Spiritual Testament
When I speak at funerals, I like to ask if there is anything the deceased left us. By this I mean not so much money or material things, but a matter that was important to him and which should be continued in his spirit. So it is a spiritual testament. Superior General Sr. Sybilla In a letter written on the anniversary of the founder's death, on December 7, recalled this testament of Fr. John Schneider: "Stay united!" So it is about building and deepening unity. Today I would like to share with you three thoughts on this. Building unity Sr. Sybilla's letter, and with it the words of its founder, Father Johannes Schneider, remind us of something that is often quickly forgotten: unity is simply not present from the very beginning. It has to be created and built. By the way, this also applies to a lot of other things. An example of this comes from the area of kinship. When I am born into a large family, I have a brother or sister. For this relationship to develop into a brotherly or sisterly bond that enriches my life and is lasting and resilient for me even in difficult situations, siblings must also do something for it. They have to build relationships with each other. These thoughts can be well applied to a religious community. The promise of vows and the wearing of a uniform religious habit are not unity. This already shows that unity is not an external matter, but an internal relationship that binds people together. Watching over unity In the letter of Sister Sybilla, we are also asked to watch over unity. Thus, unity can be lost. From this point of view, our attention is required. Guarding or watching - I mean the people or objects being guarded. They are always the ones that are precious and important, and where there would be tragic consequences if they were stolen or lost. I would not and would not be watching over unimportant things. It only follows from this that unity is something very precious. It is valuable for our life together, and its loss would have negative consequences. Spiritual Exercise: What spiritual things are so precious to you that you should not lose them under any circumstances? What would you like to watch over? (And if you want to think more deeply, you can also ask yourself: What exactly is your attention?) Deepening unity We have just described unity as a relationship. Thus it is also subject to the laws governing every relationship, namely, it can change. It can get stronger, but it can also flatten and disappear completely. I can tell you about a beautiful example from the North Sea coast. The coastal people are in a never-ending fight against the sea. In their painstaking work, they try to pull a piece of land out of the sea. When asked why they do this, a Frisian once said, "You know, if we don't take the land from the sea, the sea will take it from us." Leaving it as it is not a solution. This picture quite nicely describes the concern of the founder, Fr. John Schneider. If I lean on oneness as I experience it, it will be lost. It will be my job to deepen it over and over again and keep it alive in this way. What this might look like in concrete terms would also be a good and valuable spiritual exercise. We will return to this topic (deepening unity) in later discussions. Prelate Dr. Stefan Dybowski 02/15/2021 Monatsvortrag Kloster St. Augustinus, Berlin-Lankwitz
My first steps in Manila
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
Pastoral care in the St. Marien Seniors’ Foundation, Berlin Kreuzberg
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