Saturday, 25 October 2008 11:12
 Pope Benedict XVI
"Be my Joy"
Dearest Young People,
Here, with Francis, the heart of a Mother, the "Virgin made Church", as he liked to invoke her, welcomes us (cf. Salut BVM, 1). Francis had a special affection for the little Church of the Portiuncula, kept in this Basilica of St Mary of the Angels. It was among the churches that gave him shelter in the first years of his conversion and where he listened to and meditated on the Gospel of the mission (cf. 1 Cel I, 9, 22).
After the first steps at Rivotorto, it was here that he placed the "headquarters" of the Order, where the friars could gather almost as if in a maternal womb to restore themselves and to set out again, full of apostolic zeal.
Here all had access to a font of mercy in the experience of the "great pardon" which all of us always need. Lastly, here he lived his meeting with "sister death".
Dear young people, you know that what brought me to Assisi was the desire to relive the interior journey of Francis on the occasion of the eighth centenary of his conversion.
St Francis speaks to all, but I know that for you young people he has a special attraction. Your numerous presence here confirms it for me, as do the questions that you have asked me. His conversion came about when he was in the prime of life, of his experience, of his dreams. He had spent 25 years without coming to terms with the meaning of life. A few months before he died, he would recall that period as the time when he "was in sin" (cf. 2 Testament 1).
What was Francis' thought concerning sin? According to biographies, each one according to its own view, it is not easy to determine. A meaningful portrait of his way of living is found in the Legend of the Three Companions (LTC), where one reads: "Francis was always happy and generous, dedicated to play and song, roaming through the town of Assisi day and night with friends like him, spend-thrifts, dissipating all that they could have or earn on lunches and other things" (3 LTC 1, 2).
Of how many of today's youth could something similar be said? Then today, there is also the possibility of going far from one's city to have fun. The initiatives for relaxation during the weekend attract many young people. One can even "surf" virtually, "navigating" on the internet and seeking every type of information or contact.
Unfortunately, there is no lack of - and rather, there are many, too many! - young people who seek mental scenes as fatuous as they are destructive in the artificial paradise of drugs. How can it be denied that there are many young people, and not so young people, who are tempted to emulate the life of Francis before his conversion?
In that way of living there was the desire for happiness that dwells in every human heart. But could that life bring true joy? Francis certainly did not find it.
You yourselves, dear young people, can verify this beginning with your experience. The truth is that finite things can give only a faint idea of joy, but only the Infinite can fill the heart. Another great convert said so, St Augustine: "You made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you" (Confessions 1, 1).
Again the same biographical text tells us that Francis was rather vane. He liked to have sumptuous clothing made for him and sought originality (cf. 3 LTS 1, 2). In vanity, in the quest for originality, there is something that in some way touches all of us. Today, "taking care of one's image" or of "seeking an image" is often spoken of. To be able to have a minimum of success, we need to win approval in the eyes of others with something unheard of, original.
To a certain extent this can express an innocent desire to be accepted. But often pride, excessive self-seeking, egoism and the desire to dominate creep in. In reality, centering life upon oneself is a mortal trap: we can be ourselves only if we open ourselves in love, loving God and our brothers and sisters.
An aspect that impressed the contemporaries of Francis was also his ambition, his thirst for glory and adventure. It was this that led him to the battlefield, where he ended as a prisoner for a year in Perugia. The same thirst for glory, when freed, would take him to Apulia, on a new military expedition, but precisely in this circumstance, at Spoleto, the Lord made himself present in his heart and inspired him to retrace his steps and listen seriously to his Word.
It is interesting to notice how the Lord took Francis in his stride, that of wanting to affirm himself, in order to indicate to him the path of a holy ambition focused on the Infinite: "Who can be more useful to you, the master or the servant?" (LTC 2, 6), was the question that he heard resound in his heart. It was as if to say: why be content to be dependent on men when there is a God ready to welcome you into his house, into his royal service?
Dear young people, you reminded me about some problems concerning youth, of your difficulty to build a future, and above all how to discern the truth. In Christ's passion narrative we find Pilate's question: "What is truth?" (Jn 18: 38). It is the question of a sceptic who asks: "But, you say you are the truth, but what is the truth?". And thus, with truth being unrecognizable, Pilate lets it be understood: we act according to what is most practical, what is most successful and not seeking the truth. He then condemns Jesus to death because he follows pragmatism, success, his own fortune.
Many today also say: "But what is the truth? We can find fragments, but how can we find the truth?". It is really hard to believe that this is the truth: Jesus Christ, the true Life, the compass of our life. And yet, if we begin, as it is very tempting to do, to live for the moment without truth, we really lose the criteria and we also lose the foundation of common peace which alone can be the truth.
And this truth is Christ. The truth of Christ has been proven in the lives of the saints in all ages. The saints are the great trails of light in history that attest: this is the life, this is the way, this is the truth.
Therefore, we have the courage to say "yes" to Jesus Christ: "Your truth is proven in the lives of many saints. We will follow you!".
He heard in his heart the voice of Christ, and what happened? He came to understand that he had to place himself at the service of his brethren, above all those suffering most. This is the consequence of that first encounter with the voice of Christ.
This morning, passing by Rivotorto, I glanced at the place where, according to tradition, the lepers were gathered: the least, the marginalized, for whom Francis felt an irrepressible sense of disgust.
Touched by grace he opened his heart to them. And he did it not only from a pious gesture of charity, which would be too little, but by kissing them and serving them. He himself confesses that what at first had been bitter, became for him "sweetness of soul and body" (cf. 2 Test. 3).
Grace, therefore, began to form Francis. He became ever more able to fix his gaze on the Face of Christ and to listen to his voice. It was at that point that the Crucifix of San Damiano spoke to him, calling him to a difficult mission: "Go, Francis, and repair my house which, as you can see, is all in ruins" (cf. 2 Cel I, 6, 10).
This morning, being at San Damiano, and then at the Basilica of St Clare where the original Crucifix that spoke to Francis is kept, I too fixed my eyes on those eyes of Christ. It is the image of the Crucified and Risen Christ, life of the Church, that speaks also in us if we are attentive, as 2,000 years ago he spoke to his Apostles and 800 years ago he spoke to Francis. The Church continually lives by this encounter.
Yes, dear young people: may we let ourselves encounter Christ! We entrust ourselves to his Word. In him there is not only a fascinating human being.
Certainly, he is fully human and similar to us in everything except sin (cf. Heb 4: 15). But he is also much more: God is made man in him and therefore he is the only Saviour, as his very Name says: Jesus, or rather, "God saves".
One comes to Assisi to learn from St Francis the secret of recognizing Jesus Christ and experiencing him. This is what Francis felt about Jesus, according to what his first biographer narrates: "He always carried Jesus in his heart. Jesus on his lips, Jesus in his ears, Jesus in his eyes, Jesus in his hands, Jesus in all his other members.... Rather, finding himself travelling often and meditating on and singing of Jesus, he would forget that he was travelling and would invite all creatures to praise Jesus" (cf. 1 Cel II, 9, 115). Thus, we see that communion with Jesus also opens the heart and eyes to creation.
In a word, Francis was truly in love with Jesus. He met him in the Word of God, in the brethren, in nature, but above all in the Eucharistic Presence. Concerning this he wrote in his Testament: "In this world, I see nothing corporally of the same Most High Son of God except in his Most Holy Body and Most Holy Blood" (cf. 2 Test. 10). Christmas at Greccio expresses the need to contemplate him in his tender humanity as a baby (cf. 1 Cel I, 30, 85-86).
The experience of La Verna, where he received the stigmata, shows the degree of intimacy he had reached in his relationship with the Crucified Christ. He could truly say with Paul: "For me to live is Christ" (Phil 1: 21).
If he rids himself of everything and chooses poverty, the reason for all of this is Christ, and only Christ. Jesus is his all: he is enough!
Exactly because he is of Christ, Francis is also a man of the Church. From the Crucifix of San Damiano he heard the direction to repair the house of Christ, which is precisely the Church. There is an intimate and indissoluble relationship between Christ and the Church. To be called to repair it certainly implies, in the mission of Francis, something that is his own and original. At the same time, this duty, after all, was none other than the responsibility that Christ attributes to every baptized person. To every one of us he also says: "Go and repair my house".
We are all called to repair in every generation the house of Christ, the Church, anew. And only by doing this does the Church live and become beautiful. And as we know, there are many ways to repair, to edify, to build the house of God, the Church. One also edifies through the different vocations, from the lay and family vocation, to the life of special consecration, to the priestly vocation.
At this point I wish to dwell in particular on this vocation. Francis, who was a deacon, not a priest (cf. 1 Cel I, 30, 86), nourished a great veneration for priests. Although knowing that there is also much poverty and fragility in God's ministers, he saw them as ministers of the Body of Christ, and that was enough to make a sense of love, reverence and obedience well up within him (cf. 2 Test. 6-10). His love for priests is an invitation to rediscover the beauty of this vocation. It is vital for the People of God.
Dear young people, surround your priests with love and gratitude. If the Lord should call some of you to this great ministry, or even to some form of consecrated life, do not hesitate to say your "yes". Yes is not easy, but it is beautiful to be ministers of the Lord, it is beautiful to spend your life for him!
As with concentric circles, the love of Francis for Jesus extends not only to the Church but to all things seen in Christ and for Christ. His interior gaze became so pure and penetrating as to perceive the beauty of creation in the beauty of creatures.
Dear young people, your vast presence here says how the figure of Francis speaks to your heart. I willingly consign his message to you, but above all, his life and his witness. It is time that you, young people, like Francis, take seriously and know how to enter into a personal relationship with Jesus. It is time to look at the history of this third millennium just begun as a history that needs the Gospel leaven ever more.
Once again, I make my own the invitation that my beloved Predecessor, John Paul II, always liked to address especially to youth: "Open the doors to Christ". Open them like Francis did, without fear, without calculation, without measure. Be, dear young people, my joy, as you were for John Paul II.
©HM Magazine No. 137 - July/August 2007
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Saturday, 25 October 2008 11:06
 We Speak with Bishop Athanasius Schneider
Bishop of Karaganda (Kazakhstan)
His Excellency Athanasius Schneider has been the auxiliary bishop of Karaganda, Kazakshstan for close to one year now. He is originally from Kyrgyzstan (Central Asia), where his German parents were deported as prisoners and forced to work in the Ural Mountains in the 1950's.
In this interview he describes the local situation and challenges of his diocese.
How and when did you feel your vocation to the priesthood and religious life?
A vocation, as the great pope John Paul II said, is a mystery and a gift at the same time. We often cannot explain a vocation with human logic. It is a mystery because God touches the soul.
I remember that when I was ten I would go with my parents and siblings to Mass. We lived in Estonia which was part of the Soviet Union at that time and we had to walk 60 miles to attend Holy Mass. We counted on an exemplary priest who had suffered greatly in the persecution. I remember that this priest impressed me greatly when I was yet a child, above all for his priestly, holy, and apostolic appearance. I did not think at all about a vocation to the priesthood. On one occasion I asked my mother (I still remember the place where I did so), what I had to do to become a priest. In reality I asked this question just out of mere curiosity, as children do, and not because I was thinking at that time of becoming a priest. My mother gave me a response that remained impressed upon my heart. She said: In order to be a priest, God has to call you. At ten years of age, I did not understand this response and I didn’t ask more at the time. Later, however, when I was thirteen, I began to feel this call from God in my soul.
With a vocation it is important to consider the many people that we perhaps do not even know, but who are at the root of our vocation. Perhaps we will only know so in Heaven and yet they have contributed in one way or another to our call. For me, one of these people was a holy priest, a martyr who died in Karaganda in 1963, Msgr. Alexander Chira, beatified by the Holy Father in 2001. This priest knew my parents very well and visited them whenever he could during the persecution. On one occasion, my mother even saved his life by hiding him. He was very thankful and promised to pray for our family in all his Masses. On one occasion he visited us secretly and celebrated Mass in our house in Kyrgyzstan. I was a small child at that time, still in the crib, and he blessed me. I am convinced that this priest has some relation to my vocation.
What apostolic work have you done after your ordination to the priesthood?
I worked in Brazil, first in some parish communities, and then as the spiritual director of our community in Brazil (the Order of the Holy Angels). I also worked apostolically giving spiritual retreats. Later I was sent to Rome to study theology and obtain a degree and doctorate in Patristics. After having finished all this, I was elected General Counselor of the Order, a position which I held for practically ten years. During this time in Rome, I met a priest who had come from Kazakhstan and who invited me to go to that country to help in the formation of priests in the diocesan seminary, the first Catholic seminary in that region. With the permission of my superiors, I went there and in 2001 the bishops of Kazakhstan asked our Order to free me from my work in Rome to be able to remain in Kazakhstan. I thus went there. I was the spiritual directory of the seminary, the director of studies, teacher, and also parish priest of some communities throughout that territory. I was also the Counselor of the diocese and editor for the monthly Catholic magazine. I was consecrated bishop this past year when the Holy Father named me Auxiliary Bishop of Karaganda.
Could you briefly describe your diocese to us?
Kazakhstan is a country in Central Asia, between Russia and China. It is a bridge between Europe and Asia, an ex-soviet and ex-communist country. During 70 years the country has lived under Communist and atheist dictatorship. The Church was underground, but alive in souls. The Kazakhstan people are a Mongolic race, of Muslim religion, but with a large part of the population of European origin, perhaps one third, descendents of Poles and Germans who were deported there. There are also descendents of Koreans, Chinese, and other nations. Today people of over 100 nations live in Kazakhstan.
From the religious point of view, the majority are Sunnite Muslims. They are rather tolerant and moderate and we have a good relationship with our Muslim brothers. There is a strong presence of the Orthodox Russian Church. Catholics are 2 percent of the population. The Catholic Church is a small flock that arises forth from the catacombs. Only 15 years ago there was only one Catholic bishop for all the countries of Central Asia. In 1997 these countries were separated and received their ecclesiastic authorities. In 1999 Kazakhstan was divided into four parts and about four years ago it became an ecclesiastical province with a metropolis in the capital. We have a major seminary, which is the only one in the entire region of Central Asia. Last year we had the first native ordinations. Little by little we take small steps. Our method of evangelization is through sacred buildings and through the culture since we cannot evangelize directly, out of respect for the Muslims who live here. We build churches because for 70 years there have been no churches or sacred buildings. The oriental nations have a great sensibility for the sacred, for beauty, and for culture. In this way we offer our contribution as the Catholic Church, building beautiful churches, promoting Catholic cultural values, and also carrying out charity work and social aid.
At present what are the main challenges in your diocese?
One of the main challenges is the lack of priests. We have a very vast territory but few priests. In addition to this, there is the lack of so many means that the Churches in Europe have without a problem. We are a Church poor in means and in people, capable of promoting different apostolate works. I consider this a great challenge.
Another great challenge, which is always present, is the proclamation of the Gospel in a Muslim majority country. Even though we do not have great problems with them, our evangelization is more an evangelization through our presence, through our testimony.
You are building a Shrine to Our Lady. Why have you begun this and what is the people’s response?
The region of Karaganda was previously called the Gulag capital, because of the great concentration camps of the Soviet dictatorship. Around Karaganda, there was a great network of concentration camps. Karaganda was thus a symbol of repression. That is why we thought of building a worthy church. First of all because we still do not have a Cathedral. Secondly, we have the intention of building a sacred temple as a sign of expiation for so many churches which were profaned and destroyed during the soviet regime, as a sign of the presence of the Catholic faith. It will be a place of expiation for the victims of so many nations. It will be a church of prayer, of memory, and also of pilgrimage. We wish to dedicate it to Our Lady of Fatima because she has a relation to Communism in Russia. We will add the name of Mother of all nations, because people from all nations have suffered in these territories.
Certainly we are lacking the means because we are a very poor Church and it would be beautiful if people from other places in Europe with more capacities could give us a contribution to make this shrine a reality.
In reference to the future, what would you like to do in the diocese? Do you have more projects?
The most important project that I have is the growth of faith in the souls of so many faithful, that their faith be strong, that Christ live in their souls. This is the primary concern for every pastor. We also need more vocations; we need to work to promote vocations, above all through prayer. We still need to build more churches because, as I have already explained, it is our means of evangelizing and the government is open to this initiative.
In conclusion, these are our needs, our projects, and desires: that Christ be better known, that the greatest number of souls possible may live, and that others may get to know and love Christ and the Church.
©HM Magazine No. 137 - July/August 2007
Saturday, 25 October 2008 11:03
 How I Met the Home
Kevin Deakon
My first contact with the home was in the year 2000. I had just come through a very difficult spell a few months prior, a result of which was that I returned to the practice of my faith.
Coming across the Divine Mercy devotion and being drawn to practice it I had a real conversion where I experienced in a very personal way the infinite love which God has for each of us. This set me on a path which was a complete turn around from the one I was living previously. I was suicidally depressed and I didn’t know why, but now looking back, the reason was that I was so false and empty through living the illusion and the lies that the world presented to me as the path to follow. I was lost and without any life in me. Thanks be to God for pulling me out of the black hole I was in.
It was in this context, a few months after my conversion and having discerned that God was calling me to a life completely surrendered to Him, that I met Fr. Rafael, Fr. Felix, and (then) Br. Colum. They had come to England to talk about the Home, and a friend of mine, at whose house they were staying, invited me to meet them.
When I arrived there was a room full of people and Fr. Raphael and Br. Colum were seated. I went over to speak with them. Of the conversation I can remember Fr. Rafael saying to me, “I can offer you a life of poverty with Christ poor, a life of chastity with Christ chaste, a life of obedience with Christ obedient, and the cross.”
I hadn’t heard anyone speak about the religious life so directly and strongly before and I listened with a lot of enthusiasm. I responded that it was exactly what I was looking for. It seemed like an answer to prayer.
In the Easter week of that year I went out to visit the Home in Barcenilla, Spain.There was a group of Irish pilgrims there at the time and I stayed with them, each day going to a different place of pilgrimage: Lourdes, Garabandal, Limpias, amongst others. I had a great time and really loved the family spirit about the place. I can still remember well a homily preached by Fr. Rafael that week with his notable dynamic spirit. He told us the story of Don Bosco and when in his dream Our Lady asked him to go through a field enclosed with thorns. He had to crawl through the thorns which, of course, was very difficult and most of the boys following him stopped and pulled back. It was a homily about perseverance and never giving in, which for me was to be quite prophetic.
I returned home with the intention of returning soon to enter as a servant brother but I fell ill and was unable to do so. I kept in touch with the Home corresponding with Br. Colum, which helped me out a lot, knowing I was in their thoughts as they were in mine.
I was keeping busy back home though and for almost two years working as a volunteer in a hostel for homeless men run by the Legion of Mary. Through this work I got to know the Community Cenacolo, a community founded by an Italian nun named Sr. Elvira Petrozzi, and which was primarily set up to help the lost youth of today, many of whom have addiction problems. It works by using a Catholic spirituality or Christ therapy, as Sr. Elvira calls it.
I entered this community, initially only for a six-month experience, but I ended up staying for three years. Through all of this time I was out of direct contact with the Home of the Mother but our heavenly Mother didn’t want the Home to go out of my mind. Very early on in my days there in Italy I came across a HM magazine in the rack outside of the main office. I was surprised to see it but very happy and for the next three years whenever I was passing through the mother house I would go to look for the HM magazine.
Though the Community Cenacolo left a marked impression on me I still didn’t feel I was in my place and last summer I left. I went on to do the Camino of Santiago and then on to Fatima, all the time asking God to enlighten me concerning my vocation. All along the walk God was giving me signs pointing me to the Home of the Mother. Starting in Lourdes, before the walk, I met a lad named Kevin Jones who had previously spent some time with the servant brothers.
Next, along the walk I met another lad who had just spent some time with the servant brothers as well. Then, only a few days away from Santiago, I got another light. I was breakfasting in a bar with some friends when looking up at the television I saw the news channel switch to show coverage of HM television. It showed Fr. Rafael with Teo and separately two of the sisters speaking in front of the camera. I didn’t understand anything but I was happy to have my thoughts directed towards the Home once again.
Finally I arrived to Fatima. Physically I was tired and my shoes were a bit the worse for wear. Being so far from Santander and living only by Providence I thought my chances of visiting the Home there had passed me by. I was going to go home, but on the last night there in Fatima, during the mass, I saw that Our Lady was asking me again to give all to her and to go up to Garabandal. In response I said that if it was what she wanted then she had to get me there in three days. I wasn’t going to walk. I went back to the residence where I was staying that night and got speaking with a Polish man. I told him I was going up to the North of Spain the next day and he suggested that I jump in the car with him and his friend as they were going to Paris. So I gave them 15 euros of the 30 euros I had been given by a Spanish priest on my first night in Fatima, and I drove up to Garabandal. There I met a friend, Andy Wrenshall, who is building some apartments there and he helped me to get in touch with the Home and drove me to Barcenilla.
I stayed there for a month just before Christmas, working and living with the brothers. I felt really at home and at peace in the environment there and so, upon returning home for Christmas, I already had the intention of returning with the hope of entering as a candidate. I did return and on the 19th of March, St. Joseph's day, I entered as a candidate.
In conclusion I can truly say that I am immensely grateful to God and our Mother for having come to know the Home and for bringing me back here to be a part of this family.
©HM Magazine No. 137 - July/August 2007
Saturday, 25 October 2008 11:01
 Mamie and her Dislikes
On May 13th of this year, the Feast day of our Lady of Fatima, I had to venture from my home to Santander, on a road following an endless line of trees, in the middle of a forest. My reason for departure was painful: to attend the Funeral of Carmina González.* She was a faithful friend of Mamie, a member of the Home of the Mother, and wife of Luis López. Amazed, I contemplated the clearing of land and levelling of earth, of a scenery that would never return. These are not simple scars of nature, but a true death in favor of an accelerated process of out of control urbanization.
Perhaps some of my readers have already experienced this same sensation: the aspect of your neighbourhood is no longer the same. It has been transformed and with it has disappeared the charm of your eyes when you strolled through her streets and walked down her sidewalks. It is a strange sensation watching your house be torn down, or bulldozed, the home in which you were born, in order construct in its place a new modern building. But the organizers of this mass construction do not understand feelings. Money crushes all of those beautiful affections. They will always find some “reason” to undue it. The law is inexorable: the new city destroys the old. Not all of those placed at the head of this administration have a sensibility in respect to beauty. Money is the “excrement of the devil.”(Giovanni Papini) He soils everything.
It was in this very moment that I understood what Mamie had told me and that to me, was incomprehensible. Mamie had affirmed that she felt no desire to return to Belgium, and even less was her desire to return to Brussels. But least of all, to the home that she had rented on Tervuren Avenue: one of today’s widest and most beautiful streets in the European Union. More so, she feared the arrival of this moment.
However, the moment arrived: her sister Jeannot, a Daughter of Charity, whose religious name is Maria Elena, had returned from Vietnam. The war had just come to an end, and she had been living there many years as a missionary amongst the “montagnards.” Mamie prayed for her sister during the four months in which the Vietnamese Communists held her prisoner. We met up with her in Paris in order to go to Brussels afterwards.
While in Brussels I took the opportunity to visit the different places, in which she had lived, in addition to other very interesting sites: Schaerbeck’s street, where she was born, the church where she had been baptized, the Park of Saint Josephat, where she played with her sister, the midday station where she met Marichen, the Church of Saint Suzanne where she married François Treuttens, the Well of Saint Reinadle where she was cured of her blindness and many more places where she had lived, until reaching her home on Tervuren Avenue.
Together we visited these sites, full of pleasant, but at the same time, painful memories, and I saw how Mamie’s soul suffered. When she observed Tervuren Avenue, where she had lived, she told me the kind of life she had led there. “But,” she said to me with a tone of sadness, “this avenue is no longer the same. The nunciature was practically in front of my house and it is there that they met me, because, since my sister was a Daughter of Charity, she visited quite often. The street was very wide. Back then there wasn’t as much traffic as now. There was a large sidewalk in the middle with large trees, and a garden where the people could peacefully stroll through. It’s not longer the same. Everything has changed.”
When we returned from the trip, Mamie made the firm resolution not to return. For her, the memories must have remained very intact in her mind, like a treasure for the soul. They are the sun of the soul when the memories are beautiful.
It was not about a discouraging romanticism. It was enriching for the soul. I can now understand those sentiments, when, looking back, I see disappear the surroundings in which I lived. And now I realize their true value.
By Fr. Rafael Alonso
©HM Magazine No. 137 - July/August 2007
Saturday, 25 October 2008 10:59
 Heading off to Ecuador
Servant Brothers of the Home of the Mother
Tuesday, April 24, 2007, the Servant Brothers of the Home of the Mother departed for Playaprieta and Chone, Ecuador, the two cities where there are communities of Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother. They went with an apostolic intention, in addition to their intention of working. They were able to attend to the Home of the Mother communities of adults and youth, and work for the missionary projects under construction in these cities.
In Playaprieta, where the Servant Sisters direct a School of 300 students, the brothers worked constructing a floor in the building that will later house volunteers who desire to help the mission.
In Chone, the project of preparing a lot of land to raise livestock, and cultivate fruit trees that will serve as nourishment for the children’s soup kitchens, continues to advance. There the Servant Brothers worked constructing a home that will become the residence of the family who will dedicate themselves to the care for the land.
On Tuesday, April 24, some of the Servant Brothers departed from the airport of Madrid to head for Guayaquil, Ecuador. We were going to spend a month in a country that was completely new to the majority of us. It was going to be a month dedicated to apostolic work, of helping our community with the different apostolic projects which have been initiated and will be of great benefit to the poor. Full of great hope and enthusiasm to do the will of God, we departed with a joyful spirit. At the head was Fr. Juan Antonio, and along with him, three novices (who have now taken their first vows): Br. Greggy, Br. José Luis, and Br. Rene; Kevin, a candidate, and I, Fr. Dominic.
After the long 14-hour trip, our plane gradually descended over the city of Guayaquil. Those of us seated by the windows stretched our necks to be able to get the first glance of the view of Ecuador. It was an unforgettable sight: A sea of low and poor houses under a cloudy evening sky. The cars and people looked like ants, as if each one of them was in his own world. It was 6:00 pm in Guayaquil, and 1:00 am Spanish time.
We went to collect our big and bulky baggage. In reality, we ourselves only carried with us the bare necessities. The rest was stuffed with a great quantity of medicine for the poor children and families who lack medical care. We also carried books for the children of the school directed by the Servant Sisters in Playprieta. Loaded up with this luggage, and already feeling the effects of the long journey, such as the ringing in the ears and exhaustion, we directed ourselves to the arrival gate where we were welcomed by Sr. Inmaculada and Eliana, a candidate of the Servant Sisters. We left the building and mounted the pick-up truck. We could not help but immediately notice the intense wave of “dead heat.”
Carefully following the directions of Sr. Inmaculada, we began the journey. Two brothers and I were seated in the cab, while the others were seated in the bed of the truck enjoying the ride in open air. It was then that we realized that it was certainly not anything like Spain. The engine started and our truck merged into the chaotic traffic of a city which we quickly left behind in order to reach our destination: a beautiful island of peace where resides the community of Schönstatt. After organizing ourselves and praying night prayers, the time came to go to bed. We slept very well that night. It had been a very long day.
The following morning we awoke somewhat recuperated. We could hear the chirping of many different birds and from the bedroom window saw the beautiful landscape. Within a short time and before we even had time to react; we were already once again mounting the pick-up truck making our way north to Chone. On the way, we stopped at Playaprieta, where a community of our sisters direct a school of children between the ages of 4 and 16. This was going to be our work place from Mondays to Fridays.
Soon enough we arrived in Chone, where there lives the other community of Servant Sisters. The first day, after eating lunch, we went to visit the piece of land, Maria Elisabetta. There we met Renan, a pleasant and jovial young man, who toured us through the land. It was truly fascinating. We saw the chickens, pigs, and the large amount of fruit and vegetation, whose main purpose is to feed the poor children of Chone.
The next day, everyone dressed in their work clothes, we drove again out to the land to help out in whatever we could. We had a variety of experiences: feeding the pigs, killing chickens, digging wells and ditches, laying tiles, building and destroying walls, mixing cement and concrete etc. We also experienced our share of purification: fevers, mosquito bites, cuts and scrapes…lets just say, an ideal opportunity to offer it up to the Lord.
From the spiritual point of view, I think that our trip gave a lot of fruit. We participated in the meetings of the youth and adult groups of the Home of the Mother. On the last day of our stay, many of the school children were enrolled with the Scapular. One can clearly perceive that the Ecuadorian people have a true thirst for God. When celebrating mass in the parish during the week, there was a good attendance at the Eucharistic celebration, and many people were able to confess.
There was a certain event that greatly impressed me: One afternoon, an older man came to Church right before mass was to begin. Since there were some people waiting in line to confess, and mass was at the point of starting, I suggested to him that he confess after the mass ends. But he preferred to confess beforehand saying that he was very ill and had not confessed for a very long time. Mass began a little later than planned, but blessed be God! I am sure that in heaven there was much more joy for the reconciliation of this soul.
The sisters took very good care of us. The apostolic work that they are doing is truly amazing. Wherever they go, they radiate the love and joy of the Virgin. The Home of the Mother is truly alive in Ecuador, amongst the sisters, families, and young people. It’s wonderful seeing the fruits of fidelity, generosity, and surrender to the will of God. I do not doubt that God will continue to abundantly bless this great work that has begun.
The month passed by very quickly and was very intense, full of experiences and emotions. Everyone worked hard, and it was a time of blessings. Amongst us was a great spirit of joy, unity, and participation. We could hardly believe it when we found ourselves anew in the airport of Guayaquil checking in our baggage, preparing ourselves for the return to Spain. Two hours later our plane took off, as we saw from above the last time the evening sky and the large city. Thanks be to God! Good-bye Ecuador! Until next time!
©HM Magazine No. 137 - July/August 2007
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