Prayer and Evangelization

Pray every morning

Every morning, the Church asks that we start prayers with Psalm 95, which asks of us this question: “Today, will you listen to Lord’s voice? Do not harden your hearts as you did at Meriba, or as on the day of Massa in the desert, where your fathers tested me, tempted me, while they saw how I was acting.” (Psalm 95, 7-9)All the faithful of Israel dream of dying while saying this prayer to the Lord: “Listen Israel, the Lord your God is the one and only YHWH.” (Dt. 6.4) The Christian prayer, and Israel’s, consist above all in listening to the voice of the Lord. As Saint John says in the prologue to his gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1,1) Our common prayer takes its root, its foundation in the fact that God is the Word, in continuous dialogue with us. Yes, prayer is first and foremost listening to the word which God continually pronounces within our lives. We would say today that prayer is a reiteration of the human existence made by the words of God.And if we dare to say our own words in our prayers, we are saying nothing other than the words which God puts on our lips, in our mouths, and which express completely our human experience as do the psalms.Paul the apostle affirms that “Faith is born of what we hear said, and what we hear is the very Word of Christ.” (Romans 10,17) This word is at the source of our announcement to the whole of humanity. Saint Paul had asked himself “how to believe before hearing, and how to without someone who proclaims” (Romans 10,14). Therefore we only say again, repeating the words which we have ourselves heard, pronounced to us by Jesus Christ. It is the Word of God addressed to us which becomes the Good News for people who listen to us. Never as much as today have men and women needed such a word, beautiful, strong and certain, coming from God, and which Christians can pronounce. Yes, the announcement has for content and method, the very words of Jesus Christ.

Nico

Nico living in Colombes

To Pray as one breathes

Trust in the Lord

There are places where the Spirit breathes, but there is a Spirit which breathes in every place.

There are people whom God takes and sets apart.

There are others he leaves in the throng, whom he does not “withdraw from the world”.

It is these people who do an ordinary job, who have an ordinary home, or are ordinary bachelors. People who have ordinary illnesses, ordinary bereavements. People who have an ordinary house, ordinary clothes. People with ordinary lives. People one meets in any street.

They like their door which opens onto the street, as their invisible brothers in the world like the door which firmly closes behind them.

We others, people of the street, believe with all our hearts, that these streets, that this world in which God has put us, is all for us, the place of our sainthood.

We believe that we are missing nothing which is needed, for, if we needed anything, God would have already given it to us.

Madeleine Delbrêl “We others, street people” Page 67 french edition.

Madeleine Delbrel in Ivry

Praying with our friends of the streetsIt is surely a wager of Evangelization that the brothers on the streets will meet; but it is the Lord who acts.

On Gill’s death, his friends met, and, wanting a memorial for him, bought a tree which they planted in the of the presbytery. A year later, one of his friends came to the tree to reflect: it is the star of hope which shines in his heart.

Every Sunday, at 5 o’clock, we share some time together: readings from the Gospels, testimonials ... then we have a meal prepared by well-wishers, we read a passage from the Gospels. This meal maintains our friendship and introduces us to our common prayer before the Holy Sacrament in order to leave our troubles in the hands of the Lord.

Brothers who left us years ago reappear when they have family problems or ill-health so that they can ask for Heaven’s help, having been consoled by words from the bible.

At Betharram near Lourdes we met two of our brothers who have become monks. During the pilgrimages of “Eau Vive”, the Lord sometimes acts in unforeseen ways: two of the pilgrims, inveterate drinkers, instantly became sober and faithful to their resolutions, with God’s grace.Raymonde

Brothers of the street at their meeting point

News of the MOPP

Japan: Tokorozawa – weep with those who weepI write these few lines as the situation with the nuclear plant at Fukushima is still critical. A month before all these disasters changed the lives of the Japanese, the smile in the closed eyes of Gento suggested to us the form which Evangelical hope must take, now more than ever, to sustain us in these uncertain times.It is true that the power of the earthquake, and of the tsunami has annihilated so many people by destroying an entire region, but we are becoming conscious that the destructive capacity of which man is capable is infinitely great, since it affects all people, wherever we are, and for many years. May the hope of this little girl, who enlightens and gladdens our days, give back their souls to the Japanese and to all those whose hearts have been devastated by another, invisible tsunami, oh! So much more destructive: the one of despair.

I would now like to relate three little episodes which have made me experience how very small children, but also older people, and above all fishermen know how to welcome the Word of salvation, in this Japan where I have lived for 26 years.

Each month, I visit a school for little children to talk about Jesus to fifty or so young children between four and five years old who are not Christians. With the help of hand-drawn cartoons, I tell them a parable, or an episode from the life of Jesus. While I am talking to them, all these children keep still, holding their breaths, since they are “all eyes and ears”. Often, I hear them say: “It’s finished already!”. Then I ask them,” Do you have any questions?” And nearly all of them raise their hands. And with tiny, almost incomprehensible voices, but always fearlessly, they habitually ask questions which grown-ups do not. For example, “But why does Jesus pray? Why does he forgive? Why was he killed, He who was so good?”. At the end of the meeting, I am almost submerged because they run after me to touch me, to shake my hand and to show their happiness because they have heard in the evangelical story how much the Lord loves them.

Here is another episode where I noted the great force of attraction of the Word of the Lord. It was last year: Yuri, a young non-Christian girl who had participated in group listening to the Word at Ropponghi, a large centre in Tokyo, famous for its discotheques, phoned me to tell me that her brother Masaki, who is 33 and works at a big publishers, wanted to talk to me. I told him that we could see each other at the next meeting of The Word which mainly non-Christians attend. He therefore came with his sister, and at the end of the meeting, whilst drinking tea he said, “I would like to be baptised”. Usually, I don’t baptise anybody; when somebody asks to be baptised, I introduce them to the nearest parish. I was taken by surprise, and this being the eve of my departure for Italy, we could meet on my return. But he replied that he wanted to be baptised as soon as possible because he had

leukaemia and did not think he had many days left to live. The parish priest at my parish suggested that we baptise him at our house. So, with the help of a few friends who had become Christians in the last few years, we prepared a good Japanese meal while Masaki and Yuri carefully prepared the ceremony.During the afternoon of the third Sunday in July, Masaki visibly emotional, was baptised in our house, surrounded by his parents, his sister Yuri and ten or so young Christians. After the baptismal ceremony, during the meal Masaki, with a smile on his lips, confided, “Now, I am ready! If the Lord of life wants to give me a few more years, I thank him. If he wants me quickly, I am ready”.The last episode where I touched with my own hands the Word of the Lord – it was among prisoners and those condemned to

death, which in Japan, number 110. Providence brought me into contact with Masayoshi, a man of 33 years condemned to death for killing 4 people when he was still only 17. After a few years in prison Masayoshi began to read the Gospel and was thunderstruck by the face of Jesus. He asked to be prepared for baptism, was baptised and became, in prison, a little Saint Paul who evangelised not only his prison companions, but also, by means of his many letters, other people who were not prisoners. One amongst all these prisoners who met the Lord thanks to the actions of Masayoshi was called Hiroyoshi. Condemned to death and executed three years ago, Hiroyoshi, before he was hanged (the death sentence in Japan is carried out by hanging), was baptised and wrote his testament. His

Giuliano in the Shirako monastery during his retreat

testament is a little two-page letter which he wrote to his mother. He said, “Mum, you remember when as a small child coming home from school I often dallied to play in the park with my friends and you would wait for me with patience and not without some anxiety. Well now, do not cry; know that it is I who wait for you, and that I will come to meet you to introduce you to the beautiful house of Jesus”.

I will end with the words of a “great” priest, Don Primo Mazzolari, who in the Fifties wrote this: “When we arrive at the gates of Paradise, the Lord will open them and ask: ‘Have you ever cried in your life? And seeing you nod your head, continues: ‘Are you here alone or with others? If we can answer, ‘With others’, we will gesture us to enter and will sit us in our place, our place prepared for us before the creation of the world”.

Giuliano Tokorozawa

Moscow – the mission a story of loveDear Friends of the French ‘Blue Letter’I am writing this from Moscow whilst waiting for the Lord’s Easter. I came back from France and keep in mind the flowers in Toulouse at the beginning of March, while here in April Nature is still dormant. This image can aptly introduce my news. I found my brothers, and also the French church alive and active in a society which is

undergoing important changes.

Our 2010 assembly, meeting at Echourgnac in the month of August near the tomb of Jacques Loew, confirmed our intention to be faithful to the intuitions and rationales which gave birth to MOPP in 1954, following his letter to the superiors of the Dominicans at the time of the working priest crisis. These are expressly stated in the first statutes of 1956. Those who wish to can find them in the annex of the “Paper of a Working Mission”, edited in 1959. The events of the 21st century in France confirm the reality of Jacques’ intuitions, the need for the Church to be missionary in a society which

only knows the outside. A Church - of people who together and as a team, lay people and priests, the religious and the married, young and old, live according to the love of God and his Gospel. The discovery of the announcement of the Gospel is inseparable from the communal reunion, where all men, even the least, is considered unique, as a person. Life has also confirmed that this announcement needs a universal dimension, with common denominators and respect for differences. And we live this each day with our brothers in missions in other countries.

Yesterday’s words sound strange today, but the reality they express and which defies us is very much the same. A worker mission, what’s that? If not the need to herald the Gospel as did St Paul, by working with his hands, with his head and his heart, to give it freely? A simple and sober life style, which binds together work and prayer, brotherly love and service, study and truth ..... which keeps faith alive and protects from excesses.These last 50 years have not passed in vain. The greater Church has made its own all its intuitions . and reasons. The latest news tell of the ‘youcat’ (see note), the catechism for the young who will meet in the JMJ of Madrid, at the Synod on Evangelism in 2012. MOPP and its friends, each in his place and together, as an apostolic family, also share this heritage. It is rich already from many generations who have had the experience, and the news which grows within the Church will be able to lean on them, climb onto their shoulders to aim farther. Dear friends, I ask you to pray to the Lord for the young and for us, that we may know to welcome them.

Here in Russia, social life is improving slowly and the ‘transition to Spring’ is accompanied by the mud of the thaw. Within the Church also, we noted in February at the Conference of the Catholic Religious, that the passage from persecution to the full life follows its rhythm , unforeseen by us. After Good Friday, we awaited Easter, but Holy Saturday came, as it did for the Lord Jesus. For us it is a time of vigil, for Hope is waning. However, the first signs are there. The Orthodox Church entered its missionary state two years ago. Already missionaries have gone into the world and others are preparing themselves. We will be listening in our diocese, in the month of May, to the new generation, which does not know the past, to watch together how it lives its apprenticeship of faith. For me too, it is a school of faith; I touch and I see that each country has its history of love and life with the Lord.

Antonio in Moscow, 14th April 2011Note: Acronym from ‘youth’ and ‘catechism’

News of the apostolic family

Kinshasa – where are we, after so much searching?

The last year has been full of contacts with the adults of the fraternities, with the young candidates and with the local Church, in the person of the Bishop’s Vicar, Father Donat. Where are we, after so much searching?The fraternities of the families who wish to deepen their faith have been put in contact with the Jacques Loew Foundation, to take part in the experiences, matured elsewhere, relative to the files of the School of Faith. The homes of young candidates found a young and devoted Chaplain to direct them, the ‘passionist’ Father Jose Wawa, who also works with the students of the technical college. Father Donat met all the groups presented to him and told them how to enter into greater contact with the diocesan Church. In April we wrote to the Cardinal of Kinshasa to offer support and help to the trainer of the young people who aspire to a MOPP type of life. In the case that he accepts them into his diocese, it will be to give them a precious trainer, Father Jules, another passionist who studies at the Catho in Paris and serves at Chantilly. He was our advisor for the decision made at the Assembly of D’Echourgnac. We pray now, and wait with them, for Mgr. Laurent Monsengwo to give them a favourable signal to advance. Here is a photograph, and a note from Didier, the one who is most faithful in communicating with us by SMS and mail.

Hello Everybody!!I have a diploma from the State Section of Pedagogy, and I am a graduate of Nursing and Hospital Sciences. I work as a nurse at the Hospital of L’Akram. I also come from a Christian family from Ndjili, the third of four children, in the parish I belong to the ‘Youths of Light’ and the ‘Kizito’ group.

My friends at the Our Lady of Hope Centre are really the second family which God has given me. We are brothers in Christ Jesus and in the MOPP family.I feel summoned by the message “make of all Nations my disciples” in preaching the Gospel. And I believe in serving God through my fellow men by your congregation whose charisma meets my aspiration. Even if some information is missing, if you feel it is useful, it can be supplied later on.With my thanks in advance, please accept my respectful wishes. Here is my telephone number 00243 818631093.

Latest news from Jacques Loew’s followers in Kinshasa.

We are like the Apostles gathered in the Room of The Last Supper after the death of Jesus, to pray that our file is favourable to the Cardinal. We hope that you have already written to him. We are comforted by the Risen Lord as he comforted his numerous disciples and Apostles.

We analyse, day by day, the letters written by Jacques Loew in ‘The Open Heavens’. We find certain situations similar to those we are living now, and this comforts us. We are preparing our patron saints’ feast, Saints Peter and Paul, for the 1st Sunday in the month of July. That day, with all our children, we will proceed to officially give the texts of “The Open Heavens” to all our members, which will allow the launch of little ‘cells’ within our respective parishes.

Theodore Sahuma and Joseph Mabeka

Adresses

SUISSE : Procure à Villars-sur-Glâne : moppvillars@bluewin.ch

Eric Marchand, Gilles Kirouac, Philippe Hennebicque : Route de l'Église 2, Case Postale 37, CH 1752 VILLARS-SUR-GLÂNE 2 Tél. maison: +41(0)26 402 7036 ; E-mail: ericmopp@bluewin.ch ; philippemopp@bluewin.ch ; kirgil@bluewin.ch FRANCE : Secrétariat à Toulouse : secretariatmopp@hotmail.fr ; www.mopp.net 37, av. Raymond Naves, 31500 TOULOUSE

Bruno de Boissieu, Gilbert Ménégaux:Secteur paroissial de Quint-Fonsegrives - 2, Chemin Fontaine, 31130 QUINT Tél.: +33(0) 9 51 45 57 84 E-mail: deboissieu.bruno31@gmail.com; Jean-Claude Briand, Gaspard Neerinck: 4, rue du Général Baurot apt 141, 31500 TOULOUSE Tél:+ 33 (0)5 62 16 00 46 E-mail: jeanclaude.briand31@gmail.com ; gaspard.neerinck@hotmail.fr ;

Pierre Fricot, Claire Patier :Maison de la Parole Saint Jean Cassien, La Bergerie, 83640 PLAN D'AUPS-Sainte BaumeTél.+Fax : +33 (0)4 86 36 81 94 E-mail : pierre.fricot@gmail.com , claire.patier@gmail.com

Nico Marchelli:179, avenue de Stalingrad, apt. 854, 92700 COLOMBES Chapelle Notre-Dame de la Route 15, rue Henri Poincaré, 92600 ASNIEREStel. +33(0) 9 50 36 95 47 ; E-mail: nicomopp@hotmail.fr Giuseppe dell'Orto:Espace Évangile, 5 Place de l'Eglise, 45480 BAZOCHES-LES-GALLÉRANDES tel. +33(0)2 38 39 40 24; E-mail: dellorto.giuseppe@wanadoo.fr Manfred Pook :chez Sœurs Dominicaines de Béthanie 1, route de Guillerville 91910 SAINT SULPICES DE FAVIÈRES Tél.: +33 (0) 9 53 8176 86 E-mail : manfred.pook@gmail.com

Michel Cüenot :12, rue du Stade, 57580 BÉCHY tél.: +33(0) 387 384 508 E-mail : perecuenotmichel@orange.fr

BRESIL :Jean Carlos de Souza, Elias Candido de Oliveira, Fabiano Renaldi. Jomar VigneronRua Dep. José Vidal Vanhoni 1173, 81470-000 Tatuquara- Santa Rita, CURITIBA - PR Tel: + 5541 3349 1218 E-mail: jean-mopp@hotmail.com; eliasmopp@gmail.com ; fabianorenaldi2@hotmail.com; jomarmaria@gmail.com

JAPON :Giuliano Delpero, Louis Roguet :1-26-31 Wada-Higashi-Tokorozawa, TOKOROZAWA-shi, Saitama 359-0023 Tél. : +81 (0) 4 2945 0510 E-mail giuliano.delpero@hotmail.it ; luismpp1@hotmail.comRémi Aude : 2-38-12-201 Higashi-Tokorozawa, TOKOROZAWA-shi, Saitama 359-0021 Tél. : +81 (0) 4 2946 1269 E-mail : auderemi@cyber.ocn.ne.jp

RUSSIE :Antonio Santi :Uliza Perovskaja d.36 k.3 kv. 4, 111141 MOSCOW Tel +7 499 748 7812 ; E-mail : antonisanti@hotmail.com

Our Lady of the poor and lowly

Saints Peter and Paul under the finger of God