Month: March 2015

Jesus and Covenant

Jesus and Covenant With Fr. Lionel Goh, OFM March 23-27, 2015 We begin our retreat in articulating that Vows is the deepening of the sacrament of baptism. It is the public and deeper pronouncement of our baptismal promises. Then we talked about the 3 stages of a traditional retreat which are the way of: (1) via purgativa or the way to acknowledging one’s sinfulness and unworthiness in the eyes of God (2) via illuminativa or the way of coming into light from darkness (3) via unitiva or the way to be reconcile and united with God. After that, Fr. Lionel led us in the deeper understanding of Covenant starting from the Hebrew Scriptures to Jesus. Fr. Lionel told us that the beginning of Covenant with God was the destruction of relationship as seen in the story of Adam and Eve.We also learned from him that sins begin with a question and a conversation with the devil. In Genesis chapter 3 we got to the whole dynamics and effects of the fall of first human being. …

“Go and Proclaim!“ 2015

We have come together to celebrate the closing of the Canonical Year for our Novices, and their entry into the Apostolic Stage of their formation in Sion, when each will be sent to apostolic experiences, here in Jerusalem or in Egypt or in Tunisia. This stage is symbolized by sandals, with the call to Go and Proclaim. The Apostolic stage is not entirely separated from the Canonical Year, but rather, is the continuation of it, during which the Novices assume increased responsibility, and decision- making. The purpose of the Apostolic Stage is to Go and Proclaim. What can I proclaim after this year of learning, of silence, and of community living? What did I hear and live during this Canonical Year, in my weekly desert moments, and in my daily living in community, and in my times of study during the year? And now, I want to direct my attention to the Novices: You all made a personal reflection on your year, with questions like: What am I grateful for in this year of living …

An inspiration to address the need of others.

Joy is much visible to everyone´s face, one of the highlight experienced that we had last week was seeing Sr. Collete´s reaction upon recieving her first Apple Air tablet. Our community decided to have a surprise gift for her so that she may be able to contact her family and the Sisters across the world through email and skype. Her eagerness to learn and her memory to remember how to use the tablet gave happiness to our community and also an inspiration to address the need of others. On that same day we also bought our shoes/sandals as a symbol of our apostolic year. A big thanks for this wonderful gifts from the Congregation and for all your unending support in many ways! Last Tuesday together we celebrate the St. Patrick feast day with the Apostolic Sisters and Brothers. The celebration was prepared by Sr. Phil and Sr. Collete, our night ended with an Irish coffee. The other day we went to the Holy Sepulchre for our overnight prayer vigil, what a memorable experienced! While …

Hand in Hand,

We visited the school called “Hand in Hand”. This school has Arab and Jewish children. It is one of five schools that they have . (Tel Aviv- Jaffa, Haifa, Galilee, Wadi Ara, Jerusalem) Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel furthers peaceful coexistence between Jews and Arabs through the development of integrated, bilingual and multicultural schools. At our four schools, the number of students at each grade level is balanced equally between Arab and Jewish children. Students at all grade levels are taught in both Hebrew and Arabic. The Mission of the school Hand in Hand is to create a strong, inclusive, shared society in Israel through a network of Jewish-Arab integrated bilingual schools and organized communities. Jews and Arabs – learning together, living together – and inspiring broad support for social inclusion and civic equality in Israel. The numbers of the children are 620. They are sharing the feasts together. We finished the Vow of Poverty and we noted that it is the most difficult Vow to live in our daily life. …

“St. John in Montana” News, 02/2015

Dear All The month of February began with a three-day session on “Non-violent Communication” with Fr. Guy Theunis, using the teachings of Marshall Rosenberg. Fr. Don Anderson continued that week with a session on managing fear and anger. The destructiveness of fear and anger along with its positive power was an eye-opener for us. Fr. Guy began by encouraging us to be realistic and to see that we live in a world of violence. Violence is a reality of daily life in families, in schools, and elsewhere. We are born into a violent world and violence appears to be normal behaviour. Non-violence is not normal; we have to begin to learn non-violence. Modern non-violent communication and behaviour is founded on the wisdom and example of Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, but Jesus might be seen as the master in non-violence. We learned that “jackal / wolf language” and “giraffe language” indicate ways of behaving and acting, and we can find in them illustrations of our own behaviour. The first rule of non- violent communication …

Prayer

Last Wednesday Martine Zaman a Contemplative Sister, shared with us her own intimate experience of prayer in her 28 years in Sion and how she develops day by day. She says that each one of us has her own experience of prayer for example: painting, cooking, gardening, knitting and so on. For Sister Martine her way is through music especially with the flute. She has had some difficulties in her prayer life and she said that when she began to breath consciously, she realized that prayer is with her whole body and that helps her to create more music. Through her own experience she difines \prayer in three steps. What is prayer? It is a link \ between two things. First the vertical form, with one intermediary and that is the Holy Spirit. As Christians we must remember that God does not speak to us directly, but He sent his only Son and helps us to intercede to the Father. Second is the requirements of prayer: According to Sister Martine prayer is poverty, depending always …