Ringing the New Year
At the turn of the new year, we welcomed 15 friends and Missionary Program Alumni for a Family Reunion. This Reunion gave us the opportunity to give thanks for the blessings received in 2022 and to entrust the unfolding of 2023 to our Lord. Here are some personal highlights:
“To my deepest delight, coming home to 26 Olive Street was as natural as coming home to the family that raised me. I was reminded again of the beautiful way our community works so hard to cultivate opportunities for quality time and prayer that make encounters with the Lord and each other so natural and simple.”
-Elizabeth, Brazil from 2019-2021
“The Con-solatio family is something like a short, fat Christmas tree. I’m always surprised to see how wide it has gotten at the bottom but it never ceases to point upward to things divine. I came expecting familiar faces, ended up being introduced to new ones, and left with the hopeful expectation that those faces would become familiar going forward. It was wonderful to make new friends and keep the old.”
-Fr. Peter, Argentina from 2011-2012
“I took in with delight all the images of this weekend; the cleaning, the cooking, the dishwasher, the music, and the entertainment.”
-Selen, El Salvador from 2020-2021
“The number one reason I come to ring in the new year with my Con-solatio family: we spend the last hour of the passing year in Adoration, silently staring together at the One who gives us all in grace, the One who receives the offering of the old and the anticipation of the new… As we hear the clanging and banging and fireworks out on the street, we receive Benediction. And then we join in the celebrating, with a lovely, lively champagne toast, sweet treats, and a sharing of poetry and song.”
-Marian, Brooklyn from 2011-2012
“The hospitality I received from my missionary family reminded me of another way to love: attention to detail. From setting the table nicely to arranging appetizers in a way that looks organized, this attention to detail is not to impress, but rather to make the guests feel appreciated. Through that, I was reminded of the spirit of the mission: to love others through the little things.”
-Jaime, Future volunteer
“The reason I keep coming back, the reason I came to the family reunion was a recognition: It no longer is a matter of simply ‘it is nice to be here’ or ‘I want to be here.’ but mostly of: “I am in a great need of being here”. This experience has been almost Sacramental, meaning one that has had the power to change my whole being. It is through this family that God chose to reveal His face to me. And the only true response to such a love must be a sincere gift of myself.”
-Kristine, Senegal from 2020-2021
“While I was sitting in the church just after midnight, hearing the fireworks going off all over the neighborhood, contemplating Christ in the Eucharist, the meaning of the whole weekend became clear. He was undeniably present, in each person I met, in each moment of work and rehearsal and play. Instead of the weekend being something to distract me from the rest of my life, a welcome change of pace but something I would have to leave to go back to my own ‘reality,’ it was clear that the ‘event,’ the Presence, lasts.”
-Justine, Senegal from 2019-2021