The number one is always independent and is the principle of natural numbers (N). It also symbolizes the unity and the Creator who is the principle of all things. So we can say that ONE is the beginning and the cause of all things. It is unity with the Creator. Nothing can be added to this unit or subtracted from it. It is necessary, simple and unique just as the number one is necessary for all numbers, because without the number one, there would be no other numbers. If we annul number one, all numbers would be annulled. Great is the power of number one. So God is the beginning of all, God is unique and essential. We hear in Jewish prayer the words of the Shema: “Hear O Israel: The Lord our God is One and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your might and these words, which I command you this day, shall be in your heart“ (Dt. 6, 4-5) …

After the Alphonse´s experience with Mary (January 20, 1842), Theodore was sure that the moment had come to begin the Work. Our present constitution specifies that “Our apostolic life is characterized by a three-fold commitment: to the Church, to the Jewish people, and to a world of justice, peace and love. Whatever task we are engaged in, we are called to integrate, in some way, these three dimensions of our apostolic commitment.” (Constitutions nº 13) What name would Theodore give this ‘Work’? One thing was certain, it is Mary´s ‘Work’ and must be consecrated to Our Lady. In seeking a name for this ‘Work,’ Theodore asked God to enlighten him to find one that would reflect our biblical charism and the relation with the Jewish people to which the charism calls us.  One morning in 1843, as Theodore was praying in Providence Chapel of the Sisters of Charity, his eyes fell on verse 5 of Psalm 87. The first word he saw was the name of ‘Sion’. Immediately he understood that this biblical name, so …

In this canonical year we are called to know in a deeper way our Charism and Spiritually. For that reason we are reading, studying and reflecting our Constitutions, the Bible and some books of our Congregation. Every week we have sessions with Sister Juliana about the Constitutions and every day we are reading the Sion’s books and the Bible. During this month we are receiving at Ecce Homo some lectures about the Bible with the purpose of continue discovering the Word of God. Father Lionel, who is a Franciscan Priest, is teaching us about it. His way of teaching encourages us to be aware about our relationship with the Word of God and how we can communicate it to the people who are around us. This kind of lectures are very challenging and interesting for us because our Charism invited us to know more about the Word of God. For instance, last week we were sharing Constitutions number 6 that says, “Our vocation is characterized by the word of God which is central in our …

From April 1st to 3rd we had three days of retreat in a very beautiful place. We enjoyed a lot this time of reflection, pray and silent. The view of Jerusalem’s city, the garden and the guidance of Sister Maureen helped us to be more open to the voice of God. The first day we could meditate in the Mount Sinai Revelation, the important of God’s revelation to Moises and what is it going to mean for us during this canonical year? The second day we reflected in some texts that talk about Ayekah (where are you?), the God’s revelation to Adan and then to many others women and men in the bible. The point was how to identify ourselves through these texts and how we will respond to God’s revelation to us. Finally we finished our retreat reflecting on the Mount Sion, the mountain of the Lord. With the character of Mary as a daughter of Sion we mediated in this question, what is the call of a Sister of Sion? Our call is …

On Wednesday, February 10th, we had a mass in the chapel with the contemplative and apostolic sisters, brothers and friends of Sion. We are invited to live a beautiful time of conversion, personal and community growth. Also, Lent time invites us to go to find Jesus, His presence in our silences and our senses in this land and say like the prophet Samuel “Speak, Lord; for your servant is listening”(1 Sam 3, 10). This year is very special to us since it is our first time here living this moment and that Pope Francis invites us to live in mercy: “Mercy is what pleases me, not sacrifice” (Mt 9, 13). So this time asks us to be merciful, to grow in love, to be closer to God and feel His mercy in our lives. Only we need to be amazed by Jesus in this time of preparation in His Land. We felt that Lent is a favourable time to keep us with all our heart and hear “Come back to the Lord your God, for …

During this week we have been learning many details of how to live in our new house, the Novitiate. Everything is new and exciting to us. We are working hard and also enjoying this experience. It will be an efficient formation for our lives. To start our reflections and in order to become more aware of the importance of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the temple; Sister Anne Catherine gave us our first lecture about Rites of the birth of a Jewish child. This reflection was a beneficial knowledge to understand the biblical background of this feast. Also it facilitated us to understand the sense God’s revelation to all the nations and what the meaning of it is for us as believers. To complete the experience of the feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the temple, the contemplatives sisters, the brothers, other sisters and us visited the Kehillah, where they had a special mass of this feast presided by the Patriarch. We had a good time sharing the mass, …

Welcoming of the new Congregational Novitate 2016 – 18 Dear Participants of this Eucharist on the Eve of the third Sunday in the Year. I am happy to welcome you all and especially our new young Postulants. It was a great day to celebrate the First Vows on last Wednesday of our First Congregational Novitiate and we are going into our second Congregational Novitiate now. Charism is a gift of God for building up the church. Its given to individuals and to groups for the good of all. Each religious institute is the recipients and guardian of such a gift or charisma. The founding members of our congregation had received their special charism of love, understanding and dialog. And they had the task to articulate this charism for their time and place in which they found themselves and lived in. Today we begin the Orientation time of the second Congregational Novitiate, we can host in this precious and beautiful place. It will moves us into the Canonical Year and it is the beginning of reflecting …