60 years serving God
On November 26, Sister Rosa celebrated her 60th religious anniversary in Berlin Kreuzberg. Due to pandemic restrictions, there weren't many guests, but the ceremony itself was very deep and solemn. Sr. Rosa spent most of her religious life serving the deaf and organizing pastoral care for them. This activity was interrupted by coronavirus; therefore Sr. Rosa's greatest jubilee wishes, is to return to meeting people who need her as soon as possible. Sr. Rosa herself recalls her work as follows: “In early1988, deaf people began to officially come to our chapel and the Hall, where they could pray and meet people who understand them. Initially, only Sister Christiana, who was also deaf, was offered such a service from the president of the deaf in our diocese. Two years later, in 1990, I joined Sr. Christiana and her community of deaf people. At first, I didn't understand them, I didn't know sign language, I had to learn it from scratch. However, I noticed during this work that it is not the knowledge of the language that is the most important here, but the heart and willingness to understand their situation. We understood each other well on this level. Maybe because I am not deaf, but I am also disabled. I lost my leg when I was a child and have been using a prosthesis ever since. I think this experience helps me better understand the problems of others. Despite the fact that they have their own families and their lives, they feel lonely and somewhat excluded from the normal world. Even before the pandemic, we organized a Holy Mass once a month. In sign language, and after the Mass there was a meeting for coffee and common conversations. Everyone came to these meetings very willingly, because they felt completely accepted and understood here. Also, outside of the Mass. We kept in touch with each other. They came to me whenever they needed help, when I had to call somewhere, or when they did not understand something, e.g., on official matters. I was happy to help them and dealt with their various affairs with them. Now, for the second year, I have not been able to meet them. In our home, where I live, there is an old people's home, where there are two of my pupils. I meet them regularly. We talk, pray and play together. I also have health problems recently, but I still hope that I will be able to serve my people”. SMI
In front of Mary’s throne
On Sunday, November 21, another pilgrimage of the Sisters of Mary Immaculate took place to Our Lady, the Keeper of Faith in Bardo. The tradition of this pilgrimage goes back to the beginnings of the Congregation. At a time when a young, small community began to form, a government decree to liquidate orders (Kulturkampf) was issued. The sisters realized that this was a hopeless situation, so they made the effort to make a pilgrimage to Our Lady to ask for a miracle of salvation. After several days of intense prayer, they returned to the monastery and at the same time received a state decision that they could stay in the monastery and not be secularized. After this event, the sisters made a promise that each year they would go on pilgrimage to the throne of Mary to give thanks for saving the Congregation. It is now an opportunity for us to thank for all the favors the Congregation has received in its history and for the favors that each sister receives. Despite the still developing pandemic, the sisters came in large numbers to the Sanctuary of Mary, Keeper of the Faith in Bardo. During the solemn Mass and in praying the rosary they thanked for the protection of Mary and asked for strong faith for the future. Sanitary restrictions did not allow kissing the statue of the Mother of God, but the Priest presented it in front of the altar so that we could worship before Mary through prayer and gestures of respect. After a long time, we could be together again and Mary was among us and with us. SMI
Lovely language
I would like to share my travel experience during epidemic season! After this huge crisis of Covid-19 each and everything has been affected in the world; socially, economically and in religion has totally changed in terms of worshiping God. So in the middle of this hard time, I got a chance to travel to Europe for Congregation matters and also holiday. Un expectedly I travelled in three countries simultaneously due to the problem of my Visa for Italy which delayed due to the new travelling system. I started my journey from Tanzania on 15th October 2021 and first, I arrived in Poland, then Berlin and lastly in Rome/Italy. I can admit that, language, unity and love are the values which contributed to good communication with the Sisters I met in Europe, it was very fun and interesting, I did not know the Polish even German language but when I was there; I didn’t feel the countries difference, it was like; I was in Tanzania. I communicated with the Sisters through gestures especially when there was no one near to translate and we understood well each other and both were so happy. The Sisters were so interested to ask me many different questions concerning our Region and the life in general in Tanzania. I tried to answer and explaining all things they were interested to know about our Congregation life in our Region and they were so happy. One thing was so amazing for me is that; For example I used to communicate with Sister Luka in German by using Google translate in my phone to pass my gratitude message to the Sisters, then after sending the message was read and the feedback was good. In general, I enjoyed my time in Europe by learning many things from my fellow sisters in Poland, German and Rome. For me I can say that; every day is a day of learning and growing. Love and unity goes together and have a lot of power because through them we are always connected together regardless of our traditions, language and color. Sr. M. Agnes Mwanajimba Region - Tanzania