Jan 20, 2021 | NEWS
Testimony from a Tanzanian sister in Germany
When I came to Germany 8 years ago, I was very happy because I wanted to help my fellow sisters. But first I had to learn or get to know a lot: the language, the culture, the people … The beginning was very difficult. But gradually it got better. So I could e.g. I don’t speak German, but with a lot of patience and practice I can speak now. I am very grateful for that, especially for the help and patience that I received from the sisters and many people here in Germany.
Many sisters here in Germany are old and many some of them are sick in despite of their old age, so they need help and support. But the sisters still try very hard to do a lot themselves or to help. I can learn from my fellow sisters here in Germany that my vocation is still there in old age – or has deepened and strengthened through life. So the sisters get up every morning and come to the chapel even though their health is not so good. They love community life and hold on to it for as long as possible. This gives me the courage and strength to have time for the sisters, to listen to them, to treat them with appreciation and respect and to help them wherever I can.
I thank all the sisters for the love they showed me. God bless us all.
Sister Bakhita.
Jan 14, 2021 | FORUM, NEWS
God decided to go to Jaszkotle. Again, it was different than what I thought or planned. Namely, after working at our Nursing Home in Żerniki, I asked God to save the Nysa from a pandemic. It was a purely selfish thought because the DPS in Nysa is dear to me and I remember working there with joyful heart. However, I knew that when Samuel’s sister, the current Director of this House, called, I would not refuse to help and I already knew what this work was about. And it happened. Sister Samuel called … And because I was already a bit ready and prepared for such information, I knew what to do. I only agreed with My Superior Sister that I would go to the Sisters’ house in Nysa earlier, and then I would start working in the DPS. What a joy I met when I received information on the spot in Nysa that Sister Dominika is also packing and she will be with me. I was calm. There will be Dominika, there is Samuel’s sister, Anna’s sister, I know the house, I know the children, … I breathed even more when the next day, Samuel’s sister announced that they had made it, our help in working with sick boys was no longer needed. On the same day, in the evening, the phone rang. From the Provincial Sister … OOO my first thought: “where else do we have DPS?” Not DPS but ZOL in Jaszkotle. A short communication message only to sister Dominika – “Are we going?” “We drive”!
God wanted it … We were sure of that … But always for something … Why?
We went how we could do, we did and we came back. The space is only a dozen or so days … And so much has happened … Especially in me! In my heart, in my conscience, in my perception …
God wanted so, “chose …” so that I could “choose …” always for something, ultimately for me … I received a hundred times more.
So what could God give me for such a short stay among children? Children who are very sick and at the same time very happy. Suffering and yet smiling. Wounded, yet full of trust …
Sometimes, when I had a free time after work, I would take a child in my arms and walk with him, talking to them without much sense. But often, too, I would just hug these children and think about their parents. I thought differently … sometimes only with reproach … I looked into their eyes … How I would like to photograph them … keep in mind … leave it …
I got back home. I asked for a moment just for me. I wanted to rest… But it was not only about rest, as it turned out. I met myself. I heard it softly, and then loudly and louder and louder … Why do they not want them … I want Jaś, Mateusz … etc. I WANT! It’s not that God. They don’t want… for a million different reasons. And I…
Motherhood is one of the most wonderful Gifts of God … it is some form of Divinity in a fragile human being. I gave up… gave away… I chose… several years ago. What could I know about this when I was twenty. Theoretically only. The real choice did not come – just now. Choosing Life for Life … These sick little creatures are left for me today … They are my motherhood and prayer for me today. They are … like pearls for the world.
The house in Jaszkotle, the house in Żenikach, Nysa and all our other houses, where we have sick people, left behind and devoted to us, are enclaves of good in this world where “choice, not prohibition” sounds different to me.
S.M. Daniela Gumienna
Jan 11, 2021 | NEWS
“How beautiful it would be if each of us could say in the evening: today I made a gesture of love towards the other”
Pope Francis
While the world is engulfed in a pandemic, where we constantly hear about restrictions and the statistics break new records, I decided to appeal to my friends on the social networking site Facebook and invite them to the “A cup full of sweets” campaign. For many years I have been working in the Nursing Home in Racibórz, where 170 mentally and nervously ill people live. From February, residents are forbidden to leave the house, and visiting their relatives is also difficult. In November, our home “visited” Covid. It made my head come up with the idea that this “SWEET MUG” would make Christmas more enjoyable, sweeten life, bring a lot of joy and show the residents that someone remembers about them in such difficult pandemic times.
The action was received with great interest in the first days and I was sure that it would have a happy ending. In the second week of Advent, we already had our first cups – and even Christmas packages. I was touched that so many people joined the action, from children from kindergarten and school, through students, parish groups, office workers and simply our friends. It was with great emotion that we received two large packages from our Center in Klenica as well as from Sisters and Friends from Wrocław – Żerniki. None of us expected such a result, so we collected 748 cups! The kindness and devotion was so great that we shared the cups with other institutions:
SPOKOJNA PRZYSTAŃ – The Baborowie Nursing Home
- Mother’s House “Maja” in Racibórz – Miedonia
- Nursing Home in Gorzyce through contact with P. Sylvia from Pstrążna,
- Association of the Friends of Men “Tęcza”
- Open Heart Association for Children in Kuźnia Raciborska, Samborowice, Cyprzanów
- Ziarenko Community Center in Branice
- Nursing Home run by the Congregation of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary in Kietrz
- Multifunctional Care and Educational Center in Pogrzebień
I would also like to thank my Community, and especially Sr Particia, for their commitment and support for this great field of goodness.
It was possible to see emotion in the eyes of the residents that there was someone who remembered them. In the second half of January, a Mass will be celebrated. for the benefactors of our Advent adventure …
Sr. Joanna
Jan 8, 2021 | NEWS
On the eve of birth, January 10, 2021 in the Church of the Holy Name of Jesus in Wrocław during the Holy Mass. at. At 12:30pm, we will thank God for the 197th birthday of the Apostle of Mercy and the founder of our Congregation, the Servant of God, Fr. John Schneider.
In the Holy Mass you can also participate through the website. Link below.
http://www.uniwersytecki.archidiecezja.wroc.pl/
We invite you.
Jan 7, 2021 | NEWS
It all started at a community meeting before Advent. One sister said: “… let’s do something for Mary”, it somehow strongly corresponded with my desire to make a 33-day retreat in the community and surrender to Jesus through the hands of Mary, as proposed by St. Louis Maria Grignion de Montfort. And so it happened, as a community but individually, who also had such a desire, on November 29, began a retreat in which Fr. Marcin Modrzyński with his reflections (cf. One Heart 33 days with Mary to Jesus).
We share a piece of today’s service …
“Immaculate Mary, Bride of the Holy Spirit, we greet you and praise the fruit of your womb. We come to you, Mary, after 33 days of retreat, to tell you: Tota Tua, all yours. Ark of the Covenant, we want to hide in Your Heart, because It is the safest place where Satan has no access. Hide us in your womb, so that you may give birth to us anew, to a new life.
Mary, by the act of giving ourselves to You, we want to say that we trust … giving You everything, we believe that You, as the best Mother, will take care of our every need, and above all, that we may be like You and that we faithfully fulfill God’s Will and they have not lost eternal life.
Mary, Mother of beautiful and pure love, we want to do everything with You, through You and in You, so that You may be better known and loved, that Your Immaculate Heart may overcome!
Mary, as a Community, but also, each individually wants to bring you the act of entrustment and accept from You a white rose, a symbol of purity and beauty, humility and fidelity, a symbol of the grace that you ask for us, so that we may persevere on the way we follow and today in a sense, which we are re-starting.
Tota Tua Mary! All yours!
S.M. Agnieszka Plasło
Jan 4, 2021 | NEWS
First of all I would like to thank God for the Grace and blessings He has given me for the whole period I am here in Germany for a mission it is a year now since I arrived. The challenges I initially faced due to the new environment were different language and everything was new to me. Asking myself many questions, can I really live without knowing anything and why have they sent me hear, to do what. But after seeing our sisters have received me well and directed me to various things to encourage me and show me good cooperation such as teaching me language and other things related to the community, and due to their love although are now very old and need a lot of support, I found myself Little by little getting used to the environment and I become happier and I find myself more motivated to take care of them with various things, especially those related to the community. Am still striving to study the language that will help me to have better communication with them and my mission. So for that I would like to thank the sisters of my community here in Berlin for their wonderful cooperation they have shown me so far and so on. May God give them more strength and patience in their pain they undergo. God be with them and give them comfort.
Sr. Maria Goretti
