Many Hands are a Chain of Blessing and a Net of Good

In the calendar, November 11 is the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, a saint who is particularly popular with children. Thanks to the presence of the sisters in Caransebeș, the feast of St. Martin is celebrated every year with a lantern procession through the town. The children gather in the Roman Catholic parish church in Caransebeș, where we sing and tell stories from the life of St. Martin. After receiving the expected sweets, we go to the cross in the city center, where we end with a prayer. It is a moment of joy, children accompanied by their parents or grandparents are looking forward to this day.

And the children from the St. Ursula kindergarten visit us on this day with lanterns in their hands, singing and full of joy. Because they are well-behaved and come to the kindergarten with good manners, they are rewarded with sweets, which some eager children eat straight away.

It is a day at the end of November. At the St. Ursula kindergarten in Caransebeș, the final preparations are being made for the Romanian national holiday. Even though it is a national holiday, this day is celebrated in advance. The children gathered in their classrooms, which were decorated with Romanian objects, to sing, dance, eat doughnuts and feel like Romanians together with the two teachers. We sisters also experienced this little moment of joy and celebrated with them.

December is the month most awaited by the little ones. Santa Claus, the preparations for Christmas and the upcoming presents make them nervous every day. And for us sisters, December is a busy month. The benefactors, who started packing the presents in shoe boxes a long time ago, have sent them and they have reached us. Once again this year, benefactors from Michelstadt, Germany, adults and children, thought of the needy and the little ones in Caransebeș. On Sunday evening, the lovingly wrapped gifts arrived to bring joy to the children here. Separated into age groups, the gifts were received with big eyes shining with joy and sometimes without words

The joy was manifold: the joy of those who prepared, those who took the initiative, ours who shared and last but not least, and this is the greatest, the joy of those who received.

May the good Lord reward all the benefactors who are close to us in our charitable work.

On behalf of the children, the elderly and ourselves, the sisters, we wish all the sisters and all those who are well, a healthy new year, may God’s rich blessing be felt.

Written by Sr. M. Lydia Fecheta FCJM