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Testimonio de una hermana de La VisitaciĂłn en Corea 🇰🇷 El llamado a la MisiĂłn. – YouTube
Transcription in English
I am Sister Angela Mercedes, . By the grace of God, I am on the mission of Korea. Right now we are here in Korea, The grace of God, I have been in my religious life for 46 years. I am very happy, fulfilled in my contemplative missionary vocation. My vocation. , I never thought about religious life, but when I was 16, I was in the third or fourth year of high school. I liked to learn something different during the holidays. And a friend from the neighborhood knew one day that She visited me and told me that if I wanted to go to the Presentation clinic to a nursing course that they were going to give for two months, that they had not given her permission and that she would give me that opportunity. I told her that I was not interested in nursing, that I had not yet thought about my life, much less about that. I thanked her and she left but I was left thinking about learning something different Soon giving my dad an injection doing a dressing was something important And I looked for my dad at work and told him and my dad said no of my six daughters I don’t think any of them are nurses it doesn’t seem like it to me and I told him I said why did he insist and I went home Don’t worry my dad came and looked for me and said Well thinking about it I think Yes I’m going to give you permission the next day he accompanied me to the clinic for the presentation because I was a 16 year old girl and I always went from home to school From school to home I generally didn’t go out alone we went there were many young women waiting for the interview and it was almost time to enter the Nursing department a sister came out and said the interview is only for Over 18 and under 25 there were many young women who All over 25 left I was about to enter And I said to my dad daddy now what do we do I am 16 years old and he said No 2 Well you are so close to the door that you keep going I entered the sister greeted me with a smile a very delicate I don’t know I surely caught her attention I am short at that time and to look big I put on some heels I will look good hair and well to show that I was a person Very old I presented my student ID The first thing I did is I gave it to the sister the sister smiled she received me And we started the interview but I had my heart heavy I was worried because the first thing I had to say I did not I am old enough but the sister was so excited asking that I could not find the place to tell her but I was very worried about that I was already very advanced in the interview the sister was excited I was too but worried until a moment when I managed to interrupt her and I said sister I want to tell her It is that I am only 16 years old and she told me smiling it is that you gave me the card When you arrived and that was the first thing I saw that it is you only you are 16 years old and I told her And this is for those over 18 and she said no it does not matter you are going to start tomorrow you can come the next day I went to the clinic at the first at the first meeting there were many young women in a large room of conferences in front was the superior from the clinic and the sister in charge of the department and the superior and she began to ask all the young women How are you called How old are you What have you done Good among all the young women in the moment she arrived and asked me I naturally stood up and told her I am Julana and I am 16 years old The sister got scared and told me No you cannot be here This is for people over 18 years old and then the sister in charge of the department approached her said something in her ear The sister looked at me and said Well we make an exception for you you continue on the next day It started in the afternoon we studied and in the morning we practiced It had not been three days I think I was very happy very excited it was a new different life and I was very happy more or less on the third day
I was working with great enthusiasm and I didn’t know it was a vocation But I sensed that there had been a calling but also I immediately experienced that it was not with the sisters that I should enter or be a religious in the future. Why? Because I Well, I was ignorant. I didn’t know what the charisma of the sisters was. The clinic was More or less of a certain social standing and I felt a deep desire to work with the poor, with the helpless, with the latter ones. Then I thought, it’s not with them, but the Lord will show me a community that works with the poor. I began my nursing with great enthusiasm. It was very difficult for me. I was very young and I saw a drop of blood and I fainted. We did the practices among us and I was crying and I was making a fuss and I saw a wound and I I felt like throwing up then But I overcame all those difficulties with the Burning desire to be a nurse and then become a nun I thought to myself as a missionary If that is my vocation, I was not sure, that is how it went
The time passed, I was more or less 17 years old a little more and when we went to receive the service, the sister told me with other companions You will be around around that part You will take care of a sister who had surgery last night they amputated her second leg and you will take care of her today We are going to greet her we entered I was very shocked eh the first thing that struck me was the habit of the sister who accompanied her a sister Teresa Margarita Jaramillo an angel of God was an angel of God in the community this sister and me the habit struck like simplicity like simplicity, cordiality but nothing more we went to the patient, the sister was in bed and a nurse moved to one side, the sister to the other and I, as I was learning, I moved to the foot of the bed to observe the sister, the sick sister tried to get up with great cordiality, a sister of more or less a little more than 70 years tried to get up and the nurse and the sister from the clinic helped her a little to get her up but I don’t think they ever imagined what was going to happen at that moment nor did the patient imagine it either. And it’s that when they tried to get her up they didn’t hold her, they simply helped her a little and the sister was also helping herself with her arms but when she sat down she lost all balance she fell face down on the bed in a matter of seconds the sister reacted immediately the sister from the clinic the nurse and the lifted her they immediately sat her on the bed when they sat her down as I was in front the sister was bathed in tears her face was bathed in tears our sister Maria Gertrudis was not very pretty of face But she had eyes of heaven I always felt that one could go to heaven through the eyes of this nun she was a soul of God but she had eyes of heaven then with her blue eyes full of tears when they sat her up in bed she immediately opened her arms in a cross she had been a very tall person and therefore her arms were long and large she opened her arms and with a loud voice she said sir here are my arms if you want them you can take mine too that gesture struck me it impressed me I was very young and well
That was like the first encounter I had with the Visitation I continued my nursing studies practicing but I became friends with this nun and the nuns eh I often went to the monastery I visited the external sisters at the gate but I went with two intentions sometimes to visit Sister Maria Gertrudis with whom I became friends I would take her a little chocolate doll a bunny or something chocolate I would take her a gift from Dulce I was with she was half now what we were talking about I don’t remember but I visited her from that from that moment H me little by little she calls me a friend of the Sisters of Visitation tells me that she is a friend, especially of Sister Maria Gertrudes, for me it was always a pleasure to meet the older sisters and I became friends with her, I would visit her and bring her sweet chocolate bunnies 13:14 I visited her and I didn’t remember what we talked about, but I took advantage of the visit because at the gatehouse on that day on Fridays they made custard and fritters to sell. So I was fascinated by what they made and I would go and buy my snack there and I didn’t have lunch at home but I would have a snack there of custard and fritters with soda and I would tell my mom that I had already had a very good lunch and so a time passed, I think it was already more than 18 years, much more
I also looked forward to entering the chapel to talk a little while with Jesus and well one day I went as always to have my Friday snack that I liked and the external sister was a sister Sister Maria Marta Albal a very simple sister very humble very sweet very gentle very delicate external sister and She welcomed me with much affection and I bought my snack and I sat in near the cloister door the entrance near the cloister door at the entrance there is a little wall that separates the The small cloister from the entrance to the cloister door with a small patio that is in the gatehouse Then I sat in the inside part I put my snack on the little wall and there I ate my lunch and one day of many I found that on There was a magazine on the wall and in the magazine I looked at it and There was Saint Therese of the Child Jesus surrounded by a bunch of little Indians and on the cover of the magazine it said in big letters Therese of the Child Jesus Universal Patron of the Missions I was amazed by the title of the magazine I had heard about Therese from a friend who had been a nun who helped me a lot in the growth of my spiritual life who knew of Only that person knew of my vocation or my possible vocation and I called Sister Maria Marta and I said to her sister why does this mean How that Saint needs a patron of the missions if she was a contemplative she is one of those of you who do nothing
And this sister so humble with a smile she looks at me and says no treasure we do a lot in the church and I told her I don’t you don’t do anything look you don’t go out you don’t study you don’t visit the poor you don’t visit the sick you don’t do you don’t do any mission you don’t do anything What do you mean patron of missions and she told me with humility and tenderness no treasure we do we do a lot we do the first thing we do is give God everything we love most the family the profession what we like what we had in the world we consecrate everything to the Lord we give it and come to the monastery and in the monastery all that everything we do in the monastery is a prayer yes we sweep is prayer yes we mop it is prayer if we wash clothes if we do the smallest need everything is prayer and that prayer is offered for the church for the missions for the world we as contemplatives from the heart of the church cover all the missions of the church and we are totally missionaries totally missionaries within the heart of the church I don’t know if you would understand what I said I only know that I told her sister lend me the magazine she told me I’ll give it to her I took it with me I don’t know how to tell her What happened that night I don’t know how to say but I got home and I wanted to read it all it was getting late and mom came into the room and she told me It’s late you have to go to bed Tomorrow you have to get up early to work yes mommy Soon I’m going to finish and like twice she insisted but I was I was excited reading that review of the testimonies of Mission Miracles that Teresita had done especially in the war and in the end I don’t remember it well and the next day I had an interview, one last interview at the school for nursing assistants in the department of caldas because I had the opportunity since I had done well in my nursing practice in the clinic I had given good points they gave me the opportunity to validate the theory that I needed to do the advanced nursing course. But I had to go step by step and the first thing the first opportunity they were going to give me was to go to a town to do my nursing practice and that excited me a lot so for several months I tried to get that permit at the school for nursing assistants and I didn’t get it because of my young age. I was very young and they told me it’s not possible you’re too young no Not yet You can’t and I remember that I fought a lot for that, they put a lot of conditions on me and little by little I met the conditions and as at the beginning I wore higher heels I lifted my hair well, it showed me that I was already an older person very older and in reality I wasn’t and the day after I found the magazine I had the last interview I already had everything ready to begin My power to enter to do the nursing theory they had given me the permission the clinic had sponsored me which was the most important Everything was ready the clinic sponsored me with a lot of work because they were afraid that because I was very young and I could easily make the clinic look bad because soon I was not able to continue until the end well I got everything and that day that night I
What happened in my life I only know that the next day the plan was to have lunch at the clinic and go with my friend A to the school for assistants for the last interview to and get the final permit. I was accepted when I met my friend I was leaving my house, arriving at her house, we were together, we took the bus and we were going to the clinic when I met my friend, as she was older than me, she said to me, Do you remember that we had lunch and we are going to the school for assistants and with a confidence that I am not, I do not know where I get the security I got the security, I told her no, I am not going to go to the school interview, no I am going to keep the appointment, my friend was very surprised she got scared I was worried because I had to go to the clinic, it was in the middle of everything the documentation, well, and she told me how is it possible, but what is she saying? Something happened at home, did you have any problems? They denied you permission at home, but yes everything was ready, a little upset, and I told her, no, it’s not that I’m not going to go to school of assistants, it’s that I’m going to the Monastery of the Visitation to ask for my entry, my friend was amazed, she told me how, and I said, yes, I’m going to ask for entry to the Monastery of the Visitation, I’ve been studying for more than 3 years and working enthusiastically in the infirmary to become a missionary. And if I can start being a missionary now, full-time I want to start. My friend was amazed, she didn’t say anything else to me, she told me, “I know.” the clinic is going to come upon you, as I actually went and
We left the clinic and went to the monastery. The superior knew me because I had already met the sisters I had taken care of some sick sisters. Anyway, when I called her to the visiting room, the poor thing had been chosen for three days I called her to the visiting room and told her Mother, I have come to ask you to join. She was amazed that she is still tall She looked at me very tall and said, “How is that possible?” I told her Yes, my vocation was missionary, but I have discovered that I can be totally a missionary from the contemplative life and I have decided that if You do not prevent me, I have come to ask for my entry and I want to join. I have I have to finish my studies. I have a commitment at the school for assistants. I have a commitment with the clinic but I have to finish my studies I have to fulfill all those commitments or I can all that I need to enter or I can enter at once and she told me I think there is no problem No you need to finish your studies you do not need more degrees yes you want to enter Give me time I speak with the council I speak with the sisters because why did she tell me that Because I asked her for an experience I told her I am not sure if it is contemplative life or is active life my vocation has been more than three years is active life is missionary but the Lord showed me last night what is in contemplative life and told me I am going to ask all the permits because it is not usual in that time the experiences were not usual So she had to speak with the federal government and ask for many permits I kept my appointment with I went and she said yes, you are accepted, You are coming to do an experience, I told her two months and she said, well, I said two months experience, but I paid a notice at the clinic. I ordered all my things at home, I organized everything. I asked for all the permits. My mother did not agree. My father, with great pain, gave me permission, but they did not know when it would be. They were under me, five little sisters, still very small, and we had a very beautiful relationship and they depended on me for everything, so I said two months, but I ordered everything as if I was never going to return. After two months of having ordered everything, I entered yes. My mother touched me. I entered without permission. I practically ran away from home because my mother was not there. I was afraid that he would stop me from leaving the house so I couldn’t say what day I was leaving or where I was going I simply said today is a work day I’m leaving for the clinic and and I went in and my mom After 3 years I made the first visit to the novitiate of course at first you don’t understand anything
Everything is a very dark night above all my biggest temptation was my dad it seemed impossible to live without him impossible and at night I said tomorrow I’m leaving and the next day I said to myself no how can it be possible that I’m going to leave if I I couldn’t cross that cloistered door with my strength This is not my vocation the Lord gave it to me so we spent the first week we were sweeping the patio in a community of professed novices I ask the superior. The superior was sweeping. I went and told her, mother. I can begin. A two-month experience cost me a lot to get that permission. 2 I told her, “No, mother. I don’t want to do any experience. I want to begin.” Now, and with much enthusiasm, with much passion, with the grace of the Lord. I began my missionary life in the monastery. In my life, I am very contemplative, very sure, even in the midst of the difficulties of the darkness of Everything that is given at the beginning,, the Lord gave me all the grace and here we are, . For me, one of the great graces is in My religious life was seeing the testimony of my older sisters when I was very tempted I saw the enthusiasm the ardor The fidelity of my older sisters because I was touched when I entered there were many older sisters whom I had the grace to care for as a nurse and to shroud when they died was a grace For me I saw them and I said if my sister could I can too if my sister has been able I can too and so 28 years passed in my monastery of Manizales after 28 years the Lord in His mercy has called me or has called us to a new mission to the:
Mission of Korea
How we arrived in Korea
the Visitation in Korea began In 2001 I say that it was a response to the invitation that Pope John Paul 11Â According to Saint John Paul II, he said it to the consecrated and to all but especially he did it to the contemplatives to bring out the mission people. Then the monastery of Chaco Ecuador, which was a monastery in Mission and people interested in the Visitation coming to Korea because they met it in the United States and they liked the style of the Visitation they made all the arrangements so that the Visitation could come here and the sisters of Chaco Ecuador began the foundation in 2001.
The sisters of Ecuador belong to the southern federation of Colombia, we are federated in the Northern Federation and the Southern Federation and we belong to the same federation. The sisters began in a small house in the south of Korea in the diocese of Pusan ​​in Ulsan city in the countryside they had a small house in the countryside, a small monastery in prefabricated organized very well organized, an Ecuadorian sister came, an older sister and a another. Saint Sister Maria Cecilia Montes de Oca I was very good friends with her in the meetings, when I was very young I met her and we were good friends and with a sister from Colombia from the monastery in Bogota our sister Maria Teresa there was a lot of prospects for vocations And then they arrived in Korea but I think that shortly after the bishop who received them died then the sisters when they arrived the new Bishop wanted to greet the sisters, well, to know who they were and finally Then he saw that it was necessary that if the Visitation was to be established in Korea the sisters had to learn the language and They could not be enclosed, they could not even be enclosed, especially foreign sisters because for training you had to learn at least the language. 32:00
So the Chaco monastery was not in a position to provide reinforcements in Ecuador, there are three monasteries that could not send reinforcements because they did not have members. The Federal Mother who was very interested in the mission continuing forward and the general assistant father, Father JesĂşs LĂłpez Gay Jesuit priest who was the general assistant of the Visitation for the Holy See Holy See was like our protector So he also had, as a good Jesuit, a great missionary zeal and he did a lot so that the Visitation would come to Korea, they began to search everywhere.
some months later a call came and it was a direct call from Korea Mother Maria Cecilia she called our monastery directly and she told me Merceditas from the community of Manizales it depends on saving the foundation of Korea because you can help us I was very impressed by the request that the mother made me so directly we were friends I had not had contact like that with her since I was in Korea and we were in prayer with the Blessed Sacrament exposed that day was Sunday I was very impressed I went to the chapel and because the sister was sad I made the request with all my heart and as who says you can help us I asked our Lord to enlighten us I told the council that because they asked us for only one sister that I pray that she might have the ability to learn the language to learn a little the culture But well it was like for a long time No the Lord with much difficulty because there was much difficulty showed us and we asked the last professed sister MarĂa Catalina had just professed a few months ago but She entered already a little more than 40 years old and was a mature person very sure in her vocation very much in love with the Lord and really met the conditions But well she was very recently professed well we sent her with much difficulty because even the bishop opposed but the Lord does everything and the sister came to Korea
I was continually in conference with her by phone how are you doing How are you the sister together with Sister Maria Teresa studied Korean at the university of the Soga anjo , studied and stayed in the house of the Capuchin sisters who were Colombians there were many missionaries at that time in the university learning the language because they wanted to be in Korea in their communities and the missionaries told our sisters
” you two sisters this doesn’t mean anything here a complete community has to come” then our sister Maria Catalina told me and she told me “mother this This is so we have to think about it being a community two sisters are not a community we have to give a testimony to the Korean church of credibility that we are a community and two sisters are not community” so it was something very mysterious because the Lord began to show to open his ways his will and then after Maria Catalina had passed 9 months first that the Federal Federation Sr came to our monastery after many efforts with the advice our monastery generouslyASKED for the mission of Korea five sisters Sister Maria Catalina who was there and four more sisters among them . they allowed me to come. to me they made us the proposal do you want to go because each one had to answer I want or I don’t want and they made us the proposal then from that moment that was in 2004 the foundation of the visitation of Korea passed under the responsibility of monastery of Manizales since the monastery of Manizales gave the greatest number of sisters .There were six sisters solemn professed then all with perspective of going to the university to study I was the oldest I was 40 years old and everything was ordered. I handed over my position in Manisales and we came to Korea it was not a decision that was easy it was a we felt a very great call It was the Lord who called us the Mother from Ecuador had to return because she was very sick
We arrived and we could not stay in the country house because we had to go to the city to go near the university we got a rented house 45 minutes walking from the university and the first thing that I don’t know the first great sacrifice apart from leaving our beloved monastery our community that we loved so much was well leaving yes leaving the monastery and arriving at a small house it was a two-story house we were in . we lived on the second floor four rooms one of which we set aside for the little one
things the Why such a small house the why we had to 40:41 go to church in western culture Generally what I know of our country if you are going to 40:48 found a contemplative community Generally they send the priest to the community to celebrate in the little house 40:54 where the sisters are starting while they build their monastery in Korean culture because we were foreigners 41:01 it was not like that little by little we embraced those small sacrifices and but with much 41:09 ardor with much enthusiasm the seasons we brought a dowry the money 41:16 for the university Because life in Korea is very expensive three times more than in Colombia it is very expensive and the money 41:26 of course it went to nothing less than half the rent of the house the the 41:34 money for the university and a little for the 41:40 support with Sister Catalina she told us not to dangers are very generous 41:46 and since we are close to the market They will surely help us, the Lord allowed us as we were 41:54 foreigners, eh, even though we greeted people and 41:59 finally, the Korean brothers are shy and did not dare to 42:26 get close to him, not because of the weather, not because of the food, not because of the tightness or anything 42:32 I studied with great enthusiasm for eight hours of study, three hours of university 42:37 a little more and then at home, all our contemplative life, all our life of 42:44 prayer, we divided it in such a way that we lived it totally 42:50 starting at 5 in the morning, we did all our prayer exercises and 42:55 we did our work and wine, and finally, and when we left the house for university, we pretended that 43:03 we were going through a long cloister of the monastery and the people and the young people that we met on the way to school 43:10 well it was the opportunity to meet Jesus who went with us. One did not understand much at that 43:18 moment one did not understand what God allowed through that 43:23 sacrifice because it was a very big sacrifice to leave the monastery to go to the classrooms 43:28 to not understand anything to not understand anything to do tasks that no no no 43:34 it made your head spin but everything was done with a lot of passion with a lot 43:40 enthusiasm. After a year or so our bishop got cancer and 43:48 he died. He was still very young. He died and the parish priest told us that the Bishop 43:56 auxiliary Before he was appointed, it was customary for the communities to go to greet him, that we go to And 44:04 introduce ourselves, we were in school and university, relatively close to the diocese by train 44:12 So it would be to take advantage of a day off school to go to 44:18 introduce ourselves to the bishop, we asked for an appointment several times and no, no, the secretary 44:24 couldn’t give us an appointment, we didn’t understand why the secretary wanted us and knew us but she didn’t tell us no, no 44:31 no, I can’t give you an appointment yet, so that worried me a lot 44:38 and one day we called the secretary and she said, well, do one thing, come, leave school, come 44:46 without an appointment, you come and show up in the diocese, but I don’t know anything 44:51 You show up and I have no choice but to introduce you to the bishop, we said yes, very well 44:59 so that’s what we did, we were in exams, we went to the diocese 45:06 Monsignor very cordial did not receive but a little amazed you what are you doing here 45:13 because we did not have an appointment monsignor we came to greet him to introduce ourselves with the minimum 45:19 language that we had the few four words that Maria Catalina could mother 45:25 sister Maria Catalina could pronounce and well we did the minimum minimum because we only studied and studied 45:32 but the practice as we were in the small house locked up we did not practice 45:38 you sir very cordial very cordial told us look sisters I have many 45:46 communities here here there are contemplatives I have very good communities our 45:52 diocese is not interested in receiving new communities So you can 46:00 return we returned home but when he said return we understood to 46:05 Colombia and I think he said you can return we returned to
to go back wait and I told him sir 47:05 what do we do? Keep studying, take the exams and study in silence and we finish the haki 47:13 we took the exams and that’s it, but we were very worried. 47:19 they said, go away, what do we do? and H 47:26 there was a meeting in Colombia, a Federal Assembly in Colombia and I had 47:32 to give reports on the mission. I was the superior at that time, the person in charge had to give 47:37 reports on the mission and I took advantage of the opportunity. I called the nuncio and told him 47:42 monsignor, I need to meet with you. We have a meeting in Colombia. I need to clarify some points. I came 47:51 We met in Seoul and I told him and he said, wait. He called the bishop of Pusan ​​and 47:58 he told him, surely. I don’t know what he said, but he openly told him that we were not there. He couldn’t. receive us not only 48:05 we neither the consolat were received the Lord sent them ahead to the diocese of Yumbo and they came 48:14 they were here before we arrived and there were two Colombians who were our guardian angels the 48:19 Colombian priests then and other I think another community the nuncio said sisters 48:27 he said to me sister what do you think I said No monsignor I can not give an opinion my mother 48:33 my Federal superior says that if you find another diocese if you 48:39 seem like it We stay and if not we do not return and she said that says the mother 48:46 Federal I said yes he said Ah well then let me because I have three bishops in Korea who are very 48:52 friends I have one in the diocese well he named two dioceses and I have a Bishop in 48:59 a diocese that is being born is a diocese on the border very poor is just 49:06 beginning and it is a very dangerous place is a Jesuit Bishop who is just starting 49:12 there the diocese Then I jumped in the chair Well it gave me a lot of emotion and I told him Jesuit and 49:20 he said to me Why And I told him it is not that you just said Jesuit and it is that 49:25 between the Jesuits and the visitation there is an intimate and deep relationship 400 49:30 years ago by Saint Margaret Mary and Saint Claude de la Colombier Because he was the 49:35 spiritual director of Saint Margaret Mary when she received the revelations of the Sacred Heart And from that moment 49:42 the visitation and the company of Jesus walk together announcing the devotion to the sacred heart then monsignor 49:51 said Well then I’m going to call him we saw at that moment 49:57 we saw how the light of the Sacred Heart is the Sacred Heart that is 50:03 saying I want you to stay monsignor immediately called monsignor Jose he 50:11 was in a meeting and they agreed to talk later and he told me go back to Pusan ​​and I’ll call you later if the 50:18 lord wants you to stay stay and if not I’ll let you know so you can come back the next day it was the feast 50:25 of San Francisco de Sales we had just arrived from mass we did the 50:30 prayer we did our lauds and 50:35 we were having breakfast I was already prepared to communicate with my superior in Colombia to tell her 50:41 openly that we practically had to go back I was already connecting to the internet via skye 50:48 when the phone came to mother that she needs you Monsignor Emilio the apostolic nuncio 50:55 I went to the phone and he said to me with great joy mother good 51:02 very good news and I told him monsignor received by the Jesuit bishop 51:08 in the diocese of Hombu be on the lookout because monsignor will 51:14 call then it was an immense joy because I was already communicating with my superior in Colombia immediately 51:22 we passed on the report we felt that it was the sacred heart that invited us to 51:29 come to this diocese because monsignor told me It is a poor nascent diocese it has nothing and 51:37 I told him monsignor perfect we are poor we have nothing we are very scarce That is 51:45 the best place for us so that is how our 51:51 began all the procedures Monsignor JosĂ© called us he told us they are received 51:56 All the arrangements were made and before 6 months we had the 52:01 grace to leave Egypt to come to the promised land. The Sacred Heart 52:08 took us out on June 30, 2007. He took us out of Egypt and brought us to the 52:17 promised land. We arrived here at 5:30 in the morning. We were received and 52:24 the diocese lent us a small house that the diocese had next to the parish where we were going 52:32 to attend mass. We only had to cross the street and there we were while 52:38 we got the land and we were received with much affection 52:43 by the parish priest, Father Clemente and Father JosĂ© Kimsan JosĂ© 52:51 and we didn’t have any money. Well, we came with what we had in
53:21 and since our money was scarce because life in Korea is very expensive 53:27 with the money we had we got permission from the diocese to temporarily sell us the little house 53:34 to be there while we were acquiring the money to buy land we sold the house below ulsan 53:44 and they got the support of the institute that we already had enough but we still lacked 53:50 a lot to get for the land the Institute responded to us 53:55 helped us a lot sent us donations the benefactors from Colombia sent us donations Eh well and we got the land but the 54:04 construction was pending very expensive then we saw that it was for 54:12 a long time we did in the house eh cookies we made eh cards we made candles in 54:20 Christmas We made nativity scenes, eh, little roses by hand 54:26 eh, we made many little things that we could make by hand, we did a lot to 54:32 collect funds, Father José received all the material from us and 54:38 helped us sell it and the ladies of the parish came to the house and bought it from us and they 54:44 brought us the bread and sold it in the parish. The very generous priest gave us permission but it was something unimaginable to think of 54:54 the money for the construction, eh, Monsignor Pedro, the new Bishop gave us 54:59 permission to collect in our diocese, which is the custom in Korea, eh, to collect in the 55:05 parishes, our diocese is nascent and poor, with 50 parishes, 16 more or less 55:13 they gave us permission, they opened the door for us, it was a great help but very small to 55:20 start construction we could not begin we did not have the permit we had to give the security of having 55:27 to have almost all the mountain for the construction we visited Monsignor José and 55:32 we asked him if he had priests or friends that he would introduce us to help us and Monsignor José introduced us to 55:40 Monsignor Basilio and Monsignor Basilio the auxiliary bishop of Seoul directly 55:47 he called the closest priests of large parishes he took them 55:54 he gave us the phone and put us in contact with different parishes in 56:00 Seoul of our diocese also some priests recommended some friends from Seoul and so the collection was 56:06 done over 3 years It was not easy for us it was very 56:14 kenosis because eh it was going out it was being with the people it was preparing the material Yes 56:22 There were 1000 parishioners, 1000 little rosaries. It was necessary to have my little rosaries, my rosary bracelets, prepare the 56:29 leaflets, prepare the prayer commitment that we were going to make for the people who wanted to help us and 56:35 do a thorough administration to have a very well-done administration 56:41 to present to the priest everything that we had received and 56:46 the support that we were going to receive, to have an administration that did not give any doubts at all that 56:54 later a problem with money would arise, so for each parish we had a card with its 57:00 administration, a sister from Colombia lent us our sister Lucelena who helped us in that administration there in 57:06 the little house, also a young woman from the parish helped us 57:11 a lot, as I tell you, Father, it was not easy, it was a lot It was painful 57:19 It was difficult but the people who helped us were generous in the cold they were cold with us in the heat 57:26 They were in the heat, the people who helped us helped us a lot 57:31 to do this collection and Monsignor Basilio told us not to worry until 57:37 the end I will try to help you and we did not understand there came a time when 57:44 We were so tired so tired we left on Saturdays at 1 in 57:51 the afternoon we got home at midnight because Seoul is far and then we left at 4 4:30 in the morning to 57:58 arrive at the same day at 11 or 12 at night after having attended the 58:04 parish at six seven masses the priest allowed us to make a 58:10 presentation then we presented a small V showing our charisma 58:15 Afterwards we sang a song in Korean and one in Spanish. The people 58:21 Soon it was already clear at the end of the mass that the people, because the masses here are long, were already a little tired, but 58:29 There was something very, very special. The two little ones, the youngest sisters, had 58:34 When we were going to start singing in Spanish, we did a little choreography, so the sisters had a little 58:41 So that the faithful would not notice, they had some 58:47 Angel crowns, half tiaras with white angel crowns, and then there came a moment 58:54 during the song when the sisters did a little choreography and came out applauding 58:59 The choreography and they put on the crowns, that had a huge impact on the people. 59:05 They arrived
We contemplatives were ordinary people and we were happy then 59:12 That also moved people a lot to help us. The harvest was 59:17 painful in terms of difficulty but it was very 59:22 beautiful because it was the unity of the encounter with the Korean church 59:29 Encounter with the culture, the encounter with Korea because well, we 59:35 Locked up in a little house we could barely get to know the surroundings 59:41 And after 3 years of harvesting 59:46 Eh, the greatest grace, the greatest of graces, on October 31, 59:54 2015, the blessing of the monastery, many priests from 59:59 our diocese, acquaintances, accompanied us. The parishioners also did not 1:00:05 fit in the little church, in the little church then 1:00:10 allowed entry to the courtyard there were more than 500 people in the cold because that 1:00:16 At that time there is already a lot of ice and there on screen they accompanied us in the 1:00:22 Holy Mass was the exciting moment of our life the arrival at the 1:00:29 monastery Monsignor José already as a retired Bishop we have had a very 1:00:35 beautiful relationship with him he has always come every month to stay 1:00:40 TR for hours with us we have a very beautiful meeting 1:00:46 and just when we arrived he told us never forget the past never forget to look 1:00:53 back and see all the hardships everything that the Lord allowed them to live 1:01:00 all the grace of the Lord that strengthened them until they got here do not settle continue being austere poor and 1:01:08 the same simple nuns that we had the opportunity to meet in 1:01:14 hombu in the little house where we lived in the parish and he told us this 1:01:24 and something very beautiful that he told us was all the suffering, all the difficulty, all 1:01:32 what was difficult for you to go out, to be with the people, was the gift of 1:01:40 Incarnation that the Lord allowed you in Korean culture, just as 1:01:46 Jesus was incarnated and because he was incarnated and became man, he can understand our 1:01:53 human fragility to the extreme, so you were able to meet Korean 1:01:59 culture with the Korean church in every sense of the word 1:02:05 so all that was an Incarnation that the Lord allowed you to live so that 1:02:10 you could, eh? to delve deeply into the culture and in fact 1:02:17 that is the truth eh that experience has helped us 1:02:23 we have always loved Since we have received it from the Koreans the 1:02:30 most beautiful testimony of welcome, support, help we have always had The 1:02:38 Angels have been our Korean brothers both priests and nuns 1:02:43 as well as the faithful the welcome and the support has been total and the fact of 1:02:50 having had this deep and profound encounter with the church and with the parishioners times in the recollection and in 1:02:57 these 10 years outside the monastery is what increases in our hearts the 1:03:04 infinite love that we have for this culture that is very beloved and very beautiful for us Where are we located on the 1:03:13 border eh when we saw the difficulty to build because of the cost 1:03:19 we wanted to change the place to go to another place eh look for something more more smaller 1:03:25 it was more humanly possible for us no no it was not possible even from the diocese they wanted to 1:03:32 help us it was impossible for us and we have discovered that here is where the Lord wanted 1:03:38 the visitation our Tabernacle is the chapel is arranged in such a 1:03:46 way that our Tabernacle is on the entire front of North Korea 1:03:51 then our prayer when we are in front of the Tabernacle our prayer all our prayer is in 1:04:00 front of the Tabernacle and behind it is North Korea so our mission here 1:04:06 is to pray for the unity of the two Koreas for our brothers in North Korea who suffer for our brothers in 1:04:13 South Korea and continually asking for the gift of Peace for these two nations 1:04:19 and we love them very much