Thursday, February 6, 2014

Sharing: 我的圣召故事



     感谢你们给我分享的机会。
        我们会祖说“让我们参加座谈会就像一件简单的事情纵使没有高深的学问,我却发自内和你谈话
     我叫黄莉莉, 这是我的博客:http://anastasialindawatimm.blogspot.com
        我是印尼华侨,我的祖籍福建。2010年我第一次看望我福建的亲戚。当然沟通很不容易,因为他们说普通话和闽南话,我说印尼语和英语。
        我从幼儿园一直到高中都在天主教学校读书,高三那年领受了入门圣事。我很喜欢在路加福音第一章三十八节圣母玛丽亚的话:“看,天主的婢女,原照你的话成就于我吧!“以后我才知道我领受入门圣事那天是预报救主降生节,当时是圣周六。
        小时候我对修女的生活很好奇。读大的时候,我经常跟修女们了解她们的生活。后来我不想当修女了,因为我认为结婚一样能为教会服务,而且修女不能主持弥撒,如果我是男人,我就想当神父。
        大学毕业后,我一直努力工作赚钱,2002年开始我就很少进教堂。我去了泰国,马来西亚,台湾,菲律宾,和中国出差,旅游和学习。
        2004年的圣神内生活避静时天主给了我恩宠,使我能够用舌音祈祷。后来我有了新的想法,开始学习两套传教课程,每套需时8个月。每星期上3小时课,还有家庭作业和避静。我上第一套课时常请假,差点不及格。
     2005年开始,每逢周末,我都参加研究生的工作,学习金融专业。我还学习普通话,因为在公司里普通话越来越重要。
        200510月我坐在圣母山准备参加弥撒,我忍不住哭了起来因为我感受到很多天主的恩宠,然后我开始再思考我的圣召。 从那天起,每当我想我的圣召,就忍不住哭起来。一个月后,我告诉我的朋友,我愿承行天主的旨意,可是我还不知道天主的旨意,以后我再考虑圣召时就不容易哭了。
     四个月后,我决定辞去我的工作。我的工作前途很好,所以我的家人,朋友,同事,老板都感到很惊讶。我相信当我能放手的时候,天主会给我更好的。 我的工作是天主给的,所以如果以后我不想当修女,他也会给我更好的工作。我参观了好几个修院,有的穿会衣,有的没有穿会衣,参加了好几次避静,后来去了澳大利亚学习传教。
        2006年中两位印尼的神父把我介绍给玛利诺修会,因为有的玛利诺修女是他们的老师。 我开始关注玛利诺修会的网页。
        我在2007年初去菲律宾体验玛利诺修会的生活。我还学习了好几门课,包括英文课。在那里,我申请当玛利诺初学生。去菲律宾前,我想先回印尼参加避静,思考要选择加入哪一个修会。可是在菲律宾两个月后,我还是决定继续按照玛利诺会的安排。
        同年7月我去美国做初学。我只有一年的签证,所以出发前我还不知道一年后该怎么办,因为初学生需要两年时间,后来我向美国入境人员说明我的意向,感谢天主!  他们允许我留在美国三年。那时候我感受到天主的旨意要我继续跟玛丽诺修会培养识别力。我跟其他的初学生和两位修女住在一起,一起祈祷,一起吃饭,一起玩,轮流做家务。我们在神学院每个学期上两门课,跟其他修会的初学生一起学习,有男生有女生,跟玛利诺神父,修女和修士一起分享服务经验。我还去医院探访病人,参加圣神更新团体的活动,到孕妇中心帮忙,看望艾滋病人。初学的时候我还很容易哭:遇到困难的时候,感恩的时候,感动的时候都忍不住哭起来。
        20098月我在纽约发初愿。发初愿后跟玛利诺传教士们一起学习。发初愿前夕,我还跟天主说“如果你想让我当玛利诺修女,别让我哭。“发初愿那天,我没有哭,很喜悦。感谢天主!
        我选择在中国和菲律宾服务,原因是我会英文,对普通话很感兴趣,加上那里气候温暖,有米饭吃,离家乡印尼近。
        20102月底我去香港。我先在广州‘学习了四个学期的普通话。放假的时候,我回香港。期间我跟印尼教友一起祈祷,一起去医院看望印尼,菲律宾病人以及广东的麻风病人和痴呆病人。我还帮青年夏令营和青年节日的工作。
        20128月发暂愿,参加者大部分人是在香港的印尼教友。发暂愿前夕,我还跟天主说“如果你还想让我当玛利诺修女,别让我哭。”发暂愿那天,我又没有哭,很喜悦。感谢天主!
        毕业以后,我去广州和江门寻找服务的机会。但在那里的人大多数说广东话。我想在说普通话的地区服务。
        那天我问江门主教,在深圳市罗湖区有没有教堂。他说有的,然后把神父的手机号码和地址发给我。  我跟罗湖本堂神父见面了,他很欢迎我在那里服务。我现在在深圳市罗湖区圣家堂,一边服务一边练习普通话,同时我在香港会去女监狱看望那些罪犯,用英语,印尼语,普通话跟她们聊天,跟她们一起祈祷。  我还在香港一个慈善机构做义工,在玛利诺男修会为普通话研究班服务,同时练习普通话。
        我的爱好是收集猪玩具,有好几个粉红色手提包,我甚至从2004年开始穿粉红色衣服,鞋子,等等。有好几次粉红色奇妙的故事,对我来说粉红色象征天主与我同在。
     玛利诺会每位修女都配戴一枚戒指,象征我们是献身给基督的人,指环上刻着“PX”字样,是希腊文“Chi Rho”意即“基督”。指环是圆形的,表示我们的使命指向全世界。我们的座右铭是让天主的爱充满人间,这让我想到我的座右铭是让我们携手做简单的事情,用简单的爱使天主的爱充满人间。我们会祖说 ”每个人,她的工作,她的吸引力,是天主恩赐给她的一种特殊技能去拯救特殊的灵魂。“  我们的会祖不断地鼓励修女们发挥她们的专长,挖掘她们的内心的智慧, 培养她们大公无私的德行。
        我的圣召故事是天主的坚贞故事所启发, 圣保禄宗徒致罗马书第八章,二十八节:“而且我们也知道:天主使一切协助那些爱他的人,就是那些按他的旨意蒙召的人,获得益处。”我以前决定不想当修女可是天主再召叫我当玛利诺修女去香港和大陆服务,所以我有机会多用普通话,而且还能和修女们在香港住在一起。
        我曾写了两本书:《细数我的恩宠》和《朋友的爱》。  在我反思选择第一个服务地方时,我写道:“我知道我很渺小,凭我一个人的力量不可能做普世的传教工作,可是天主不停地召叫我继续往前走,因为传教不仅仅是帮助别人解决大事情,而且还要经常跟别人聚在一起,听她们的故事,分享他们的生活,然后一起祈祷。
        最后,我要分享我们会祖的话 没有什么比生命更惊人的,只是因为它是,没有什么比增长和变化更加神奇,就像透露给我们。而且正如经常发生,当我们停下来把天主的工作,没有什么可以做,而是对天主的惊奇和感恩。”

谢谢!主佑!


Hong Kong, 24 January 2014


Sr. Anastasia B. Lindawati, M.M./黄修女
Let’s do simple things with simple love to make God’s love visible

PS was shared with the sisters in Yuci-Shanxi, with the help of
          Ms. Sharon Wu and Ms. Theresa Li

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Article: Acts of Love



http://www.maryknollsisters.org/catholic-mission/index.php/articles/1164-acts-of-love

Friday, January 3, 2014

Article: Opening a Window to a Silent World

http://www.maryknollsisters.org/catholic-mission/index.php/articles/16-opening-a-window-to-a-silent-world

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Christmas Letter 2013

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
                   First of all, I want to wish all of you:

           Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
 May your world be filled with warmth and good cheer this Holy season, and throughout 2014!

How was your Christmas and New Year celebration? 
As for me, I spent Christmas in Shenzhen, my second Christmas in Shenzhen.   I still go regularly to Holy Family Church Shenzhen on Saturdays till Tuesdays except if there are community activities or workshops in Hong Kong.  My activities in Shenzhen are attending the Mandarin Masses; being with the parishioners either in chapel, in their homes or outing including attending the feast day of the other Churches; praying with whoever needed; helping the Sunday School, the religious articles store, and Summer School http://anastasialindawatimm.blogspot.hk/2013/08/sharing-summer-school-2013.html; bringing books/booklets/prayer cards; besides enjoyed the visit of Sr. Maureen, Sr. Shirley, Ms. Jody, Mr. Koeswanto and family, Mr. Richard Widjaja and friends.


As Sr. Agnes wanted to visit a leprocy center, so I accompanied her with a parishioner of Holy Family Church to a leprocy center in Kaiping.  Sr. Agnes and I left 6 o’clock from my place, took a bus from Luo Hu bus station to Kaiping then to Nan Lian Lu Kou.  Sr. Lin, whom I met in a leprocy center in Shunde, asked one of the residences to pick us up and we arrived at the leprocy center around 12.00 pm.  We chat for a while, had lunch at Sr. Lin’s place, and then continue our conversation with the residences.  We gave a small gift to each residence, total around 41 persons, mostly elderly man.  It took seven hours to go back to my place.  For sure, the residences were grateful for our visit.  Our parishioner was also grateful for this visit as it’s her first time to visit sick people and first time to visit a leprocy center accompanied by two sisters!  I invited several parishioners to go but they couldn’t make it. 
       I organized a talk on Theology of the Body for the parishioners on Nov 21.  There were more than 30 parishioners attended the talk and they wish to have another talks in the future.  It’s the first talk in our church.
       Our former Sunday School teacher is back to lead our Sunday School so it is more organized.  The children and volunteers wear white pants, more volunteers including the parents take turn to help.  I help to give away the top uniform, set up the back room of the church to be the classroom and clean it up, and take picture of the children with their parents and then put it on the paper frame, which I got from Diocesan Commission for Marriage and Family Hong Kong.   We will distribute it on Holy Family feast day celebration on Dec 29, 2013.
            An Advent wreath, with two purple candles, one pink candle and one white candle, was placed in the altar as we began the Advent season.      
          Fr. Lu, several parishioners and I attended Mass for the feast of Immaculate Conception at the Immaculate Conception Church, followed by dinner.  Twelve sisters from several dioceses in mainland who are working in Shenzhen including myself for the first time sat together in a table so we started to exchange contact numbers.
            On the second Saturday and third Sunday of Advent, several parishioners decorated the church after the Mass.  Several of them went directly from work without having supper and stayed till around 1.30 a.m., so they had supper at church almost midnight.  I helped to decorate both the front and back stairs and also the wall near back stairs. 
            Fr. Lu, several parishioners and I visited a leprocy center in Huidong on Dec 21, 2013.  Twenty one of us went for two and a half hours in four cars.  There are 11 elderly men and women, seven of them are Catholics.  We helped to decorate the chapel including setting up the manger; give winter clothes, rice, cooking oil, shawl, and red envelopes; organized Mass and also praise and worship.  All of us didn’t have lunch and several of us didn’t have breakfast too.  It’s the first time for most of the parishioners, as for me, it's the 6th leprocy center I visited and my 8th visit to a leprocy center.  For sure, the residences are so grateful for our visit and wish for our next visit in their new place.  Then, we went to the beach nearby.    Here is the link of the pictures: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EbuWrFm4ZM2HC 
       There so many people wanted to attend both the 7.30 p.m. Mass and 11.00 p.m. Mass on Dec 24 so the ushers should work hard to make sure that the Mass would be as solemn as possible including holding hand to avoid the people to go to the church whenever it’s full packed.  The front and back of church and also the stair to the fourth floor were full packed.  Several of them are neither Catholics nor attend Mass regularly. The children attended the evening Mass and sang“让爱转出去 (=Let love spread away)with sign language http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XMzQwMTIxOTU2.html and “Jingle Bells” in Chinese.  I was responsible to take the pictures of the children so I sat with the children at the front rows during the evening Mass.  The choir sang beautifully and there were nice Mass booklets for Masses on Dec 24, 25 and Holy Family Feast Day.  The church was also full packed for our first praise and worship, led by Fr. Lu and several young adults, in between the evening and vigil Masses.  After being blessed at the first floor, the statue of Baby Jesus was brought in procession to the altar (at the third floor) and then was placed in the manger in front of the church.  The bookstore was moved to the first floor to have bigger space.   I sat outside front church for the vigil Mass after stopping during procession to help bringing the religious articles up to the church.  The Santa Claus threw candies after the Mass.           
       The church, inside, outside and back room, was full packed on Christmas Day Mass even though it’s not public holiday.  I was moved during homily.  Forty non-Catholic men and women sang three Christmas songs after closing prayer. I helped at the religious article store in front of the Church before and after the Mass.  A parishioner invited Fr. Lu, several guests from Shijiazhuang, and me for lunch.   The inside church was full during Christmas Day evening Mass, even though it’s not the first Mass for most of them this Christmas season.    
            Here is the link of the pictures during Christmas celebration: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0EbuWrFm4ZM2Hg
            While in Hong Kong, I am still visiting the inmates in both Lowu Correctional Institution and Tailam Center for Women besides being the only leader of Financial Literacy Program at Pathfinders and helping the Putonghua workshops at Stanley House.  I also had several activities e.g. attending the deaconate ordination of SVD, two of them are Indonesians; Asian Liturgy Forum http://anastasialindawatimm.blogspot.hk/2013/11/article-asian-liturgy-forum-2013.html; Maryknoll Sisters Asia East World Section followed by annual Maryknoll Family barbeque hosted by Maryknoll Society, Hong Kong diocese jubilee celebration and Christmas carol at Stanley House.  It's a holy coincidence to meet Fr. John Eybel, MM at Maryknoll House.
            And, last but not the least, I want to thank you for all your support, love, hospitality, gifts and especially your prayers during this year.  It’s been a year of lot of “God with us” experiences especially how God prepares my ministries both in Hong Kong and Shenzhen.
                                                             
Hong Kong, December 26, 2013
With love and prayer,

         

Sr. Anastasia B. Lindawati, M.M.
Let’s do simple things with simple love to make God’s love visible