April 30 - Let us not forget our destiny...

                     
Let us not forget our destiny: eternally to adore and love, eternally to rejoice in the glory of God and of his saints.
Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger,
Ziegler, p. 251
Trust & Dare, April 30

April 29 - The sacred bond of love in Jesus ...

Wall painting at the Gerhardinger Schule (School),
Stadtamhof, Germany

 The sacred bond of love in   Jesus, which the Holy Spirit   has wound around our hearts   will be loosened or severed   neither by the ocean nor by   death; I hope it will unite us eternally in the world beyond, in                                                               the land of the saints. 

                                                                                                                                           Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 714
                                                                                                                                            Trust & Dare, April 29

Mother Theresa's desire for unity survived two World Wars and the Cold War.

April 28 - May the peace and love of the Holy Spirit increase in us ...

Blessed Mother Theresa statue at the entrance of the Generalate, Rome

***

May the peace and love of the Holy Spirit increase in us always!  
Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 2780
Trust & Dare, April 28

April 27 - Give me your Holy Spirit...

Wood relief of Mother Theresa. 

São Paulo, Brazil. Artist: Alencar, 1994. 

2014: Canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II. More information on the Vatican website.

***

1937: The first SSNDs from Bavaria arrived in Matão, São Paulo, Brazil. Today SSNDs serve in

• A network of SSND schools in Brazil;
• Heath care: Hospital San José in Criciúma – SC, Brazil and their  Nursing school. This is the only SSND hospital in the congregation.
• Community service: Leadership, formation personnel, administrative offices.
• Pastoral Ministry:  In many rural and marginalized urban areas.
• Social Work:  Rumo Norte in Porto Alegre for people with deficiencies (most are blind or deaf).
• Prayer and Presence: in communities for the sick and elderly: Our Lady of Grace, São Paulo; Vila Lourdes, Forquilhinha – SC, Brazil; Our Lady of Lujan, Adrogué, Argentina.  

***

Give me your Holy Spirit, who alone makes free, because he alone gives love. 

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 2
Trust & Dare, April 27

April 26 - I trust in the powerful help...

I trust in the powerful help from above through which all is possible even though mountains should have to be removed. 

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 2125
Trust & Dare, April 26

                                                                                       Stephen Meyers Unsplash

Many SSNDs saw the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in the Ukranian SSR. With our students and colleagues,  we talked of the power God had entrusted to us and how we needed to understand the consequences of our actions.  Mother Theresa points out, we indeed have the power from above to remove mountains but we need act with care so that our actions are in keeping with God's plan.

April 25 Help me , my Jesus

Tabernacle in Generalate chapel.

Help me, my Jesus, life eternal, and send me more and more of your Holy Spirit until I die wholly to myself and live wholly for you.

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 3
Trust & Dare, April 25

April 24 - ... I want to seek you alone

As of today -- International Immunization Day,  many SSNDs have received their Covid-19 shots. They are doing this not just for themselves but for the health of all those with whom they work.

There is no happiness but you; therefore, I want to seek you alone, O God.
Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 2
Trust & Dare, April 24

***

Kyoto, Japan, high school. 

Artist: Jiro Nojima 

On the base of the statue

is a quote from Mother Theresa: 

IF A PERSON WILL BE CHANGED, 

THE WORLD WILL BE CHANGED.

April 23 - Napoleon bombarded Regensburg.

1809: Napoleon bombarded Regensburg. Father George Michael Wittmann helped the people. Willibald Gerhardinger and his daughter Caroline (later Mother Theresa) watched the fire from the upper floor of their home.  

In our world today there is still much violence which SSNDs must deal with in order to carry out the mission of the Congregation.

***

Illustration from "The Life of

Blessed Mother Theresa 

Gerhardinger" 

Drawings by 

S. Landualda Linzenkircher, SSND 

1925 

Munich, Germany

Father of Light, give me the light of the Holy Spirit that I can imitate Jesus, your Son, my divine master and redeemer, . . . and that through creatures - a ladder so to speak - I may more and more come to know you as Creator. 

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 3

Trust & Dare, April 23

April 22 - Earth Day

Today is Earth Day or International Mother Earth Day.  The theme is celebrating Restore our Earth --Three days of Climate Action.

SSNDs will be joining over 1 billion people in more than 193 countries, to work for the protection of the Earth and all life on it.

***

May Jesus live in the hearts of us all! 

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 2781
Trust & Dare, April 22

 

April 21 - We ought always to be sorry for our sins...

   

Artist: Stanislaw Bober
Opole, Poland

Mother Theresa sought to educate the youth to their full potential as individuals created in God's image. Today is International Creativity and Innovation Day.  In many classrooms SSNDs are encouraging their students to think in new ways.

We ought always to be sorry for our sins. . . . All other sadness must be banished. It is not from God; nor does it lead to God, but far from him. Therefore, rejoice in the Lord: We are, indeed, on our way to the wedding feast of the Lamb!

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 2941
Trust & Dare, April 21

April 20 - Lord, you call is divine...

Heritage Room at the Munich Motherhouse
~ Photo album ~

Lord, your call is divine, your mercy without bounds!

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 29

Trust & Dare, April 20

April 19 - God wants me to be happy in him ...

Rose from the Generalate gardens

God wants me to be happy in him - that is, holy, - for this I have been created, redeemed and sanctified.

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 2

Trust & Dare, April 19

April 18 - Where there is peace, there is God ...

Where there is peace, there is God; where God, there is every good. 

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 5220
Trust & Dare, April 18

April 17 - The peace and grace of the Lord...

1838: The first five novices professed their vows in Neunburg vorm Wald.

***

1923: The Czechoslovakian Province began with its motherhouse in Slavkov u Brna.

***

1984: Father Anton Weber, postulator for the Cause of M. Theresa, submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints, the printed copy of the documents concerning the cure of Sister Tecla Medeiros.

An early photo of the house
in Neunburg vorm Wald.

***

The peace and grace of the Lord be with us all! 

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 2941
Trust & Dare, April 17

April 16 - ... comfort, peace, and joy

Ljubljana, Slovenia

May the Lord Jesus pour into your hearts comfort, peace, and joy, as he once did for the holy women who wept for him on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, and for the disciples who went to Emmaus. This is our Easter greeting and wish for you.

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 3537
Trust & Dare, April 16

April 15 - In the cross...

Generalate Chapel, Rome

In the cross is our hope, our life and victory. Jesus, the Lamb of God, has conquered; we, too, shall overcome in this grace and strength.

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 728

Trust & Dare, April 15

April 14 - The ways of the Eternal are unfathomable...

Generalate Chapel, Rome

The ways of the Eternal are unfathomable; we adore them in humility and reverent silence.
Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 1664
Trust & Dare, April 14

April 13 - In the cross ...

Crucifix in the Generalate Chapel, Rome

In the cross is salvation, consolation, and blessing. 

Blessed M. Theresa Gerhardinger, 862
Trust & Dare, April 13