Tag Archives: earthquake

Universal Healing

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Dear Friends,

Here in Haiti, our flowers never faded or died, our trees were never naked or subject to the harsh winds of winter, nor did the birds ever stopped singing.

Maybe your flowers will soon return, popping up through the melting snow. Your trees will begin to show a hint of green before they are magnificently cloaked once again in full leaf and to those same trees will the robin soon return.

Together we rejoice, both in the tropics and to the north and south, that sun’s light and warmth, the flower’s beauty and the bird’s melody, tell of God’s glory and faithfulness!

We have had a different kind of chilling, a different kind of stilling of life. Here we have known the harsh illnesses of the body and the harsh winters of many hearts in mourning, and the harsher winters still of the stunned soul.

Yet at Easter we rejoice in the universal healing won by Our Lord’s resurrection. For the body, the mind, the spirit and for all of creation!

The signs of the Risen Christ are foretold. The blind will see, the lame will walk, the mute will sing.

We in Haiti rejoice for the children saved from the rubble of the earthquake, the devastation of cholera, the relentless poverty and homelessness.

We have seen the blind and the mute advance in our St. Joan School, where we set our sights high for these children, even seeking ways to help them learn computers and Internet!

The Fr. Wasson Angles of Light team strives to help children move beyond the horrible memories of January 12, 2010 and aim toward a brighter future.

The dedicated staff of Kay St. Germaine have worked tirelessly to fit and refit limbs, and to help children walk with help, toward their own homes and toward tomorrow.

Our hospital has introduced neurosurgery, saving small children who would otherwise be ravaged by the cruelty of hydrocephalus. Instead, they face a bright future thanks to a technique that is anatomical and avoids the use of shunts.

We have so many examples of God’s greatness at work. You have yours as well. With shared faith we give thanks to God.

At Easter and always we hold you in prayer, and wish every blessing from God for you and your families!

—Fr. Rick Frechette CP

Please consider a donation to help the Passionists in their ministry to people living in poverty: Please make checks payable to PASSIONIST MISSIONARIES.

Passionist Missionaries Inc.
526 Monastery Place
Union City NJ 07087-3398
Tel: 888/806-6606
E-mail: AGardiner@cpprov.org

Donate on-line by clicking the button below.
The Donate Now button will redirect you to Caring Habits, Inc. (CHI) which is the credit card processing company for The Passionist Missionaries website.


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The response of Fr. Matsumoto:

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Dear Fr. General,
I deeply appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

We, Passionists and Nuns and families are all fine.
Our house in Tokyo had tremor but did not have serious damage.

It is just terrible and chaotic.

Some towns are utterly destroyed by tsunami.
Already thousands people died and still over 10,000 are missing.
At this moment I really don’t know what can we do in this situation.

Please keep those who are suffering and who try to rescue in your
prayers.

Paul Matsumoto, CP.

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LETTER OF THE SUPERIOR GENERAL TO FR. PAUL MATSUMOTO CP, REGARDING THE EARTHQUAKE, MARCH 11, 2011

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Dear Father Paul,

The alarming news of that very strong (9.8° R.) earthquake which struck Japan today reached us on the radio just 10 minutes after it occurred, at 8.10 this morning. That was your afternoon. Obviously we are all considerably worried about how all our Passionists there fared.

Even if there were no physical injuries, the shock must have been quite great. All of us want you to know you are held close in our hearts, and that goes for our fellow religious
there, your kith and kin and all the Japanese population. We have seen daunting scenes on the TV and in the newspapers as also on the web in our computers. The most tragic part, no doubt, was the tsunami. Our prayers go out to all the victims and their families. Were any of you or our houses there directly affected? Please inform me as soon as you
can and don’t hesitate to tell me if there is anything we can do for you. At any rate, know that our prayers are with you at this time of suffering and worry.

My fraternal greetings go out to you and your Consultors, Fathers Francis Nakamura and Isaia Kishi and all the religious of the Viceprovince. I enjoy going back in my thoughts to those days of your Congress at the end of November and beginning of December last. Who would have thought of the impending catastrophe at that time? May our good God comfort and console the injured and those who have lost everything, and may he give eternal rest to all those who lost their lives.

As I await news from you, please accept my fraternal greetings as well as those of all the General Council and the community here at Saints John and Paul..

(Most Rev.) Ottaviano D’Egidio, C.P.
Superior General
Retreat of Saints John and Paul.
Rome, March 11th 2011

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Photos From Masses for the Dead – Haiti Earthquake Anniversary

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Here are some more photos from Father Robert’s trip to Haiti. These are from the Mass for the dead in the mountains and from the Mass celebrated in downtown Port-au-Prince on the anniversary of the earthquake.

(Double click on the thumbnails to view a larger version)

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Fr. Rick Frechette on the First Anniversary of the Haiti Earthquake

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Today when I got up at 5 am, I deliberately put on all black clothes,
after a disturbed sleep last night where several times I was awakened by thousands of voices wailing and moaning
which I knew were not really there.
A long hard day lay ahead.

It helped me, when I came down for coffee, to pray the Liturgy of the Hours for the Dead ( I hope it helped them too!)

For this first anniversary of our terrible natural disaster
(which was not a Divine retribution),
I participated in four masses.
One at the place of the dead, for the dead.
One at the fallen Cathedral with the bishops and priests and people,
One at our own hospital for our own dead,
and one at the Sacred Heart Parish for their dead.

If today we were only to remember the horror of the earthquake,
none of us would have been able to get out of bed
from being heavy with sadness

We would hardly have needed a special day to remember the earthquake.
It is in our face every day.
The broken buildings, the ragged tents, the hungry and homeless poor.

But today we remember so much more
and we remember in a different way.
Instead of our private daily experiences of an earthquake ravaged country and people
we remember it together
we see and speak our sadness
in order to hold each other up with arms and with hope
to not allow anyone to fall
in a chain of friendship and solidarity

and we remember deeper and wider things
We remember that sunrises always follow sunsets (no exception so far)
that tide out is always followed by tide in,
that old ones die and new ones are born,
that everything about natural life speaks to us of renewal and new birth.

And as for supernatural life,
we believe that God enters directly into suffering to bring redemption,
that our walking woundedness, when coupled with generosity and sacrifice, becomes something else, something wonderful
that make us overflow with  light and life.

We remember these things also today, and not just the sadness
and we remember the wonderful international solidarity
the heroic example of the Haitian people
and the fact that God used our weakness over the past year to do great things.

I retired our chalice today, the way a ball club will retire the uniform of an extraordinary player.
The great chalice of 2010.
Every morning, simple wine was poured into that chalice
the cup of sacrifice and salvation
and it became something else,
a cup of life

and our participation in the transformation is what made us able
to do great things as wounded healers, for a whole  long year.

Our Lord says,
Do you really think you can drink of the cup I must drink from?

We say:  We will try, with your help, by God’s grace, we will try.

And we did.

Every single day from January 12, 2010 to January  12, 2011.
And it has made all the difference.

The chalice now will be a monument to a devastating year buoyed by steadfast faith,
the chalice of 2010,
the year we learned that all the promised power of the cup of salvation is true power.

The new chalice, donated to the memory of Francesca Rava, our invisible Godsister
is ready to bring us again old mysteries ever new
and we are eager for its blessings, starting tomorrow.

Thank you for your emails of support and sympathy today.
We will remember you as we drink from the sacred cup!

Fr Rick Frechette
Jan 12 2011

Please consider a donation to help Fr. Rick: Please make checks payable to PASSIONIST MISSIONARIES.

Passionist Missionaries Inc.
526 Monastery Place
Union City NJ 07087-3398
Tel: 888/806-6606
E-mail: AGardiner@cpprov.org

Donate on-line by clicking the button below.
The Donate Now button will redirect you to Caring Habits, Inc. (CHI) which is the credit card processing company for The Passionist Missionaries website.


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