Mar 10, 2021 | NEWS
I would like to share with you my three-month experience of serving a mission in Manila, the capital of the Philippines in times of a pandemic. When I joined Sister Claudia last November, she took me to one of the poorest neighborhoods in Manila, Payatas, just a few minutes’ drive from our home, where the sisters work in the apostolate. Payatas is a district that was built on a huge rubbish dump that is brought from all over the city. A very large part of the population living there deals with their segregation. And I must admit that I was greatly surprised that people live in such poverty almost next to us. I worked for several years in Tanzania and saw poverty, but I did not see such extreme poverty as here. And one more thing, almost every day we travel the streets of Manila, whether by car, public transport or on foot, but I haven’t seen people drinking alcohol or just drunk, which is a common picture in Europe.
The second thing I want to tell you about is Catholicism and religiosity. When we went to the shopping center with S. Claudia for the first time, I was surprised when the Angelus prayer was heard over the loudspeakers at noon, and at 3 p.m. the prayer to the Divine Mercy, and this is not the end, because in every such shopping center there is a chapel and despite the pandemic every day at at 12 o’clock, a Mass is celebrated in which everyone can participate. In each shop there is an altar with a statue of the Prague Child called here “Santo Niño”, the oldest and most venerated image of the Infant Jesus in the Philippines, brought here as a gift by the discoverer Ferdinand Magellan for the first Christians of the archipelago.
What still struck me here, and I like it, is that in the churches lay and young people are very involved, some are responsible for flowers, others prepare readings, still other comments or singing, others are responsible for the altar, on each of them Holy Mass is the liturgical service of the altar. Figures of Jesus, Mother of God and Saints are here almost life-size, always dressed in beautifully sewn garments, richly decorated according to the occasion with natural beautiful hair. Just like in the attached photo.
There is also a very beautiful custom here, the tradition of showing respect to the elders. The most visible is showing respect by placing a hand given by the elderly person to the forehead. This tradition is still alive and common. When we walk the streets of Manila, children often run up to us and put our hands to their foreheads saying “sister bless”.
We trust that the time of the pandemic that limits us in our actions will end and we ask God for this in our prayers. Finally, I am asking all of you who will read this to pray for our missions here in the Philippines, that we may continue and develop here the work of our Founder.
With cordial greetings and prayers for all those who support us spiritually and materially.
S.M. Agata Sobczyk
Mar 9, 2021 | NEWS
Since November 2006 I have been volunteering in pastoral care in our senior citizens’ home: I visit the residents, pray with them, also with people of other faith, accompany them as they die and on their last journey in life, which is also important for the relatives. If we get the funeral date and the relatives so wish, we will attend the funeral ceremony. There are also single residents who only have one carer and have no relatives or with whom they have no contact. On such occasions I often stand alone with the undertaker at the grave and can pay my last respects to the deceased with a prayer.
At the beginning of my job I had other options: I could play with the residents, sing, read to them and drive them into the garden. Small trips into the city were also possible. Since there have been several employment assistants in the facilities, they have taken on care and employment for the elderly.
The commemoration days of the Holy Patronage of the four living areas: St. Catherine (April 29), St. Michael (September 29), St. Theresa of the child Jesus (October 1) and St. Luke (October 18). Oct.) we shape together by praying, singing and looking at the life of the saints. Afterwards there is a festive coffee table.
During the Easter penance we offered a service with anointing of the sick with the priest of our parish in our chapel, which was well received.
In an emergency and on request, our chaplain also donates the anointing of the sick to the sick in the living area.
In November we celebrate a memorial service for all those who died last year. On this occasion, the photos of the deceased are exhibited and a candle is lit for each. In this way, the memory of your deceased roommate comes to life again.
As a church service representative and communion helper, I have the opportunity, especially now during the corona pandemic, to give communion to my fellow sisters and residents.
We haven’t had a St. Measure more in-house. If possible, we take part in the services in the parish church.
Sister M. Priska
Mar 6, 2021 | POSITIVE IMPULSES
The challenge is: to be good in a bad situation. It is easy to be good in a good situation. When you are in a favorable circumstance, normally your good face comes out. But when you are in an unfavorable circumstance, what comes out? Is your good face determined by the external reasons and not an expression of your real self? It is generally the difficult context that brings our real inside out. Watch out for your reaction to a challenging or adverse environment. Make it positive by your confidence and emotional intelligence. The less negative energy inside you, easier to be pleasant in an unpleasant setting. To be good in a bad situation is the way to be better in worse situation.
Don Giorgio
Mar 6, 2021 | NEWS
For me and many people, the sisters from the Train Station Mission do a lot, so much that it is impossible to write about everything, so I want to tell you about some important things for me, because if it were not for the sisters from the Mission, my life would be completely different and certainly different girl also.
Nobody has done as much for me as the sisters and I know that if it weren’t for them, my life and the lives of many of us who live at the center would be terrible.
Before I got to the Train Station Mission, my life was very hard for me. My parents died when I was 13 in 2002. For a week, after my parents died, I and my sisters were completely alone. Once a day our brother would come and bring food. Unfortunately, he lost his job and moved to our family home with his wife and daughter. My brother was taking alcohol and started beating us. I was treated for epilepsy. My sister tried to kill herself by taking my epilepsy medication. Since then, I have stopped taking them. Then my godfather took us to his place for a week. He did not want me because I was sick, so I ended up with my aunt in Jedlina Zdrój, where my cousin and her daughter also lived. I spent a few years there, but my cousin didn’t want me to live with them because she was jealous of her mother. I moved to my sister in Wrocław. There were terrible moments. One day, when my sister’s husband was holding an axe over me, I dared to change something in my life and asked a colleague from work to help me find a room for rent. At that time, I only had PLN 800, so I asked her to find me a room for PLN 600. One day my friend came to me and said that they rent only to students for this price. I wanted to give up, but my friend said that “there is only one more way out”, I asked “what?” she replied: “to live with the sisters in the center”. I agreed. A friend told me that I had to call there myself. So I called and talked to Sister Goretti then, and that same day, after work, I went to talk in person, and the next day I was supposed to come with my things. Before work, I started taking my things out of my apartment. My sister noticed it and she took all my things, including my purse. I was beaten again by her. My friend called the police and they helped me recover my documents. I went with my friend to the sisters. I was horrified. I remember standing against the wall and I didn’t want to talk to anyone. The sisters helped me out of the room because I was afraid to leave alone.
Since then, my life has changed 180 °. I was surprised that there is a life where you are not beaten every day. The fact that I joined the sisters was something wonderful for me. The sisters were the first people I trusted. Thanks to them, I started smiling. They showed me that the world is not only bad, that there is also good in the world and there are good people. Before, I thought there were no such people. I regained my faith in man again.
A colleague from my work managed to recover my correspondence. It turned out that we have debts and that I could go to jail if I don’t pay them back. My sisters from another house helped me to pay off this debt. They refused something for Christmas and donated money for my debt.
At the center, we try to live like a family. Sisters are like mothers to us and we (girls) like siblings. Sometimes there are disputes between us, but if one needs help, we help each other. The sisters give us birthdays and gifts, and we give them to them.
The sisters teach that I am “something” valuable and loved by God.
I did not know it before. All I knew was the feeling of fear and the pain of beating. Many girls from the center do not know that it is worth “something”, think very badly of themselves. The sisters help us change this thinking.
At home, each of the girls has a duty, we learn to clean thoroughly and keep order around us. The sisters taught me that a good housekeeper can be recognized by clean windows.
The sisters teach us to share with others who are more in need of help, especially Sr Edyta, who helps the homeless on the street.
The sisters help us deal with matters in offices, e.g. with checking out, in arranging an apartment. They understand us and convince girls who have children to breastfeed their children for their health. They help in taking care of children. Sister Edyta helps me dress nicely because I have a problem with it. We receive clothes and other things, and the sisters joke and say that we come with one bag and we have to leave by buses. This already speaks of the help we get from the sisters.
Sisters save human life.
One of my colleagues told me about a girl who is studying and is pregnant. Her father wanted her to do abortion. She did not want to, but did not have money for things for the child. Then I told the sisters about this girl. The sisters immediately collected things for the child. The baby was born even though it might have been killed. Many children were born thanks to the sisters.
The sisters care for human souls.
When my sister was seriously ill with cirrhosis of the liver, the sisters helped me to come to her by the priest who confessed her, gave the anointing of the sick and communion. Thanks to Sister Goretti, my sister went to Purgatory, not Hell. Sister Goretti saved her soul. The sisters supported me when my sister died and were at the funeral. It was the same as my uncle passed away.
It is the sisters (sister Goretti, Edyta and Helena) who change our lives for the better, they teach us many very useful things.
We can always count on sisters in any situation.
If it weren’t for the house the sisters run, my life would be terrible.
One of the girls from the ” Train Station Mission”.
Mar 3, 2021 | FORUM, SPIRITUALITY
It happens quite often to me that someone’s very ordinary, unknowingly thrown sentence becomes the reason for deeper reflection. It was no different in the case that I will describe. And it was a simple, simple dialogue with an older Sister in my Community, whose memory is sometimes flawed. Looking at the picture with the image of our Founder, she asked me this: “Sister, did our Founder have glasses? Because I can’t see. I replied that he hadn’t. After a moment’s thought, the sister says: “Aha… well, he had good eyes. This is why he is our Founder. Because he had good eyes. I had to reflect on this for several weeks. I made three conclusions for myself.
First of all: Father Founder had good eyesight (I mean not physically good eyesight, of course), ie he saw a lot. Certainly more than me. He saw the enormity of the needs and poverty (not necessarily material) of his contemporaries. I ask myself the question: do I strain my eyes to see something more than my little, safe world (my proverbial “tip of the nose”)? Do I see the changing needs, problems and “poverty” of my contemporaries? Do I not wonder about the empty eyes of people on the tram and their ears stuffed with headphones? Is it not worrying that many young people are lulled of reason? Are you not worried about the very distinct divisions in society, in families and communities? Do I see anything more in such everyday pictures? Am I looking for reasons? Father John saw more, wider, deeper. That is why he responded adequately to the needs of the situation… and innovative for the 19th century. And I? I regret to say that most of the time it is easier for me to follow my well-established, proven patterns and not ask Jesus: “What would you do?”
Second: Father Schneider literally had “good eyes”. Do I also have a good eye, “God’s eye”? Do I try to see other people with God’s eyes? Do I see in it the beauty and goodness of God’s child? After all, everything that God created was good. Am I helping people to dig out the light they were born with? After all, this light fights so hard in each of us not to go out completely… Am I shielding this smoldering wick? Not only in the other person, but also in myself?
Third: he had “enlightened eyes of the heart” and knew “what is the hope to which God calls, what is the riches of the glory of his inheritance among the saints, and what is his overwhelming power for us believers – based on the action of his power and strength.” (Eph 1: 18-19). He gave others what he had, that is, strong faith, hope and love – the inner certainty of God’s Mercy … free, for everyone without exception. This reminds me of a simple rule: you give what you have in you. What am I giving to others? If I have no light in me, how can I light the way to God for others?
Each child adopts some of his parents’ qualities and learns from them by example. Am I a real spiritual daughter of Fr. Schneider? Have I taken over his legacy? I am still far from that. I think my eyesight is poor, so I need treatment at the DIVINE OPHTHALIST …
Sr. Franciska Jarnot
