Mechernich – On Tuesday evening, the Ordo Communionis in Christo celebrated the feast day and early birthday of its foundress Mother Marie Therese († 11 April 1994 in Mechernich), born Josephina Theresia Linssen on 21 March 1927 in Oud-Valkenburg, Valkenburg aan de Geul, with a Holy Mass in the house chapel and a dinner in the refectory.
The main celebrant was the Ugandan priest Patrick Mwanguhya (37). The sermon about the foundress and her patron saint, St Joseph, the "silent but reliable man from the second row, who ponders and doubts, but in the end does the right thing, namely what God expects of him", was given by Deacon Manfred Lang, the deputy of the Superior General of the Communio, Jaison Thazhathil.
He recalled an earlier sermon by Communio spiritual director Padre Rudolf Ammann, in which he brought "the construction company "Joseph & Son" from Nazareth" to life before the eyes of his listeners, in which the "carpenter Jesus initially assisted his father and the other men from the construction site until he was 30 years old as an inconspicuous craftsman in Nazareth and the surrounding area - quietly, diligently and reliably like his father and teacher."
„A father who forgives everything“
In his parable of the merciful father, Jesus presumably outlined the image of the father that he had seen and experienced in St Joseph: "An irrepressibly loving father who is willing and able to forgive everything." This was also the image of God that the founder, Josephina Theresia Linssen, "inherited from her patron saint and found confirmed in her mystical encounter with God".
Starting from the builder from Nazareth, she located the place where God can be found, at the cross, not "with those in the robes of the high priests and Levites, but with those in work overalls, who drag heavy stones and beams and build houses where there was previously bare ground and in which people can then live in dignity."
The deacon, who is an editor in his civil profession, explained where Mother Marie Therese drew her strength and inspiration from to create care facilities in Mechernich and Blankenheim "that express God's love for those who are seriously ill and disabled".
Lang also quoted Mechernich's mayor Dr Hans-Peter Schick, who had called in his New Year's address: "We must defend ourselves!" By this he also meant the defence of Christian and humanist values both internally and externally, "instead of standing idly by and watching them being undermined and replaced by arbitrariness and violence".
„Fighting back creates satisfaction“
This is understandable and he is fully on Schick's side, says Manfred Lang: "And that helps and it creates satisfaction and sometimes satisfaction too." But in her reflections, Mother Therese also wants to help people "to recognise the meaning of suffering, to accept their own suffering and to unite it with the suffering of Christ", says the deacon in his civilian profession: her answer is "truly and unheard of - and one hardly dares to use this word anymore: Love".
"It is not the answer to Putin. Nor was it the answer to Hitler, Stalin, Herod and Attila. Work and defence helped the threatened peoples," said the Deputy Superior General: "But love nevertheless remains the answer to many questions of meaning - and a useful guideline for a successful human life.
At the subsequent dinner in the refectory, which Sister Theresia had prepared, Superior General Jaison Thazhathil was delighted with the many guests celebrating feasts and birthdays. He also expressed his regret that Sister Flora, a long-standing member of the Mechernich community, will be leaving the community to work in a new house of the Samaritan Sisters on Lake Constance.
pp/Agentur ProfiPress
