“No one knows what is happening in this country.” The Visitation Sisters are praying on the Korean border

For 70 years, the Korean Peninsula has been pierced by a heavily armed border, along which soldiers remain constantly vigilant.

 There can always be that one moment when the tension between the two Koreas turns into a new war. This is where the Visitation Sisters founded their monastery and have been praying for reconciliation on the Korean Peninsula for almost 10 years.

When the border was established, “families were separated, e.g. the father stayed in the north and the mother in the south… – says Sister Ángela Mercedes to the Misión periodical. “Some died without having the opportunity to see their loved ones again in life.” The monastery is surrounded by military bases and the sisters often hear explosions during military exercises or tests. “It’s quiet and tense here, but we’re used to it,” says the nun. 

As he explains, it all started with Saint’s desire. John Paul II to bring God where there is a lack of love and faith. Five Colombian Visitation sisters who came to Korea in 2005 decided to respond to the Pope’s dream. Initially, the sisters lived in Busan, a large city in the south of the peninsula. It was a very difficult time. The challenge was the Korean language, so far from Spanish. “I started writing in incomprehensible scribbles and had a very strong internal crisis,” recalls Sister Ángela. A Franciscan monk consoled her, saying: “There is no missionary who hasn’t cried at some point.” In addition to language difficulties, poverty was even more troublesome. One day, while visiting the sisters, a priest asked them what they ate. And the sisters remained mysteriously silent. So he went to look at the fridge and found nothing there. “He became very worried and started helping us,” says Sister Ángela. – He sent us fruit, vegetables and meat. We were very poor.” And when the sisters were finishing the adjustment phase, they suddenly learned that they had to leave Busan because the bishop was not planning to open new communities. 

“It was a blow,” recalls the Colombian nun, “[at that moment] we were told that there was a certain bishop, a Jesuit, who could receive us [in the mountains near the border], but his diocese was poor and there would be practically nothing there. So I replied: ‘If the diocese is poor and we are poor, we will understand each other very well.’ And we went there.”

In 2014, the sisters began to build a monastery building on the top of the mountain. Work is still ongoing today. They organized the chapel so that when looking at the tabernacle, they were also facing North Korea. “No one knows what is happening in this country, that’s why we pray for them every day,” explains Sister Ángela. When asked if she could imagine setting foot in North Korea before she died, she replied that it was her dream. “They say that complete unification is virtually impossible, but nothing is impossible for God. There are many martyrs on both sides [of the border], sooner or later the light will penetrate the hearts,” adds the nun.

Source:https://opoka.org.pl/News/Swiat/2023/nikt-nie-wie-do-czego-dochodzi-w-tym-kraju-na-koreanskiej