of dying, going to this prayed and awaited eternal life. The last words of Sister Lucy, whispered over the receiver of her perpetually crashing phone: Henius, dear, thank you for everything, for each of your moment days with me. Forgive me if I offended you even unknowingly, even mentally.

That was Lucy. She never thought about herself. These almost ten years of friendship and working together have been continuous learning for me. Difficult questions and even more difficult answers. My rebellion against social injustice and human meanness collided with Lucy “turn the other cheek.” My anger at the people who dealt more blows with me and the desire to retaliate met her patient “pray for them, ask for the grace to distinguish between good and evil, so that they will stop doing evil. With time, I became a different person with more patients. Before making a criticism, I was asking myself some questions. It’s hurt. When I ask the more questions and I had few answers, it became more hurt. It has been almost nine years since Lucy came to me ashamed, and asked for help. She, Saint Lucy (that’s what people talked about her) stood in front of me in a washed-out habit, mossed on her stomach, in trampled flip-flops, and in her hands a torn old purse – her entire circuit office, with stamps, a notebook, an old cell phone, and tried to explain to me where her poverty and need come from. I looked at this strange figure angrily. I listened to the incoherent story, I arrogant and saucy, furious with everything, having ready solutions and unambiguous answers to every question.

I will not give my sister any money, because I do not have it myself, but I will work until we fix the system, I declared. Back then I didn’t know that to fix the system I would have to fix myself. It was hard. God could not help but notice so many shed tears together with Lucy. His hydrological services must have noted significant high levels, because she probably got pissed off and forgave us these torments with the government. Lucy taught me humility and I taught her courage. Sometimes, during conversations in the government tables, when the atmosphere was reached a boiling point, I surreptitiously kicked Lucy in the ankle to go for prayer. She was standing behind the half-closed door, sniffing at the rosary, counting on God’s help that maybe some miracle would happen. Over time, we became a very strange couple: she was big, stooped, walking with a heavy pace, and I was small, in boots and walking, both grey-haired, walking together like a pair of old horses in harness. Our friends commented on our media that it is scary to open the refrigerator because of fear that may be Lucy will be there. Lucy was afraid of the microphone and the camera. She did not like recordings; she was embarrassed to talk about her work and problems. There was no way out, finally she agreed to these cameras and microphones, because it was necessary to show the social problem, expose the lack of state care for abandoned children with intellectual disabilities, and finally repair this leaky system. She loved journalists, and had a very deep personal and family friendship. There was a place to sleep and a bowl of soup for each of them. They repaid with respect for her privacy and journalistic integrity. Sister Lucy knew everyone. Literally everyone and everywhere. She had a badly worn notebook with telephone numbers. She opened it when she needed it. Not necessarily yours. “Mercy is to be silent,” she would say, shoving a banknote into my hand and showing my grandmother rummaging in a garbage can. Do not say it’s from me; give it discreetly so that no one can see. Or: Henia, look at this poor man who is walking down the street. He was once somebody, he had money in his position, and he was a doctor. Remember about him, he doesn’t drink anymore but sometimes he needs a few (money) zlotys. I worked for a bowl of soup, because working without a reward is a sin – she used to say. I regularly got a hot dinner, a clean napkin and necessarily two lunch portions. Sister, I won’t eat it, I don’t need that much, I protested. Share, see how many poor people are walking on the street – she always had an answer ready. We both knew that the disease was progressing, impotence and unimaginable pain became its inseparable companion, which only leads to one way. Until the end, she handed over a kind of will to me, indicated people, entrusted them to my care, and asked for their memory. Until the end, she also quoted a funny saying: a nun must be a human, otherwise a habit can be hung on a peg, but the peg, because of wearing a habit, will not become a nun.

Henryka Szczepanowska

Memories of sister Lucia (Eugenia Jakubowicz)

Aug 5, 2020 | NEWS

On Sunday morning, August 2, 2020, our sister Lucia (Eugenia Jakubowicz), who from 1976 was associated with the Care and Treatment Center for children in Piszkowice, and from 1985 she was constantly managing the Center, passed away. Over the years, she not only built a high-class center for sick children, but above all created an unusual atmosphere of love, kindness and trust in God in every matter. For this special attitude to her pupils, in 2017 she was awarded the Order of the Smile, the highest international award granted by children. Sr. Lucia was very modest and never liked to talk about herself – both about her successes and about the suffering that she also experienced very much while fighting cancer. Now let those who knew her every day and are witnesses of her life speak.

MEMORIES

It is impossible to close someone’s life in a dozen or so sentences. It is impossible to put into words work, meeting, devotion and sacrifice in everyday life. Anyway, these descriptions are usually very similar to each other and, somehow, can be attributed to each of our departed loved ones.

To understand what life was like for sister Lucia, you must first visit Piszkowice and spend some time there, meet the pupils, see the specifics of the place and people. A place where something happens 24 hours a day. Because it’s not a workplace. Over the years, the sisters have built a real home there, and at home, they do not look after family members at specific times. One is at home, lives and lives. It is built together, being ready to help at any time. Once you get to know the children, you need to talk to those who are involved in the daily life of the center. From sisters, to medical staff, to people cooking in the kitchen or smoking in the boiler room – the family that was established in Piszkowice was created by each of these people.

Everything you see has to be overlaid with stories that will not always be told by those you meet there. The legal system meant that the house in Piszkowice was struggling with financial problems all the time. While the sickness fund paid for medical care, it did not contribute to the ongoing support of the children. Those, often left behind by parents, were in a sense invisible to the social welfare system – so there was not enough money for clothes or equipment for learning or playing. You may not hear about it in Piszkowice. Because problems were not discussed, problems were solved. Each day was filled with work from morning to evening. And next to her, as it is at home, the birthday of each of the household members was celebrated, small successes were celebrated, the end of the school year, children’s day, St. Nicholas’ Day were celebrated … in Piszkowice she rushed so quickly that we believed that the place and the people who take care of the house are eternal.

Now you will probably ask why there is so much houses in Piszkowice in this memory, and so few sisters Łucia? It was all Lucia. It was she who created the house from 1976 until the very end. It was she who created a family from people working from home. It was she who looked after the children, ensuring that they had everything they need. She never complained … It was sister Lucia who created Piszkowice as we know it. Of course, she didn’t do it herself, but everything that happened there was because of her. We don’t know a softer person. Full of humility and peace. Full time for others. Because Sister Lucia always had time. Yes, its time, cut off from rest or a moment for yourself. She was always ready to give it to other people. When more diseases fell on her, nothing changed in Piszkowice. As subsequent diagnoses spoke about the deteriorating condition, and the doctors even ordered rest, Sister Lucia repeated her daily ritual, in which prayer interwined with time for the patients, employees of the center, and guests.

She had called a lot more in the last week. Even for a moment, just to throw one sentence – “Please pray” – and dropping it, she went back to work. The last time I spoke to her was Saturday, August 1 at 4.45pm. She knew how serious the situation was in the Center, she left me asking, “What will happen now?” In a calm, strong voice. She gave all her life to God. I don’t think she’s scared. Rather, she was curious how God would solve this – her – case. She asked for a prayer, we assured her. We made an appointment on the phone on Sunday. I never heard her again. I have known Sister Lucia all my life. She believed in God, she believed in people. She always gave chances and always held out her hand. She talked about how every man can fall, but no one should keep falling – and that you must always be able to help him, try to help. From the small Piszkowice she saw the world far wider than the great travelers saw it. There, by deed, she showed what she believed and what she understood. I have known her always the same, until the very end.

Words won’t tell you much about Sister Lucia. Her Piszkowice will tell you about her.

Radek Michalski

***

Sister Lucia was a very modest woman with a big heart, in which there was a place for everyone. You could quietly immerse yourself in prayer with her, and in a moment organize a great undertaking for the good of the children who were all of her world. Sister Lucia always put each person and their problems first. She could listen to the softest whisper. She helped everyone without exception, and for the smallest, most disadvantaged and abandoned, she was like a mother. The words of Sister Lucia ring in my ears all the time: “… remember, you have to be good to people like bread, because good always returns, not here on earth, then there, in heaven.” And she was just like that, good as bread. Now she looks down on us and I know that she will be asking God for favors for us, guarding and protecting her beloved Piszkowice, as she did all her life.

Edyta Tomczak – accountant from Piszkowice

***

Sister Lucia was a good woman. She shared the love she drew from Jesus and Mary. She had a special devotion to St. Joseph and Mother Teresa of Calcutta. She was open to the needs of the children she loved as a mother and she cared for them. She was enterprising – she expanded the compound to improve the living conditions of children, she dug a well so that there was no shortage of water. This sister was open to the needs of others, everyone in different situations received help, which she provided with kindness and a smile. Despite experiencing a serious illness, the sister fulfilled her duties to the end in an attitude of humility and trust in God.

1. Agata Jank

***

Sister Lucia from my childhood, as far as I can remember, is a person who for me was an example of how to offer a heart to a person in need! An heartily good woman! Now, being a person of consecrated life myself, I see in Sister Lucia an example of fidelity to her religious vocation!

Father Piotr Ossowski OMI

***

Sister Lucia – A person who has translated love and faith in God throughout her life into love and faith in other people. She loved people with all the pros and cons. She appreciated every gesture, even the smallest one. I think that she went to the Father’s House fulfilled and full of faith that she leaves people on earth who will continue her work. Rest in peace, dear Sister.

Dominik, a rehabilitator in Piszkowice

Due to the difficult epidemiological situation and the desire to participate in the last farewell of many people, the date of the funeral will be set at a later possible date.