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    Testimonial Christel G.

    "Youth is not an obstacle – you're getting older every day."

    Christel G. (*1932), social worker

    Father Cyprian Mayr OSB, the founder of our community, wrote this sentence in a letter in 1949, answering my request to enter the new community. I was just 17 years old. Actually, I felt drawn toward missionary work; I had already written to a missionary order when I heard about the urgent needs of Catholics in the diaspora of Schleswig-Holstein and about the planned new foundation. I would have liked to have packed my suitcase immediately and left, together with a friend. There was not much to pack, however – we were refugees from the Sudetenland, today the Czech Republic. I had completed secondary school and was supposed to help improve the financial situation of our family. My two sisters still went to high school.


    Don't enter a community that doesn't even exist yet!
    My parents were worried that they would not be able to give me enough clothes and linen, that they would not be able to pay the high train fare, that I was still too young, and anyway, what was that supposed to mean, going so far away, to the island of Sylt. Everyone was opposing me, objecting especially to the fact that I wanted to enter a community that didn't even exist yet. But on September 9, 1949, I arrived in Westerland on the island of Sylt – in joyful anticipation, but also with mixed feelings. Father Cyprian picked me up at the station.
    What was the motivation to leave the newly won home in Bavaria and the family, in order to embark upon an uncertain future? It was the indescribable material and spiritual need in post-war Germany, and it was an attraction coming from within: I had grown up in a Catholic family, had experienced war and occupation by the Nazis in the then CSR, later on occupation by the Russians and forced displacement. I had received stability and confidence from the Eucharist and the Word of God. There was no flash of enlightenment; but faith, the encounter with Jesus Christ in prayer, gives its own light and one knows that this is the way. "You must fall in love with Jesus Christ", Father Cyprian would say later, on meeting the countless refugees, needy and hungry, sick. "The path grows under your feet in walking, as if by miracle." Reinhold Schneider's dictum expresses the experiences we made in the beginning of our community. There was practically nothing but a small statute – no visible model existed that we could have emulated. The way could only be Jesus Christ: "I am the way."


    Hard years ...
    In the beginning, we were a group of 18 women who began the formation period on the 1st Sunday of Advent in 1949, and on March 12, 1951, we made our first vows. We were very different in age, profession, geographical and social origin and temperament, an enthusiastic, but somewhat "uncouth" crowd. We first had to learn what living in community means: to accept each other and ourselves as God created us, and all the newcomers as well. I was the youngest, quite inexperienced and dependent on the understanding of the "bigger ones". Then Father Cyprian was looking for a secretary. This was not my hobby, but it was an opportunity for me to get to know and understand better the thoughts of Father Cyprian, his ideas and desires, the charisma that God had given him for our community and that the Church had accepted and approved. Later, I worked as a housemistress for children's groups of all ages in a health resort for children, our first founding in Westerland / Sylt, and had the opportunity to accompany Father Cyprian in his pastoral services on the island, first by bicycle, then with a three-wheeled car and finally with a real one.
    We had to work hard in order to earn our daily bread. From a Father in America we received donations (powdered milk, cheese, etc.). In this way we learned to practically and personally endure the tension between ora and labora (prayer and work), between individual and community.
    From 1953 to 1955 – it had simply not been possible before – I was allowed to study in Freiburg / Breisgau, in order to become a social worker. This also included work experiences, e.g. in an organization for helping rail travellers in need (Hanover), at a border transit camp for refugees (Friedland), at a youth welfare office (Bielefeld), at a women's clinic (Wittenberg / Lutherstadt GDR).

    ... and the slow growth of the community
    East Germany, then separated from the rest of Germany, was particularly dear to our hearts. I also got to know the various tasks of our community and was able to help in many places, especially when the community expanded to Rwanda-Congo (Africa) and to Guatemala (South America) and began to undertake its missionary work there and engage in development aid services. There were many joys and sorrows, e.g. the devastating earthquake in Guatemala in 1976, the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, a dreadful volcanic eruption in Goma in 2002. One the greater joys also was that now native members of the community have taken over leadership responsibilities in their countries.

    Leadership responsibilities
    After a serious illness of our first leader, Father Cyprian had already in 1958 asked me to aid him in the direction of the community. This was confirmed in my being elected by the community in 1970. Although I was still too young and inexperienced, I agreed, trusting in God's help and the patience of my fellow sisters. Often it was not easy, and disappointments were inevitable, as they are in every life and every profession. We all grow by them. I am grateful to Father Cyprian for everything I was able to learn and experience through him. I particularly admired his flexibility: He taught us to recognize the signs of the times, and he could change plans if the situation demanded it. In spite of his impulsive character, the moderation of St. Benedict and the ability to make distinctions were especially important to him. Until his death in 1992, I was allowed to accompany him on many trips and visits in Germany and Europe: from Sylt to Bavaria, from the East, from the Czech Republic to Paris, Spain and London, from Norway to Rome. I particularly valued meeting other communities and secular institutes, especially the collaboration in the CMIS (World Conference of Secular Institutes). In contact with them, I learned to appreciate and love our benedictinie spirituality all the more. In 1998, I was able to hand over the leadership responsibilities to a successor.

    Seeds that carry life into the future
    We senior members of the community, who are past the times of our working lives, see our task in bringing all concerns before God. In great gratitude to the community that sustains us, we live in the moment, as seeds that carry life into the future.

     

    In April 2022, Christel Agnes Glaser, aged almost 90 years, left this world and forever moved into God's eternal glory. May He reward her for all she has done for our community, and may the "seed" of her life among us bear abundant fruit!


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