Home of the Mother

The Servant Brothers and Priests of the Home of the Mother have founded a new community in Urroz-Villa (Navarra). The community is formed by Fr. Reinhard (the new parish priest), Brother Andrew, Brother Greggy, John Wright, and Jim Davila.

On August 23rd and 24th, 14 of the HMY girls in Canada had a get-together with Miriam Loveland, a candidate with the Servant Sisters.

The Sisters of the Precious Blood opened up their convent to receive the girls. The day on Tuesday began in the yard outside the convent, learning some songs to Our Lady and the “bombas” sung at the summer camps in Spain. After the music, the girls learned how to play Ultimate Frisbee and got to run around a bit.

We are all aware of what a grace it is to be able to participate in the Home of the Mother ceremonies, such as the vows of the Brothers or the Sisters, the entrance of candidates into the Novitiate, special celebrations like the Pontifical Approval of the Home...However, unfortunately, this is not always possible due to the fact that we live far away, or we have to work, or our health does not allow us to travel, etc.

From the 13th to the 15th of August, Fr. Colum and the candidate Matthew Nobrega, directed a get-together for boys in the Sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosary in Merlin, Ontario.

Damien Lee Young, Juan Pablo Hernández, Shaun Udovic, Abe Serrano, David Restrepo, Christopher Udovic, and José Rafael Pérez went to the get-together.

This summer has been filled with a series of very enriching experiences: pilgrimages, camps, the Approval in Rome, the Entrance into the Novitiate, Profession of Vows, spiritual exercises, the HM Family Encounter, etc. In the midst of them all, we have also spent some beautiful days here in Barcenilla (Spain).

We've had a full house since May, which is when the candidates began arriving from the USA. They were followed by an endless flow of visits from families from all over – the USA, Ecuador, Canada, Italy, and England.

This summer, from August 12-15, about 130 of us all got together in Barcenilla (Spain) for the HM Family Encounter. There were people from Italy, England, the USA, Ecuador, Ireland, and Spain.

The littlest participant was one-month-old Gabriel Samino. It was a great joy for us to see the house full of young couples of the Home of the Mother, along with their children. Our days together were marked by a genuinely fraternal atmosphere in which we had time for prayer, Mass, video presentations, talks, round-table discussions, etc.

On August 13th, a group of young people met in Fonda, New York at the Shrine of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. The group consisted of four young people, two Brothers, and three adults.

The occasion was to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the Shrine of Our Lady of Martyrs at nearby Auriesville, New York. This Shrine was the old Indian town of Ossernon where Saint Isaac Jogues first entered into Mohawk territory and the place of the martyrdom of Saint Rene Goupil.

The Home of the Mother Youth boys had their summer camps in Ocala, Florida and Blairsville, Georgia. There were 29 boys from ages 8-13 and 31 boys from ages 14 - 17. The younger boys stayed at the Lake in the Forest campsite at Halfmoon Lake in the Ocala National Forest. The older boys went to Vogel State Park in Blairsville, Georgia.  In both camps, the boys had to make the effort to come out of themselves and find the beauty of a life centered on Christ. This was done through a daily dose of adoration before our Lord with points of meditation, mass, rosary, and talks given by the brothers.

Last Sunday, August 22nd, the Sisters who are currently in the community of Rome (Sr. Anna, Sr. Emma, Sr. Hope, and Sr. Maria Luisa), went to Monte Vidon Combatte, a small town in the Italian region of Ascoli Piceno, to visit the home of several members of the Home of the Mother.

Three married couples from the area participated in the get-together, with their children: Angelo and Lidia, Giuliano and Rosella, and Luciano and Maria.

The community of Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother in Alcalá de Guadaíra (Seville), has lived some days filled with very special graces, historical and unforgettable days.

As you know, our main work in this town is taking care of the Shrine of Nuestra Señora del Águila, where the image of the patroness, so revered and loved by all Alcalá, is found. Although the image was remade after the Spanish Civil War, this Marian devotion has been transmitted from father to son for seven centuries.

Annually, a novena is celebated in preparation for the feast (15th of August). This year, to mark the tenth anniversary of the canonical coronation of the image, the novena was done in a very special festive tone. It has been a traveling novena in which the image of the Our Lady has traveled 14 km through the streets of Alcalá.

Sisters Ruth Ibáñez and Ruth Alamillo, from the community of Chone (Ecuador), accompanied by Maguito and Kasandra (candidates), Candy and Lorena, left Saturday the 14th early in the morning, at five o'clock, on their way to Manchala, the capitol of the province El Oro. The reason for the trip was to accompany Sr. Miriam Isabel of the Child Jesus in the ceremony of her temporal religious profession. Sr. Miriam is a young woman who was a member of the Home of the Mother of the Youth and is a Carmelite now.

The girls of the Home of the Mother in Chone have gotten to work raising money for the trip they are planning to take to Spain next summer, to participate in World Youth Day. There are 20 girls signed up to go and there are 12 organizing the fundraising activities in order to be able to pay for it.

They have prepared a schedule of activities for each week. Every week they make something different: ceviche, pizza, chocolate cakes, ice cream...Then, they sell them to everyone they know and set up a stand in front of the church, for people to stop by on their way out after Mass.

Going on a pilgrimage to Rome with the Home of the Mother is truly a unique experience. This can be testified to by our 22 girls who, accompanied by a group of Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother, invaded the Eternal City this past August 2-10.

The environment on the pilgrimage was the best imaginable and this is thanks to the girls themselves who achieved it through their constant joy, their positive attitude, and the way they treated each other with charity.

This summer, the Servant Sisters of the Home of the Mother here in the United States led two summer camps.

The first one was from July 25-30 in Ocala, Florida. About 70 girls, ages 8-13, attended. Thanks be to God, there were also 6 team leaders who came to help us out, too. Without their help it would have been nearly impossible. Each one of them served as a team leader and there were a total of 8 teams.

In August 2011, Madrid will host the XXVI World Youth Day, whose theme is: “Rooted and Built Up in Jesus Christ, Firm in the Faith” (cf Col 2:7). On this occasion, the Holy Father Benedict XVI will come to Spain's capital to meet with millions of young people from all across the world.

The celebration will take place August 16-21. The Home of the Mother of the Youth is already getting ready to participate in this colossal event. We'll kick off our activities on August 8 in Madrid and the next day we'll be off on our pilgrimage to visit various shrines and other places that were home to saints in Spain. This time will be one of reflection and preparation so as to truly take full advantage, in a spiritual sense, of the upcoming encounter with the Holy Father. On August 15, we will return to Madrid for the WYD events.

At the end of July, here in Alcala de Guadaira (Seville) we had special “Summer Activities Days” for the girls. They were three exciting days (July 29th-31st) in which 30 girls came to the Home of the Mother to share in the experience of friendship, growing closer to Our Lady, reflection, games, songs, plays, cooking, water, water, and more water...crafts, Confession, and more.

In June, the Sisters in Chone and several members of the Home in Ecuador went on a pilgrimage to two Marian shrines. We thought of the pilgrimage as a way of thanking Our Mother for the Approval of the Home. So, we chose two Marian shrines: “La Virgen de Agua Santa” in Baños (Ecuador) and “La Virgen de Las Lajas” in Ipiales (Colombia).

We left on June 19 at 12 midnight from Chone. We went in 2 buses, one with boys and adults and the other with girls. We reached Baños around 9am, ate breakfast in a park, and went to Mass at the shrine. Later on, we looked around the shrine. From there, we went to visit 2 waterfalls. The area is known for its waterfalls. And finally, we went to a look-out point where we could see the Tumburagua volcano, which is currently active.

From June 13th-19th, the Sisters in Lumezzane organized a camp for girls in the parish. The campsite was in Villa di Lozio, a beautiful location in the mountains of Valcamonica, one of the main valleys here in Brescia. 15 girls took part in the camp, all of them between the ages of 10 and 13. Almost all of them were from our parish of Saint Apollonio, although there were a few from other parishes. We were accompanied by our best assistant ever, Antonella, who is always a great help with any activity we organize and the girls all love her.

On July 17th, we celebrated a Mass of Thanksgiving for the approval of the International Public Association of Faith, the "Home of the Mother". His Excellency Bishop José María Yanguas, bishop of Cuenca, presided over the Mass, which took place in the Parish of St. Nicholas of Bari, Priego, province of Cuenca, Spain.

In addition to giving thanks for the Home's approval, Br. Jose Luis Saavedra and Br. Rene Zambrano received the Rite of Admission to the Holy Orders.

Nearly 60 girls from the ages of 8 to 22 attended the Home of the Mother summer camp in Leon, Spain, from July 3rd to July 13th, 2010.  The camp started for the majority of the girls in Cuenca, where they began an 8 hour bus ride to Leon filled with songs and games.  Once they arrived, the camp activities began.