All posts filed under: News

Monthly newsletter about our Novitiate life.

Letter from St. John in Montana, 08/2020

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Since the middle of March we, in the novitiate community, are mostly totally confined to the convent and only the necessary errands are made. Doctor’s visits, shopping of groceries or the pharmacy, and after the lockdown also the hairdresser. The rest of the time we occupied ourselves within the convent walls. At the beginning we thought we had lots of time available but that was not the reality. For me my computer has been organised, and cleaned from all the unnecessary objects and papers. Movies were watched and there I found the Episode “The Chosen”. There has been more time for prayer and reflection. Reading a novel or spiritual book became a daily routine. Others in the community became engaged in preparing zoom community prayer to enable others to participate, Jerusalem community members and the sisters who live alone, like in Krakow or Ireland. The house is receiving a good clean and all the unnecessary things are distributed and given away. The Garden is full of a plentitude of fruits which …

“In Sion Firmata Sum”

News and greetings, June 23rd, 2019 was the day we sent out the letter of an initiative presented by the Congregational Novitiate Formation Team. and 23 sisters and friends of Sion joined the initiative to make a difference in our daily living. The “pact” we invited to, called us at this point to commit ourselves to live deeply one day a week as a day of “praise and thanksgiving”. This could mean to turn off our gadgets, slow down, notice, listen to the word, enjoy one another, do something creative… Some month’s later the world experienced a lock down in many countries because of the corona virus which interrupted all work, social and interactive daily life. We were forced, to keep physical distance and wear face masks and gloves to protect oneself and others. The Pandemic took hold of our life’s. In looking back over the time I was keeping the pact of “Praise and Thanksgiving“ during this year, which interrupted my lifestyle to some degree, I would like to share what I learned. I …

Lockdown and Easter 2020

In this time of lockdown, the Coronavirus has forced the cancellation of events and this situation calls us to change our life to a greater understanding of life’s reality, maybe to the understanding that we are not made of permanency. And so how do we live this time of uncertainty, of interacting with restrictions? Inside our Convent in Ein Karem we are interacting very little, remembering to keep the two meters distance between us, which is not always easy to remember. Our daily routine of prayer, mass via media streaming, daily duties of cooking, we do little shopping, but when necessary we go for milk, fruit and vegetables. I am the lucky one because my Hebrew lessons continue via Zoom with lots of homework to do. Our daily prayer becomes a zoom opportunity as Ania in Poland and Therese in Ireland, also Rose Theresa and Maureena participate with us in this media way of connecting and praying together. One Friday we celebrated the beginning of Shabbat together with Maureena who came to join us. The …

Hanukkah and Christmas

This reflection can invite us to listen to how these two feasts echo one another. Light… for Hanukkah is celebrated with lights, eight small flames that are lit on each of the feast’s eight days. Already Flavius Josephus called Hanukkah “the lights”, because the victory of the Maccabeans manifested the victory of light over darkness; and St. Jerome takes up this interpretation for his own purposes in his commentary on Jn 10:22, when he says: “the light of freedom”. In rabbinic tradition, it is the victory of the Torah (“a lamp for my steps, a light on my path”) over the darkness of the Greek empire’s paganism, which forbade the Torah. The Temple… for Hanukkah remembers the “dedication” (which is what the word “Hanukkah” means) of the Temple after its desecration by the Greek empire (cf. 1 Macc 4:36-61 and 2 Macc 10:1-6). The Jewish commentaries on this feast strongly emphasize the significance of the Temple as God’s dwelling place in the midst of God’s people, whence the great importance that was given to its …

Letter from St. John in Montana, 11/2019

Dear Brothers and Sisters, Winter has arrived in Jerusalem as temperatures drop during the night down to 6 ° it is cold and we hope for lots of rain in the coming days. After celebrating Christ, the king with the Ecce Homo communities we enter into the Advent season by lightening the first light on our Advent ride. During this last month’s Erika and myself engaged in studding book 2 of our history “Origins of Sion” where a rich description of the Man Theodore is found. Sr. Carmelle gives us many letters he wrote that paint a picture of this delightful and wise man with his great capacity for relationships. The catechumenate the beginning of the ministry of education in Sion needed its own sign before Theodore was ready to begin it. Or as he states the characteristic of the work of our Lady of Sion must be Jesus Christ’s love for the Jewish people and the last sentence on page 72 where Theodore says Sion is about an attitude rather than an apostolic project …

Serve to be a better servant

Well, in this article I will tell you about the joy I had when I started my volunteer work here in Israel. I hope that one day everyone will be doing some volunteer work in the world. This would have great benefits for humanity: we would be more supportive, charitable to each other and loving to everyone. The actions carried out by the volunteer work, more than solidarity works, are acts of social inclusion and citizen education. Through volunteering, which does not require complex actions or of great repercussion, but simple and efficient acts, any person who makes herself available to others, has the ability to develop a task and can promote social inclusion. In addition to social importance, experience and personal satisfaction, volunteer work also makes us recover values (gratitude) that are sometimes lost in our society. I started working as a volunteer when I was still a 12 year old teenager, my aunt taught catechism in a parish on the suburbs of my city, and had children who had difficulties with writing, so …