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Author Archives: Christian

Expanding Salvatorian Family commission meeting

The members of the Commission “Expanding of the Salvatorian Family” met this week in Rome at the Mother House of the Salvatorian Society. On the agenda was the preparation of a proposal for the upcoming General Chapters and the General Assembly. The topic is to find out a possible structure and/or criteria to implement also other types of groups that want to commit themselves to the Salvatorian vision of Blessed Francis Jordan. At this meeting also the leaders of the current three Salvatorian branches shared time with the commission to see how the work develops and give one or another input or remark.
Of course, furthermore, this meeting gave the opportunity for informal meetings to the representatives of the Generalates and some persons from several units.

ICDS Receives recognition from the Dicastery

Dear Salvatorian sisters and brothers,

We have reached a point after a long journey, or better said a very interesting journey, full of many ups and downs, with times not knowing how this journey will turn out, times of rejection and being sent back to the start again, and times of frustration and doubts. But there were also times filled with great moments of joy, new encouragement, and fresh enthusiasm – and the finest moment has reached us now at last. Our many prayers and thoughts, full of confidence and trust placed in God’s loving hands, have borne fruit and led us to the goal.

The Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family, and Life, has approved the draft of our statutes and grants recognition to the Community of the Divine Savior as an International Private Association of the Faithful, dotted with juridical personality in Canon Law.

We bring you this joyful news full of humility and gratitude. Our very special thanks go first to Blessed Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan and Blessed Mary of the Apostles, our spiritual leaders, and visionaries who have interceded for us. And then, of course, to all sisters and brothers, of the General Committee, of the leadership teams in the units, and all the other members of the Salvatorian Family, friends, and families who have supported us with their thoughts, ideas, visions, prayers, and encouragement. Without all your efforts, this moment would not have been possible. A big thank you and a bow to you all!

We are aware that this event will start a process of acceptance within your unit. We are also aware that some of you would have expected some different content in the document. Be assured that our greatest effort, carried with much patience, has guided us to this result. It was a huge learning curve for all involved and required common structures to become an internationally recognized association.

Let’s enjoy and be proud of the “common house” ICDS we now have. Now it’s up to us how cozy and friendly we make the “inside and our rooms”. Let us fill this house, the International Community of the Divine Savior, with life and joy. May the Holy Spirit be always present in it.

Yours very truly,

The General Committee of the ICDS

On the common path …

A group of the Lay Salvatorians in Austria met last Saturday for a spiritual walk through the landscape in the northeast of Austria. The start and endpoint was the little local church of Gaubitsch, the eldest in the surrounding with roots back to 1055.
With a prayer and a song, we started our walk. Seven stations invited us with text from the Holy Scripture to reflect a little bit on our personal path in life. The walk was a wonderful recreation after the last years affected by the CoVid-pandemic. Even if not all exchanges we can describe as “Holy words” there was to feel the Holy Spirit as a companion and opened again our common engagement in the Lay Salvatorian community. In our thought and prayers, we tried to take all the members of the Salvatorian family with us in this way and express our unity.
With thankfulness, we will think about this day for a long time, and may it inspire our acting in the coming future.

PS: We would appreciate reading about similar actions from other units because we recognized during the walking on our path that the communication between us in the international community needs an improvement again. So maybe you can see these lines as an invitation … Your comments and ideas are very welcome …

 

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Annual retreat in Congo 2022

Last weekend, the lay Salvatorians in Congo gathered for a retreat. The theme was an overview of Salvatorian Spirituality, Charism, Identity as Lay Salvatorians, and Salvatorian Mission. For those who are interested, the presentation in French used for this purpose is available in the ICDS-Forum.
Fr. ANDRÉ KONGOLO preached on the theme, “the lay Salvatorian facing his promises”. Deogratias Kitoko, the unit coordinator, wrote, that it was a good and inspiring meeting.

April 22: Earth day 2022

Despite the awareness that we have many seemingly more important problems, we must not ignore this year’s Earth Day. The importance of this day is also repeatedly underlined by Pope Francis, because whoever does not respect and persecute creation, also does not persecute and respect God. Even if the reading of the encyclical “Laudato si’ ” may be difficult for some, it is still important to deal with it, because we only have this one world and must also keep it habitable for future generations.

Reflecting on Earth Day, Cardinal Michael Czerny explains why the Church and Pope Francis care so greatly about the Earth, and laments “menacing failures” which make action to protect the environment “urgent.” See here the full article.

As Salvatorians, we have committed ourselves in the Salvatorian Charter to protect life as such and to work to make life abundant for all creatures. May this day always be a small reminder to us.

 

Easter message – Mensaje de Pascua 2022

The Lord has risen – The Lord is risen indeed …

The women brought the Good News to the disciples and followers of Jesus after they found the empty tomb. Click on the picture below to become guided to our special easter page.

Las mujeres llevaron la Buena Nueva a los discípulos y seguidores de Jesús después de encontrar la tumba vacía. Haga clic en la foto de abajo para ser guiado a nuestra página especial de Pascua.

 

O Lord,
Risen, alive, and full of grace.
You paid such a price that we may live in freedom today.
We worship your holy name and give thanks for your redeeming grace.

Heavenly Father,
May we drink in your tender love so that we can pour this love out to others.
Come reign in our hearts, minds, and spirits.

Holy Spirit,
We welcome you to blow through our every word, action and thought.
Come transform us on the inside so that each day we become more like our risen Lord.

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We want to invite you to read our thoughts after the Gospel of John 20,1-9 (20,1-18). We think they are very actual according to the unfortunately dark situation of our world today.
 
Queremos invitarte a leer nuestras reflexiones tras el Evangelio de Juan 20,1-9 (20,1-18). Creemos que son muy actuales de acuerdo con la situación desgraciadamente oscura de nuestro mundo actual.

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Aid support for Ukraine refugees by Salvatorians in Poland

We all know the heartbreaking images from the war in Ukraine. Most of the refugees or displaced persons went or are still going to Poland. The Lay Salvatorians and the Salvatorian sisters have established some aid support for these people and we have asked Sylwia Tempel a Lay Salvatorian from Poland to share some pieces of information about these aid initiatives with us:

 

On March 24th the Salvatorian Sisters at the provincial house received 8 refugees from Kharkov – parents with 5 children and one older woman. The building has been renovated and refurnished before the crisis, so the Sisters have dedicated it to the residential needs of refugees. Sister Adriana Kieloch SDS has been serving as a translator at the local administration level. Sister Adriana spent 14 years in Ukraine and understands not only the language but also the people. She serves at the municipal social service agency in helping refugees legally register their presence so that they can obtain proper identification as well as rights to employment, insurance benefits, and child support. Sister Adriana explained to me that it takes 30 minutes to register a single refugee. Photographs of the provincial house welcome can be found at the following link: Continue Reading

A new video on YouTube from the GC

Anne Cullender, our General secretary is now talking about the Salvatorian Universality & Mission and how we can interpret or see it today and use it as a creative tool for evangelization. The video is also available with French and German subtitles.

 

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Against each kind of war …

Maybe it’s not the right frame here for that but in light of the escalating current violence in Eastern Europe but also aware of the many small and bigger armed conflicts around our world with devastating effects on people and the environment, I would like to share this music video. It is intended to be thought-provoking and to invite a subsequent short prayer of one’s own choice for peace. War has always been the worst solution to any problem, and it usually leads to others. Actually, we should have learned that by now in our thousands of years of human history …
Let’s put down our weapons and let’s find better solutions in common for the future.