Author: Juliana

First Commitment by Vows 2018

Today we celebrate the feast of Mary and Joseph, presenting Jesus in the Temple, as in accordance with the law. Others were also involved in this presentation too, such as Simeon and Anna, who pronounced Prophecies on Jesus and his mother. History tells us about the feast: This Feast of the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple on February 2nd became the celebration of the World Day of Consecrated Life established by John Paul II in 1997. Today on the combined feasts of the presentation of Jesus by Joseph and Mary in the Temple, and of consecrated life, I would like to present to you the four women who, during this last two years, prepared themselves here in Jerusalem for their consecration within the congregation of Our Lady of Sion. Andrea Chacon Carmona from Costa Rica, Central America Lucia de Fatima Alves Nogueira from Brazil, South America Maria Odor  Malau  from Indonesia, Asia, and Nancy Mena Fernandez from Costa Rica, Central America During these last two years, we the Novitiate Formation Community, (Sr. Colette, …

Sr. Ivone died unexpected

On December 4th it was announced that Sr. Ivone dos Santos, NDS (St. Amaro, Brazil) has passed away. She had a stroke the week before, which compromised her movements, sight and speech. Sr. Ivone was known for her smile, irreverence, simplicity and, above all, for her deep fraternal charity. We Religious of Sion pray for her soul and the comfort of her family and friends, but above all, we believe in the certainty of the resurrection. In July 2014 Sr. Ivone arrived at the international congregational novitiate community established in Ein Karem / Jerusalem just in that year. The formation team and the novitiate community want to express her gratitude for all the gifts you Ivone have made available to help in this mission of empowering young women to become mature Sisters of Sion. We  come to express our gratitude of your dedication to this beautiful and at the same time so demanding ministry of contributing to the formation of our next Sisters. We thank the Lord, our God, for the gift of your existence among …

Walking together in Sion

We had five days of assembly in Kiryat-Yearim with Sr.Piluca, our facilitator who helped us to enter into our meeting together asking us how we understood the Chapter Document? In groups of three we shared our reflections. Following this we looked at our place, where we were in the region Jerusalem, Egypt, Gemenos, Tunisia and the Novitiate. Day by day, we were reflecting together in view of our criteria, a culture of dialogue, interfaith relations, interculturality, solidarity with those living in poverty, concern for our common home and our own reality, our community, our context and our country. We reflected together as the Novitiate about two points. The first was to reflect on what would we like to say to Fathers Theodore and Alphonse? We thought of their vision, their experience of God and what we admire in them. Secondly we looked for a symbol or an image that represents the congregation. Then we wrote a letter to Fr. Theodore answering the first question and we read this to sisters in the assembly.    In …

Behold, the Man

Several of us went to see a remarkable painting exhibition -a ”first” in Israel- on Jesus seen through the eyes of Jewish painters. We were impressed by the impact of the Cross on these painters. One of them had lost his wife during the birth of their child, who died three years later. He tought to express his pain through all sorts of Jewish themes… and finally it was the Cross of Jesus that inspired him. Several paintings bear the stamp of Christian anti-Semitism, and associate the death of Jesus and the Shoah in most painful way. In general, as it has been well stated in the article that follows (the exergue of the book on the exhibition), the event is significant and positive. Indeed, the interest stirred by Jesus touches us deeply. (Anne-Catherine) Behold, the Man What does Jesus – for centuries regarded by Jews as a tabu – have to do with Israeli art? This publication offers a close look at a rarely discussed subject: the presence of Jesus in the work of …

Purim 2017

Purim is the feast of an upside down world[1]. Indeed the book of Esther is full of oddness, incoherencies, things which seem to happen “by chance”, contradictions, even scandals. It begins like a fairy tale: A king who repudiates his wife because she refuses to attend a banquet (ch.1). He then convokes the most beautiful young maids of his kingdom in order to choose a new wife. And here we are. His choice falls on a young Jewish woman, Esther (ch.2). If the king did not know that she was Jewish, she knew it. Then how could she marry a pagan king? How she and her uncle Mortdecai could take part in banquet, for sure no kosher? A plot against the king is discovered “by chance”(ch.6), and thanks to this, the decision to exterminate all the Jews (for the only reason that  they were different : c h 3,8-9), is reversed; and to Haman is inflicted what he wanted to inflict to Mordechai. The supplication of Esther has been heard (ch 4 and 5 ). …

„St. John in Montana“ News 12/2016

Dear Sisters and Brothers After our immersion experience with Pax Christi, we began to reflect on article 14 of the Constitution: “Our vocation gives us a particular responsibility to promote understanding and justice for the Jewish community and to keep alive in the church the consciousness that in some mysterious way, Christianity is linked to Judaism from its origin to its destiny.” We considered that article in relationship to our apostolic commitment, which is shaped by the call of the 2016 Chapter document to reflect on the priorities for apostolic life in Sion, and the section on “Formation in Sion.” With the Ecce Homo community we closed the liturgical year with the celebration of “Christ the King” and began the weeks of Advent in preparation for Christmas in our community. During this Advent we are visiting each Sion community here in Jerusalem following the tradition of “Posadas”, which is Christmas Carolling reminding us of Josef and Mary searching for an inn giving them shelter in Bethlehem. (Click here for wikipedia about „Las Posadas”). This tradition …

Sukkot feast of joy!

“Throughout the seven days of the Feast, one must make his Sukkah a regular dwelling and his house a temporary dwelling.” Miska Sukka 2.9 October 18th, our class with Sr. Anne-Catharine was about Sukkot (Jewish Biblical Feast celebrated on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei – varies from late September to late October). Sukkot originates in the Torah, and celebrates the tents in which the Israelites lived in the desert after the exodus from Egypt. The sukkah is a temporary dwelling, usually made of wood or fabric in at least three of its four sides and the roof is made of tree branches, through which one can see the sky. “During this week every native Israelite among you shall dwell in booths, that your descendants may realize that, when I led the Israelites out of the land of Egypt” Lev. 23, 42 – 43 The sukkah: For the Jew not to forget the true purpose in life, God, in His infinite wisdom and goodness makes them leave their comfortable homes at this time, …