St. Charles celebrates a special feast
- 2020/06/12 -
For several months our three fellow sisters Sr. M. Aurelia, Sr. M. Feliciana, and Sr. M. Daniela had been joyfully looking forward together with Sr. M. Klara from Emmaus Qubeiba to their common celebration of the anniversary of their profession. The first three sisters took their religious vows in Jerusalem 25 years ago, and Sr. M. Klara, believe it or not, 70 years ago, also in the City of Our Lord.

On this momentous occasion, it would have been the first time that it would have been possible for them to welcome their families and relatives from Romania and Germany in St. Charles.
But everything turned out differently. Since February/March the Corona virus has changed the course of the world, international transport both for business and private destinations broke down, our recently renovated guesthouse has remained empty, and just as a lot of other people in the Holy Land we also have to take care of each agorat (comparable to the European cent) and to ponder on the pros and cons before spending it.

"Shall we cancel the anniversary?" - that was the question on our minds quite often. How will we be able to organize such a feast in these demanding weeks in order to reward our fellow sisters for their long-lasting faithful service in our congregation?

"In these difficult times it seems to be more important than ever to celebrate on festive occasions", wrote one of our friends, a priest in Germany. Doesn't this hit the nail on the head? And that is why we dared to thank God for having called our fellow sisters and we decided to celebrate their anniversary on their day of honour by a holy mass attended by the small circle of members of our community (with us obviously respecting the Corona-given regulations).

Looking back at that great day that we celebrated in our Community of St. Charles on June 11, Corpus Christi Day - by the way, this was the exact day of their profession 25 years ago - we can say that is was a cheerful, deeply moving feast. The joy and happiness of the sisters celebrating their acceptance of God's call by entering the Order of St. Borromeo that radiated from them proved infectious for all of us. Thus we were all deeply aware of God's presence, of His promise "I am the one who is here", and it proved to be a true spiritual being together for us, also thanks to the spiritual support by the Benedictine monks of the Dormition Abbey (with Father Jonas Trageser's sermon) and the musical assistance by our trusted and experienced Herr Erwin Meyer.
In their hearts and in their thoughts the sisters celebrating their anniversary felt their deep bonds with their very dear ones at home. Thanks to Father Cristian's spontaneous idea to make a recording of our service by video and to transmit it, we were able to cover the distance to the far-away friends and families at home.

So it turned out to be a JOYFUL FEAST, a day of faith, of our trust in God, and our gratitude for having been called by him. Looking at our photos you may discover these feelings reflected by the Borromean sisters - and we are very happy to share this joy of being in Christ's succession with you by some pictures of this festive day.


People who live on hope look further.
People who live on love look deeper.
People who live on faith see everything in a different light.
(Lothar Zenetti, quoted by Father Jonas Trageser in his sermon).
 
Our special thanks go to Father Andreas Fritsch FSO for the photos and to Father Cristian Vacaru for the video.
German Hospice St. Charles Jerusalem - Lloyd George Street 12, 91080 Jerusalem, Israel - Tel. 00972 2 5637737 - info@german-hospice.de