Twenty years: The Sermig Fraternity and the Holy Land of Jordan

On July 20, 2003, on the day of Saint Elias, our Fraternity left to come and live in the Holy Land of Jordan. We left feeling protected and blessed also by this prophet who lived in these lands and who accompanied us from the first steps on the path that the Lord opened for us here. In fact, it was precisely during a visit to the Sanctuary of the Prophet Elijah, in northern Jordan, that Ernesto in 2001, during a pilgrimage returning from a trip to Syria in the wake of John Paul II, found a stone that greatly reminded us of the figure of the Madonna. An image that accompanied us in answering "yes" to the invitation of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem to be present in Jordan in a stable way, as a Fraternity, at the service of disabled Muslim and Christian children and young people and of the Christian families of this land . From this presence, the Arsenale dell'Incontro was born in Madaba in 2006.

They were years lived in the Presence, which guided the willingness to be there, to be, with the Lord and for him. In the best moments and in the most difficult ones. Even in the narrowest passages - and among all we remember the sudden departure for Heaven of Maria Teresa, one of the sisters of the Fraternity who left to be in charge of the Arsenal of the Meeting and who the Father called to himself on 23 March 2006 after just 24 hours of mission here – there has never been a lack of willingness on the part of any of us to stay. Going through joys and hardships with the Lord, in the great awareness that this speaks of God, first of all to us, but also to all the people we meet. And on this availability the Lord has built and continues to build his house, which when looked at with our eyes and knowing our littleness is a daily miracle.

Thinking about these 20 years we hear the words of the first letter to the Corinthians in which Paul says: «I planted, Apollos watered, but it was God who made the growth. So, neither he who plants nor he who waters is worth anything, but only God, who makes it grow. He who plants and he who irrigates are one and the same thing [...]. For we are God's collaborators, and you are God's field, God's building" (1 Cor 3:6-9). In turn, some of us planted, irrigated, harvested fruits that others had sown, tilled the soil, allowed the Lord to throw his life into the ground like a seed... But everything could and can be a story of good and a sign of God's limitless love (for us and for many!) only because it is he who leads and makes us grow. Without the Lord nothing would have been possible and nothing would have value, with him it is worth a lot and in his eyes each of us is worth a lot too!

On 21 July 2003, the second day of our mission in Jordan, Rosanna wrote in Ernesto's diary in reverse: «It won't always be as beautiful as today, it won't always be easy, the sky won't always be blue... but we will know - also in moments of darkness – look at the Crucifix and tell ourselves that we are here for him and only for him. And everything will become beautiful, serene again, and the sky will still be blue, bright like today! It is the land of Promise, it is the land of Hope. Thank you again for this teaching: welcome the unexpected, live in the present moment, have hope in your heart, always!

With emotion we thank the Lord for having brought us physically to the land of the Promise, for having made our Fraternity his camp. We entrust to him the sowing that has taken place up to now and all that will come. So that it may be, and remain always and forever, solely the work of God. And we continue to be. Welcoming the unexpected, living in the present moment, with hope in our hearts always, as Ernesto showed us from the first moments of our presence here. So that many, many are touched by his love and meet him. Not in words, in deeds. In the silence of a life in which he makes himself Present. Breathing that Love in the small gestures received or given.

The Arsenal of the Meeting in Jordan
NP October 2023