ESM New York

Newsletter n°3 – February 2018

NewsletterESM New York

Christmas

Holidays

New Teachings

March for Life

Catholic Underground

The joy was intense and indescribable; an Advent – Give Yourself! exceptional experience which permitted us to see how the Lord can act in us, even when we don’t During a silent recollection time our spiritual life think that we’ll be able to receive his grace. was guided by our chaplain Father Paul. He helped us to be open to God's love and mercy and to go deeper in our responses, offering ourselves freely to God and to others. Through this teaching we discovered how important it is to nurture our relationship with Jesus. To grow in trust and to surrender ourselves to Him so that we can experience peace, freedom and God's power in our lives.

The school year ended with another interesting course about the History of New York given by Father Liam. We were very happy to listen to passionate stories about this wonderful city!

Christmas We celebrated the first Christmas Eve mass at the Missionaries of Charity's house with the sisters of

Missionary whatever Mother Teresa and with some people from the

the weather! neighborhood. We were really impressed by their great devotion and wholehearted commitment in prayer. A Friday afternoon street evangelization called us, so we went with a lot of determination. We knew the plan; find a warm place, be completely comfortable, do exactly what we have been programed to do – but in fact not at all! Wind, snow, almost 14°F but we were unstoppable - drum, guitar, songbooks in our hands and let’s go! At this moment we really felt the love of Jesus acting through us, even making us forget how cold it was. Evangelization is an important act for others but also for us. This was followed by Christmas carols with the sisters and the homeless men who live at their We could see people smiling, supporting us and shelter. We entered, greeted everybody and dancing like our mood was contagious. Thank you suddenly one sister gave us a bag of instruments mother Mary for this tropical atmosphere! saying, “choose one!”

Emmanuel School of Mission NYC

Woah! We found maracas, tambourines, drums and ~ other unknown instruments, a little unusual but We celebrated the birth of Jesus at Saint Rita, Father actually they were perfect for the carols. The Pablo’s parish, where masses are either in Spanish atmosphere was instant, our bodies didn’t lose time or in English. We began to collaborate with this to express themselves by dancing with joy - surely parish by going straight in at the deep end – singing because the birth of our savior was coming soon...A for the first time during Midnight Mass. The wonderful moment of unity with people from all parishioners really enjoyed this time of celebration backgrounds. with a traditional kiss for the baby Jesus, they even ~ brought their own from home to be blessed – a true rejoicing of Jesus as our Savior. With everybody dressed in their fanciest clothes and beautiful Christmas decorations, it was with a On Christmas day, we celebrated mass at Saint joyful heart that we really appreciated the excellent Rita’s again. Afterwards the Missionaries of Charity dinner prepared by the team themselves, Yum Yum! organize a special Christmas lunch each year and

visit the families in the neighborhood who are not We blessed the dinner and got ready for the feast; able to attend. Christmas ham and an assortment of potatoes with a delicious gravy. Everything was there for this This was a particularly moving experience. Christmas Eve and our bellies couldn’t wait anymore! The final touch was the chocolate mousse for dessert of course! Flabbergasted by the misery which these families live in, we were very After that, let’s stand up and dance to celebrate as touched by the way the sisters prayed we should - this wonderful day in a peaceful mood before the nativity. and took care of each of them – no matter what condition they lived in.

We could strongly recognize the light and presence of Jesus shining through these amazing women who offer their time to comfort the afflicted. After sharing these exceptional and moving moments with the sisters and families, we came back differently, evangelized by these families who tried to keep their faith despite their issues.

Emmanuel School of Mission NYC Time for holidays in Connecticut ! New Year people who literally swim in the water by their own choice –

unbelievable! On the 31st of For this festive time, we December, Mike and Celeste were invited to Connecticut, prepared an extremely fancy hosted by lovely families dinner, perfect for the from the Parish of Saint occasion, mixing Italian and Gabriel in Stamford. We American recipes perfectly in received a warm welcome and accord. Then, friends of the were really put at ease. We are family, notably Neil, joined us to very grateful to Father Liam, Neil share this perfect moment and Celeste and Mike who took with us all. In the Connecticut care of us like our own mums way of course, joking, and dads. laughing, singing and dancing… 5...4...3...2...1! HAPPY NEWW Sun, beach, sand...! YEAAAR! Thank you Jesus for this blessed moment.

Mike and Celeste drove us to a wonderful beach where we Host families could taste the sea breeze together, with huge "happy- A special thanks to the families faces" like children, playing and who hosted us and generously contemplating in the beautiful took care of us during our creation of God. “We should put vacation, each of us really our feet in the water!” What a enjoyed our stay, warmly lovely suggestion…?! Not welcomed as though we were expecting this some of us part of the family. We have a lot declined but others with the of beautiful memories which we determination of soldiers stood in thank God for and we the freezing cold water. A crazy pray for you; giving thanks for and very cold experience but a your generosity, your shared nice memory of downtown joy and your good temper Connecticut. What is even (even in the morning). crazier is that Mike told us that on the first of January there are

Emmanuel School of Mission NYC Mission with Saint Mother Teresa New Year… New teachings Humility, patience, being efficient and of course prayer! We have begun to encounter New year, new teachings: How to live the Missionaries of Charity in the in today’s society. Mother House of the USA – the first place where they were present in We started the year with two inspiring America. teachings. The sisters are from countries all over the world (just like us.) The first one given by Messiane on the Social Doctrine of the Church. Her We go on mission with them twice a week! class deepened our understanding of how an adjusted workplace in society During each service, we see the sisters and volunteers working and and a fair economic world complete praying together which is a beautiful image. During the last Soup the loving project of God for humanity Kitchen service, we prepared the food and then served the guests. as co-creators. The distribution of meals is preceded by a reflection about the day’s We then welcomed Father Dominique Gospel reading or perhaps some small sharing about the love God Janthial from Belgium. He taught us has for them and their purpose, followed by joyful songs and about Judaism and Islam in the blessings. multicultural society of today. This Each time we feel a real satisfaction at the end of the service and we course helped us to reinvent our realize how strong and charitable people can be. Though we are friendship with these other there only one day a week, some of the volunteers come every day communities and religions. and they always act with charity and faithfulness like this is a grace for them and a blessing for the needy.

Emmanuel School of Mission NYC Let’s walk for Life!

On January 19th, we participated in the annual “March for Life” in Washington D.C. - the largest prolife event in the world. As newcomers, we were truly surprised by the presence of lots of Christians from all denominations who made a stand against abortion; especially many student groups. We peacefully walked and prayed on the streets with people who came from all over the US carried by their Catholic Underground enthusiasm and fervor. This day reminded us how necessary it is to remain focused on human life as a sacred gift from God and Speaking of enthusiasm, the Franciscan Friars of the preserve the value of humanity. Renewal offer a wonderful event for young adults in New York City – they open up their Church every first Saturday and hundreds, including us, respond 100.000 people positively to their invitation. We are always excited to share this spiritual moment with other young people and the friars who humbly organize this event. The night begins with evening prayer - singing the psalms with all our hearts for our Lord. Then calmly and in silence, the sacred heart of Jesus is in our midst and we humbly kneel to adore Him and thank Him for all this love that He gives to us each day, even for the little things. After this time of prayer, the friars invite us all downstairs to enjoy a variety of artistic performances. A good way to realize that God gives us talents that we have to share, indeed that are at their best when they are shared! Last time, whilst drinking a cup of tea or coffee, we saw beautiful sculptures, ‘live’ artwork, paintings which displayed some edifying testimonies. Each creation spoke to us in different ways, we are after all unique. We also enjoyed this social and spiritual time by exchanging a few words with people that we met, sharing about what inspired us. Thank you to the friars for organizing such a happy and spiritual moment with the youth of the Church.

Emmanuel School of Mission NYC Emmanuel School of Mission NYC

Hello, I'm Norman Fagour, 26 years old from Martinique with a degree in computer science.

First, I have to say that in Martinique I worked in a library and was in charge of ‘digital spaces’. It was really a good job, but I started to ask myself some existential questions. In fact, I had the perfect job, a car, friends, good projects for the future but there was still the question - where is the place of Jesus in my life? Sometimes I neglected mass and I had also stopped going to the gathering of young Catholics which happened once a month. Then suddenly, out of the blue, my mother and my godmother started to ask me some questions about my faith because they could see that something had changed in me. It was like a wake-up call and also a confirmation to the question I was already thinking about. All I knew was that I had to react positively because they love me, and they want me to be happy. 10 years ago I had been really touched by a video I had seen in Paray-le-Monial about

young people who had left everything behind to follow Jesus. A few years later I heard Testimony a testimony about suffering and these two events planted the seeds of desire in my heart to become a missionary. But I was too worried about my future in the professional world so I ignored it. However, after this conversation with my mother and godmother I was reminded of this video and so I typed into Google; “Catholic School to give 9 months of my life” and I found a list of schools including ESM. I clicked directly on this link which seemed familiar and suddenly all my memories refreshed - it was the school that I had seen 10 years earlier. So I started to discern, then apply, then do the interview and here we are! It wasn’t easy, but Jesus really led me through everything, even people whom I didn’t expect helped me to get ready. A lot of doors opened for me, notably in the administrative areas. I’m really impressed by the way everything has happened, and mostly because everything happened in one month. Thank you Jesus, now I really want to put everything in your hands. I know that God will take care of me, I just have to pray and trust him humbly.

Saint-Pierre Martinique

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