Sister Martina on Brazilian Catholic News site

Google translation: 

She was a teacher in Brazil, became a nun in Germany and evangelizes the world through the internet

By Natalia Zimbrão

09 Feb. 21 / 06:00 am (ACI) .- Sister Martina is a Brazilian Benedictine nun, from the Abbey of St. Walburga in Germany, and recently launched a series of videos on her Youtube channel, which can help many people overcome difficulties of the social isolation imposed by the pandemic.

The project has the support not only of its monastery sisters, but also of former students, who missed the classes of the then teacher Marta Braga, who taught in several Seminaries in Brazil, before entering monastic life.

In an interview with ACI Digital, Sr. Martina told how everything started, from her vocational calling to the realization of this project that features training videos in Portuguese, English and German.

Born in Rio de Janeiro, Marta Braga is the youngest of a Catholic family of 10 children. Her father was an engineer and, due to work, they also lived in Bahia and São Paulo. “Our life at home was full of cultural and religious activities and we have always been closely connected to the Monastery of São Bento do Rio [de Janeiro]”, she recalled.

As a teacher, she taught “in primary and secondary schools” and later did a PhD at the University of Navarra, Spain. Upon returning to Brazil, she taught Church History and Catholic Social Doctrine in Seminars and Theology courses in Petrópolis, Niterói, Nova Friburgo and Rio de Janeiro, in addition to giving lectures in other parts of the country.

“My life was very active and full of responsibilities, but God gave me the privilege to be able to take care of my old parents and to be surrounded by large families and excellent friends and students,” she recalled.

Throughout her life, she indicated Sr. Martina, the vocational call “was always there, in some way”. “My parents had a very solid and healthy Catholic faith, a faith that was deeply related to the cultural and intellectual world and to the love of others. In their arms I learned the heart of my religious life, ”she assured, stressing that she also had the help of“ priests, friends, retreats, readings, life of the sacrament and prayer, work with theology ”.

“But all this is never exaggerated; on the contrary, faith has always driven me to be more profoundly human and 'normal', so to speak. Even in the midst of many activities and trips and friendships, a voice always seemed to say that God had yet another plan for me. This plan He was showing little by little, without haste. This was not always easy, because of my own impulsiveness. But He knew everything and had his time, ”she said.

And that link between her and the São Bento Monastery also contributed to the decision to enter monastic life. “The image of the monks singing Gregorian has always attracted me for the peace, depth and stability of their life”, she said, highlighting that her “temperament” which also led her “towards a solid and experienced Catholic life, like the one I had lived in my family ”.

In addition, she indicated that "although I knew and learned a lot from several more modern Catholic movements, my love for history also made me look for something older, more proven by time".

Then, when she was studying in Europe, she started to visit monasteries, "taking advantage of the famous Benedictine hospitality that allowed me to pay for the stay with my work together with the Sisters".

On the other hand, a sister of hers who lives in the United States made contact with St. Walburga Abbey in Colorado, founded by German nuns. “And it was through this sister of mine that I visited my monastery here in Germany for the first time, thirteen years before I finally asked to enter, already at the age of forty!”, She recalled.

According to Sr. Martina, the German Abbey "has a history of almost a thousand years and precisely the solidity and experience I was looking for". "In addition to the typical silence and stillness of the monastic way, I also find here the link between faith, culture and intellectuality that for me has always been so essential".

And it is this “association between faith and culture” that makes the design of the training videos on YouTube “possible and recommendable”.

Sr. Martina admitted that she “misses teaching a lot”. In addition, she said, “living here in Germany, I miss doing something for Brazil, for my country and for the people I love so much”.

“All of this has now converged on this project, whose trigger was the situation of isolation that we all live because of the virus. I thought to myself that, in the enclosure, I don't feel much about the difficulties of social distance, but that I could, perhaps, take the time to do something that would help others to support it ”, said the nun, who had the support of“ many former students ”.

The objective, as he explained, "is very simple and modest: to announce, communicate and rejoice in the faith".

Initially, the idea was to record the videos only in Portuguese, “for Brazil”. However, as these "had some success", the sister of the nun who lives in the United States asked that she also record in English, "for her seven children and their families". They ended up “sending to friends and acquaintances” and now Sr. Martina has received feedback even from “friends in England”.

According to the nun, the two versions "already take a lot of time". However, the Abbey's chaplain suggested that she "also make a German version because the Church in Germany is materially rich, but unfortunately poor in doctrine and moral issues." Thus the German version was born, with the due approval of the abbess.

In the first series on “Freedom & Faith”, she addresses the “values ​​of monastic life that can also, with great benefit, be lived by people in the world”.

Later, she said, "other series will appear, but I still don't know what themes ... certainly something that has to do with my experience as a teacher".

According to her, “the videos will always be homemade and modest, made with the heart and without pretension of media professionalism. It is like a conversation between friends ”, indicated Sr. Martina, stressing that,“ although the circumstances of the enclosure and the time zone make it impossible for real video interaction ”, she has received“ feedback from people through e-mail and friendships are thus forming ”.

However, she stressed, the important thing is “that everything always remains humble and modest: something born from the heart and experience and submitted to the will and grace of God! He does all the rest ... ”, she concluded.

To watch Sr. Martina's videos, go HERE.

On Penance by Sister Martina OSB

The Beauty of Penance

Sr. Martina Braga OSB

Santa Teresa d'Ávila was a person of great penance. In her room - preserved until today at the Convent of San José, in Spain - we can see how she slept: on a little straw spread on the floor and with a piece of firewood for a pillow. A strong and determined woman, who argued with the Lord himself, Teresa did not spare herself when it came to sacrificing for the love of this same Lord and his brothers.

And yet, contrary to what is currently imagined about Christian asceticism, the life of the great saint is full of picturesque stories that show her solid common sense and her profound mental health. It is said, for example, that someone once donated a cut of good meat to the convent. It was Lent and Sister Cook was saddened:

“What a pity... we here eat so sparingly... it would do us good to have some splendid roast... But we had to receive the gift right now in Lent...”

"Cook it on Sunday," replied Mother Teresa. “Sundays are feast days, even in Lent!”

The obedient cook carefully prepared the meat and served it on a beautiful plate, surrounded by the best vegetables she could harvest in the garden. The simple joy of the Sisters - especially the youngest, whose hard work made them need better food - was enormous and the roast was eaten with gusto, amid big smiles.

What was not, however, the surprise of the Saint when she noticed that some of the older Sisters, making a face of superior disgust at what they considered a serious violation of the conventual discipline, refused to touch the meat, restricting their Sunday lunch to a few vegetables and giving the Superior looks of indignant disapproval.

Mother Teresa sighed, but instead of saying anything to them, she addressed the good cook serenely:

“Sister, this roast is so good that we will serve it once more. And I confess that it gives me pleasure to see that some of the venerable Sisters seem to dislike it... we will eat their part too! Our God is a God of joy, not of sadness.”

“God be praised!” chanted the young Sisters, and that was a memorable Lent Sunday, after which daily penance was fulfilled with even more love and zeal.

Today the practice of Christian penance is largely ignored or severely criticized. It is said to be unnatural, unhealthy, oppressive. We always see in films the figure of a monk who scourges himself or things like that and is the image of the obsessed and mentally disturbed person. Such was the case with Luther, as he himself tells us. Several times his wise superior in the Order of Augustinians ordered him to stop these practices, but he disobeyed, thinking that in this way he would achieve the peace of mind he sought so much.

Obviously, penance may have these characteristics, but this is the fault of the penitent and not of the Church, which advises, like the good Augustinian, something completely different. On the other hand, today's world knows and approves of other types, actually very acute, of penance... Let us think of the sacrifices that a professional sportsman makes, some of which mark his body for life. Or in useless and unhealthy sacrifices often made in search of pleasures. Or in the terrible sacrifices related to drugs and crimes...

What, then, is Christian penance really? The best comparison is perhaps that of two people who love each other. When that love is true, stable and profound, it knows sacrifices well... For those who love each other, however, these are seen as natural and unimportant. Waiting for each other, taking care of each other, being patient with each other's imperfections and needs, changing their own plans, renouncing comforts, providing joys and accepting difficulties for the love of each other, suffering together, being faithful even in disappointments and pains, are just a few examples. How many sacrifices does a good mother make, for example?

Christian penance is just like that: a sacrifice made out of love. One of the hallmarks of the great penitent saints is their profound kindness and radiant joy, as Mother Teresa of Calcutta shows us. Penance is born out of knowing that we are loved by God and of not measuring sacrifices to be closer to Him, to respond to His love and to bring Him to your brothers and sisters.

Penance is not the final goal but it is an essential part of the path to God. Why? There is no penance in Heaven... Penance is only necessary because of human sin. Jesus accepted and suffered death on the Cross, but it was not He who sought the Cross: it is we sinners who crucified him. Paradise, as God desired, has no evil or disease or tragedy or bitterness. It is the rupture of creation with its Creator that brings suffering, more than anything the suffering of the innocent, and yes, also the suffering of nature, if we can say so. Healthy penance, be it material - works of mercy - or spiritual - prayer, fasting - helps to restore this lost harmony.

God obviously does not need our penance. Penance comes from us, as a free and loving impulse, to make room in our lives for this harmony. The words of the Prophet Joel, quoted in Lent, remind us of this: ‘Rend your hearts, not your garments, and return to the Lord, your God. For he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting in punishment.’

It is not, therefore, a matter of measuring our sin in the balance of sacrifice. This is impossible and it is not what God asks of us. It is just a matter of making a small gesture that humbly opens our hearts to repentance and allows us to participate in the Redemption carried out by Our Lord.

Lenten penance therefore has nothing to do with exaggerated and obsessive sacrifices. These are useless and, deep down, self-centered. The sole purpose of penance is to lead us to God, who is all love and mercy. Penance should help us to turn our hearts to the Good, the Beauty, the Goodness of God and to leave aside our pride and selfishness. It is like a child who, with a kiss and a genuine tear, wins the heart of the parents. Let us listen to the prophet Isaias: ‘Is this the manner of fasting I would choose, a day to afflict oneself? To bow one’s head like a reed, and lie upon sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own flesh?'

In true penance, therefore, there is no sign of hypocrisy, as the story of St. Teresa shows us. It is the Lord Himself who teaches us: ‘When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to others to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.’

In this sense, it is easy to understand that the first and most valuable penance recommended by the Church is not that which we ourselves seek but that which we simply accept from the hands of God, when we cannot avoid it. What is the use of spending days on bread and water, if we remain in our laziness, selfishness and pride instead of practicing patience, righteousness, kindness and fidelity to the inevitable duties of everyday life? The primary meaning of penance is to recognize that we are sinners and that we need conversion. When we renounce small tastes and whims and healthily sacrifice our self-will, we make space in us for God and for others, we train our hearts in the practice of love and mercy and we recover the mental sanity of humility, which shows us that our self-sufiency is poor and ridiculous...

The Church recommends penance to us in general, and establishes minimum rules such as fasting and abstinence, but it does not go beyond that. The specific form of penance is up to our conscience and derives from our solid self-knowledge. For a person who talks a lot, penance can be moderating her desire to be the center of attention. For another, too timid, penance may take the form of an effort to participate more naturally in social life. People who know and love us can also help us with timely advice, so that we don't focus our efforts on useless or impossible things. Above all, it is necessary to keep in mind that everything that, in one way or another, makes us focus more on ourselves, in a proud and isolated way, can no longer be true Christian penance.

In this sense, it is clear that penance can never be seen as a kind of competition with ourselves. Quantity, time and even success do not matter at all. On the contrary, failure is, in itself, often the best penance. What matters is the sincerity of intention and of our love. Psalm 51 tells us: ‘For you do not desire sacrifice or I would give it; a burnt offering you would not accept. My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a contrite, humbled heart, O God, you will not scorn.’

Yet not only its ultimate goal - God's love - justifies penance. In itsmethod too, must good measure, which is also a sign of God's joy, be present. The great masters of Christian spirituality - like St. Francis de Sales - have lively and often amusing words about it. Let us look at some examples of their practical and very human recommendations:

- penance must be reasonable and realistic. Can a family mother commit herself to maintaining great silence? Or a person who works hard to sleep and eat minimally?

- penance should not be sentimental. Are we truthful and responsible if we decide to always say yes in any situation and to anyone?

- penance must be truthful and simple. Isn't it better to pray earnestly for fifteen minutes a day than to be on your knees for hours on end, asleep?

- penance must be concrete. Isn't a small gesture which corrects a real defect worthier than big dreams of heroic holiness?

- penance must be ours and not of others. Do we not always have the tendency to impose on others, out of vanity, jealousy or laziness, a part of our sacrifices? Or of wanting, with our supposed 'good example', to correct them instead of correcting ourselves?

- penance must always be subordinated to Christian values. The greatest sacrifice, if it leaves aside kindness, forgiveness, respect, prudence, freedom, humility, ceases to be a Christian attitude to become a mere product of our own human ideas. As Saint Paul tells us: ‘If I give away everything I own, and if I hand my body over so that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.’

All of these considerations run the risk, however, of making us dilute the value of penance. How many of us Christians today spend our lives without giving much importance to the practice of penance or reducing it to our Lent, just as an uncomfortable way of following pre-established customs. Penance - also called mortification - corresponds to a fundamental element of our Christian faith, as stated above. Without it, without this concrete and humble effort to leave our own comfort in order to draw closer to God and our brothers and sisters, Christian virtues are simply impossible.

It is necessary to understand and live the true balance of the saints. They remind us that this is only possible in a personal relationship with God. He created us, knows us, sees us and calls us. It is not about understanding an idea, or a philosophy, or a theory, or an energy. God is a Person, with whom we can and must relate personally, intimately, heart to heart. For this reason, before everything else, Christian life - and with it true penance - is grounded and nourished by prayer.

The time of Lent is a reminder, a special time of grace and, therefore, of joy and peace. Most of all, it is a time of hope, it is a precious opportunity to return to God, like the prodigal son, firm in our repentance but sure that He welcomes us with open arms and waits for us at the road. Penance is the first step, it is to let go of our attachment to our pride, it is to get up and set out on our way.

Let us listen to what the Holy Father tells us: ‘Ashes are thus a reminder of the direction of our existence: a passage from dust to life. We are dust, earth, clay, but if we allow ourselves to be shaped by the hands of God, we become something wondrous. More often than not, though, especially at times of difficulty and loneliness, we only see our dust! But the Lord encourages us: in his eyes, our littleness is of infinite value. So let us take heart: we were born to be loved; we were born to be children of God.’

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Article written by my sister, Sr. Martina OSB

Essential Decisions

Sr. Martina Braga OSB

____________________________________

The liturgical time of Christmas - which we celebrate during two or three weeks until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord - makes us contemplate in detail the beginning of Jesus' life here on earth. Year after year, we recall the Announcement, the visit to Elizabeth, the angel who speaks to Joseph in dreams, the stable in Bethlehem, the Magi from the East, the escape into Egypt... The Old and New Testament readings speak of prophecies and narratives we have known since childhood. We know exactly what will happen. Our Lady will say yes, St. Joseph will follow the angel's instructions, the shepherds will visit the newborn Baby, the Magi will bring gold, incense and myrrh. And so on.

This recollection of well-known episodes is meant to help us meditate more profoundly on the mystery of God made flesh in order to love Him more and better. And yet, even celebrating these feasts with devotion and faith, we are in danger of taking these facts for granted. It is as if Mary and Joseph, Elizabeth, the shepherds, Herod, and the Magi were part of a theater play, with determined roles, just as we arrange the nativity figures, each in its own place... So often we forget that these figures represent real people with full freedom and reason that could, if they wished, have chosen different paths.

Let us use our fantasy for a moment, with the reverence the subject demands but with the realism and trust of the children of God. Let us imagine that Our Lady, having listened to the angel, gave an answer rather like, 'I need some time to think...' or: 'No, this is too great a thing for me...' or still: 'I want to know the details, what will happen, what I will have to do...' Although conceived without original sin, Mary retained her freedom and could have doubted, rejected, or disregarded the will of God... What would have been of us, as Saint Bernard asks, if she had done so?

Let us consider Joseph. Let us fancy that, on hearing the angel's explanation, he hesitated, and instead of taking Mary as his wife, he decided that it was less risky to wait until the child was born… Or that he rebelled against the order to bring the family to Bethlehem and was eventually arrested by the Romans... Or that he did not believe in Herod's threat and did not flee into Egypt...

Let us think on the shepherds, exhausted from their work, seeking a deserved rest in the cold night. It would be no wonder if, after seeing the choir of angels, they eventually went back to sleep. And who could accuse the Magi if they had got discouraged from looking for the star and stayed in Jerusalem, confused and disappointed? Or old Simeon, if he had given up hope of still seeing the Messiah in his lifetime...?

These conjectures seem absurd to us. We know that it was not so! Yet all of this could well have happened... These historical characters were human beings in everything just like us, with their difficulties, limitations, weaknesses and - with the exception of Our Lady - with their sins. God, in His infinite kindness, almost with humor, wanted to ask and depend on their answer to carry out His plan...

What determines the magnificent worth of these people in Sacred History is therefore not, as we often think, a kind of naïve inertia in the face of divine arbitrariness. No, quite the contrary, each one of them was individually called and invited by God to fulfill their own role in the salvation of humanity. Their holiness consists precisely in having freely and willingly accepted, despite all their flaws and doubts, this trust from God...

At the beginning of each new year the same question presents itself in some way to our consciences. What should I do with my life, under the circumstances that surround me? God is never absent. He still calls us personally to become what He desires for us. To follow Him, even in obscurity and humility, as Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. To say our fiat to His will, even when it disagrees with our own. To trust ultimately in His Word and in His Love. This is the great decision of our lives... This is what can change history, ours and that of others.

St. Augustine said that all that is good, beautiful and just in this world is built upon our personal choice to love God to the point, if necessary, of forgetting ourselves. On the contrary, he asserted, evil is brought into the world by egotistical self-love, by our pride, which reaches the absurdity of forgetting God.

These terms sound perhaps too harsh. St. Augustine was a sinner like us; he knew well how difficult life is, and certainly did not condemn the healthy love of oneself--which is reflection of God's love for us, and necessary for us to love our neighbor. What did he mean then? Simply that true love implies a full, mature self-giving. 'Love and do what you wish', he wrote, because in true love - in the charity that comes from God and reflects itself in the love of neighbor - all the virtues are already contained.

St. Paul also warns us firmly: without this love, without this charity, strictly speaking, nothing that we do has any value. It is this love that moves the saints. Not a fickle feeling, supported by tastes and temperaments, irrational, enthusiastic today, depressed tomorrow. It is a free, firm and persevering disposition of our will. A love that is capable of giving even to enemies and surviving the harshest disappointments. A love that is the picture of the love that Jesus had for us.

Let us go back to the Christmas story. Mary's response to the angel was perfectly conscious, as Pope Benedict XVI tells us in his book about Jesus's childhood. Mary is surprised, she wonders, and then accepts, with the full agreement of her reason and her will. Joseph does not act irrationally either. At all times it is necessary for him to use his discernment, from his reaction to the bride who expects a child, up to finding lodging in Bethlehem, giving the Son of God His name, settling in Galilee and not in Judea upon returning from Egypt, and so forth. The same can be said of the shepherds, the Magi and other characters. They seek, they listen, they think, they act. They are fully human, also in their perplexities, fears and weaknesses.

What distinguishes them from us, perhaps, is the humble readiness of their response. When they realize God's will, even if they do not understand it entirely, they do not hesitate. They overcome their doubts and apprehensions and have the courage to go ahead. The virtues of faith and hope play a fundamental role here - without them, these people could not walk towards an unknown, certainly demanding and uncomfortable, future. But above all, it is the love of God that leads them to this readiness of self-giving. Once all is considered, only love has the strength to make the decision and take the step forward.

The great English martyr, St. Thomas More, is said to have been visited by his eldest daughter in prison while awaiting his execution. More was chancellor of the kingdom, the father of a large family, a man of first social importance and one of the most brilliant minds in the Europe of his time. He was imprisoned for refusing to accept the self-proclamation of the king - his former friend - as head of the church in England. His daughter, who loved him very dearly, tried to convince him to give in to the pressures of politics and used for this purpose the best intellectual arguments. In a memorable scene from the spectacular movie, 'A Man for All Seasons', we see More embracing his daughter fondly and explaining sweetly to her: 'Your arguments are bright and intelligent... but don't you see? Deep down, this is a matter of love... I love the Lord Jesus and I cannot betray Him...'

Gustavo Corção, a Catholic writer who came back into the Catholic Church in his forties, describes his response to faith like this: 'God calls us and helps us, but suddenly we are in an unprecedented situation, because it is up to us to answer. One can almost say that in this incredible moment there is a silence from God. All the saints keep still... We are suddenly alone and free... And we need to do just a little act, a gesture of love, a tiny thing that has the capacity to fill a silence of God.'

The Christmas story, we realize, is at heart a love story... And what about us? What is our answer? Do we have the desire and patience to seek and hear the voice of God that speaks to our hearts? Through the sacraments and prayer, above all, but also through the most ordinary events, through the people around us, through good readings and good advice? When we clearly understand what God expects from us, do we have the courage to say our fiat, even if it means changing our own plans?

Often what hinders us on this path is the misconception that God speaks only through sensational events... Could God be actually speaking to me, a sinner, two thousand years after His birth, in the midst of this modern and frenetic life, in my work, my family or my circle of friends? And yet… were the circumstances much different when God spoke to Mary and Joseph? How hard it must have been for them to believe that the Almighty was addressing them, poor and hard-working people of a modest life of a village lost in the confines of the Roman Empire...? Or the Magi, for that matter, how did thy find time to hear the voice of God amidst their riches and studies? And what about the shepherds, exhausted from their work?

At other times we think that God's will must necessarily be presented to us in some complete and finished plan, in order that we can follow it. And again... did Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, and the Magi have any idea of what would happen? When old Simeon foretold Mary's future suffering, she was certainly astonished... And Joseph would not even be present on Calvary, by the Cross of the Son he cared for with so much love…

Let us ponder our resolutions for the New Year. It is unlikely that God will ask us for fantastic deeds or great pious adventures. The truth is probably that He will ask us the same thing He already asks: patience and faithfulness in everyday life. That sounds banal, trivial, even dull. And yet it is wonderfully heroic, beautiful and joyful… St. Josemaría Escrivá used to say that the secret of happiness is to live the extraordinary as if it were ordinary and the ordinary as if it were extraordinary.

This is exactly what Mary and Joseph did. There can be nothing more uncomfortable than a stable, nothing more common than a young woman who cradles her newborn child, nothing more ordinary than simple shepherds walking in the middle of the night. To them, who lived these scenes, that all might have seemed an anticlimax... The Messiah awaited for centuries, the King of Kings, Lord of Lords, born in this way...? Can this simple child, even poorer than other children, be the Son of God...? The faith that the nativity characters teach us is robust and solid. They stand firm and fulfill their roles humbly and lovingly. What is actually requested of Mary, the great Mother of God? Just that she takes care of her Son, no more than that... And that's everything.

The English theologian, Cardinal John Henry Newman, recently canonized by Pope Francis, emphasized much this simplicity of soul that leads us to see the things of God in the most commonplace human realities. A man in his mature years and of enormous intellectual fame, he converted to Catholicism and lived the rest of his days as a modest Catholic priest - he never became a bishop and received the honorary title of cardinal already in his old age. When asked how he could settle for so little and distinguish what God wanted from his life, he would reply: 'I do not ask the Lord to show me all the way, but only the next step. Only He can glimpse the complete landscape of my life." Newman died in that same obscure humility, yet no figure has been more important than his to the renewal of English Catholicism in the last two centuries.

This is usually how God shows us His will: He indicates only the next step. If our days change from being a feverish huddle of activity to becoming a unique chance to do what God wants from us, then even the smallest things will turn into wonderful feats of love and joy... We cannot escape the difficulties of life but we can, with the serenity and strength we find in prayer, face them as Mary and Joseph did.

It is up to us to take the next step, here and now, trusting in God's plans. That is the essential. Everything else is relative, comes by addition. By a curious paradox determined by God Himself, great things always start small. It is the leaven of the dough, as in the parable. No plan, however good, can be realized without painstaking care for the small details. It is no wonder that truly beneficial and successful projects such as the Christian-oriented Alcoholics Anonymous are based on a motto such as 'just for today'. No wonder Santa Teresa of Calcutta, when asked how she could help so many people, replied: 'I can't... I can only help this person who is now in front of me.'

Whether the New Year will bring us - as we always wish - success, achievements and health, we do not know. We do not even know if we will be here to see its end. Everything is in God's hands. Still, if we do our best to respond with joy and love to what the Lord asks of us - from a good word, a humble attitude, a willingness to forgive and listen to others, up to the courage to reject sin and to do right - then the year will have been enormously profitable. And instead of the bitter taste of lost opportunities and wasted love, we will feel the infinite joy that burns in the heart of those who humbly, like Mary and Joseph, say yes to God…

Saint Martin of Lima Feast Day

To celebrate the dear and humble saint's feast day, I collected memories, social media posts, and restored a lovely image I found. Both Sister Martina and Number Seven have chosen this South American saint as their patron! Santo Martinho de Lima, ora pro nobis!

Living among the lepers in Zimbabwe

My sister Sr Martina just sent this...

https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/this-secular-franciscan-lived-among-lepers-could-he-become-zimbabwes-first-saint-72723

More photos from Sister Martina's Perpetual Vows

These are official photos she just sent!

Our oldest brother Pedro (her godfather) was lector

The wedding ring was Father's! It has Mother's name engraved inside...

Sister Martina’s perpetual vows

Husband is in Germany and sent these just now! We were are so happy he is able to be there for this beautiful occasion!

Religious Profession

My sister's Final Profession is approaching... Husband will be able to be there! I sent a beautiful card I bought at the Monastery gift shop. 

Sister Martina's Perpetual Vows Invitation

I helped her with the Portuguese version, then did an English version as well!

Sister Martina OSB in Brazil

A fuzzy but wonderful photo of my oldest brother Pedro and his goddaughter! And another one a bit better! They are twenty years apart and I am smack in the middle age-wise, as I am ten years younger than him and ten years older than her. She is on a quick visit as she needs to renew her German visa. My dear and handsome brother Pedro is a faithful husband and loving father and grandfather of two boys, and I always tell my kids what a kind big brother he was. He is the one who, with his wife Teresa, gave us the example of praying at the Marian altar after mass... our own Number Six, his goddaughter, grew up with this most loving devotion. God has so blessed him to have two goddaughters who choose the religious life! 

The new Abbess!

Sister Martina OSB sent the video link early this morning... I just finished enjoying it! Don’t miss the Sicut Cervus (1:26) and the Sanctus... and so much more!
May the new abbess have health and peace for many years to come!

From Sister Martina OSB: personal accounts of the arrival of the new abbess!

Sister gave me permission to post them here! She has been sending these to family and friends. 

Grüβ Gott !yesterday was a full and happy day here. Due to some strike in the airports of Frankfurt and Munich our poor new Abbess, who was flying from Washington, had to change her flight many times. We were finally waiting her to come over Vienna and to arrive at around 10 in Munich. What was not our surprise to wake at 4.30 in the morning with the manly voice of our Chaplain calling the Prioress from outside and telling her that Mother Hildegard had had a last change with Lufthansa in the middle of the night… and since it was too late to email us, she wrote him. So he came to tell us that she would be in Munich already at 7.30… He celebrated Mass without any singing and there they went to the airport, in the monastery's very old car, he, the Prioress and another Sister. We went on with our normal prayers and work until news came that the travelers were already near Eichstätt. Laughing and talking and the bells ringing, ahah. We opened the big gate, always closed, and from the car came our hugely tall new Abbess, very American and tired, but smiling and hugging each Sister, from the oldest to the youngest. Then breakfast and more laughing and talking, although in German style, ohoh. At noon prayer I came late and was happy not to see the Abbess there yet, when I remembered that she was still sitting at a back bench, aiai…. In the afternoon came our good young Bishop and there was a simple and really nice ceremony: she received her officially as Bishop and gave her the official Letter of the Diocese in the name of the Pope and her pectoral cross - the same one used by old Abbess who lived in America many years (because the Gestapo had threatened her with prison, since she refused to make the children say Heil Hitler in the school here). She had to solemnly proclaim the Credo and then we went in procession to the Chapel where her chair was nicely decorated with flowers. Each Sister then must come and put the hands into her hand and promise her obedience: she in turn hugged again each Sister, which for the Germans is a great surprise! After that Vesper and a Bavarian dinner, ah. I served table with another Sister and we printed a sweet St Walburga that my sister Ana made for children, added the Bavarian and American flags and a Welcome and pinned it to our habits. Everybody laughed. Poor Mother Hildegard is now resting with her jet leg and we are happy with a Mother again, who seems modest and nice and motherly, besides being, as we knew, an excellent nun…. Much love,M

First days with our new American Abbess are really funny and nice. She is almost 2 meters tall, but sweet and quiet and modest, so much so that we must make an effort to remember she is actually the Abbess already and for example stand up when she enters! The first days are clearly a shock to her and she herself says how it seems that she is seeing herself in a film, receiving the Mayor, sitting in the middle of us all in the chapel, going around a thousand year old monastery, getting used to the fact that the Germans do not laugh and hug much and etc. Although she knows Germany and us well, she comes directly from the desert in Colorado and yesterday, for example, all German Sisters were totally astonished to hear that they have over there 3 dogs and one of them, almost as big as a pony, actually slept in her room sometimes! We all exchange the 'news' when we meet each other, also our dear employees, and the stories of the new Abbess run wide already. As she went yesterday on foot, very simply, to the City Hall in order to get her simple VISA documents, the young Mayor was there himself to attend her and she says: I needed time to understand that he was there for me! She seems immune to power, and asks our Prioress for instructions in everything, in order not to impose any new thing, she says. After dinner, for example, she looks at our Prioress, who whispers: 'Now recreation...' and she says then aloud, with her American accent: Jetzt rekreation! And we all laugh. At the Chapel, she looks from her chair to the Prioress who then comes and tells her the mistakes she does in the prayers. A real nice person and I told her already - who indirectly knows my sister Ana in the US - how happy I am to have such fresh air! Our old dear Abbess comes back on Sunday and just the meeting will be already fun: one almost 2 m, the other 1,50 m tall...... As for the rest, work and work and work for the consecration at the end of February. Almost all Abbots and Abbess and Bishops from Bavari are invited and so many other people. Her coat of arms is also typical of her fun ways: an Oak, since, she says she was born in Oak City, her name in Czech means 'little Oak' and Eichstätt mean 'Oak town'....   

Much love,

M

LAST CHAPTER        

Dear Friends and Family,

just to send you the last 'happy end' photo of our 'new Abbess adventure'. Beloved Mother Franziska is back, refreshed and even more full of humour: vacations did her much good. After 34 years, it's still very strange to see her a simple Sister, without her pectoral cross, in a common place in the Chapel, and also not to stand up when she enters and seeing her standing up for a much younger Abbess. At table both Abbesses sit together and many times both forget their new roles, we laugh all the time. They could not be more different: one a young, tall, practical, laughing and very simple and nice American; the other an old, short, intellectual, severe and much more emotional German… Perhaps because of this - and because of their old friendship - they complement each other so well. Both are to each other attentive, respectful and daughterly-motherly kind: a joy to see. These are really happy times for us here and all around, from the children at school to the Mayor, from the many newspaper interviews and articles to the guests and friends, all tell us that this peaceful and loving atmosphere does them good: a continuation of important things with a fresh change in small things. I, for my part, could not be happier: the balanced and loving mixture of European tradition and American pragmatism is for me, personally, a blessing...

Much love to all!