“A sincere desire knows how to touch deeply the chords of our being, which is why it is not extinguished in the face of difficulties or setbacks. Pope Francis
In this Easter season, in this time of joy, the Little Sisters of the Biel Fraternity have taken the time to share on the Pope’s catechesis about desire.
During a recent community sharing, Maria Ursula told us that every morning the first thing she does is to unlock the front door of the apartment. It is a conscious action and as she does it every morning she asks God for the grace to be open to what is going to happen today: to open the door and to open her heart.
She also shared with us a beautiful meeting that she had been desiring for a long time. Every week, on the same day, at the same time in the morning, she would see an elegant young woman with long hair, dressed all in black and wearing tall black boots on the bus. Every week, this young woman would slip into the same seat. She was very pale and with big headphones on her ears, she seemed to notice nothing around her. Two minutes of travel together on the bus. Maria Ursula sometimes got angry at the situation, feeling that she was non-existent in front of this person. One morning she got over her annoyance and said to herself: “What if you made the effort to look at her differently, without labelling her? So she turned to the young woman with a smile and just then the woman looked up, met her eyes and smiled back. Maria Ursula added: “There is a little song that I have been singing for months. I sing it every day and sometimes at night: ‘Look with the eye of your heart beyond what you see and listen beyond words with the ear of your heart.’ Perhaps this song has helped me to have a paschal eye, a paschal heart.”
Being attentive to our sincere desires and those of the people around us touches, as Pope Francis says, the chords of our being in depth and makes them resonate. Thus, among the “living” people around us there is Erna Maria. Ursula Melanie has known her for a very long time. In the past, Erna and her husband were neighbours of the Biel community.
Erna Maria is of Austrian origin and has experienced many hardships. Today she is 87 years old. She loves singing and music. At the age of 60, she started to learn the zither. It was a desire she had had since childhood but hadn’t been able to realize due to lack of money. She sings in several languages; she can also yodel and has a great zest for life. She reached the finals of a television programme similar to “The Voice”, which seeks to showcase the various talents that exist in Switzerland (not only music and singing, but also dancing, etc.). Ursula Melanie has been following her adventure closely and accompanied Erna Maria to the finals. If you want, you can look it up here.
Here’s someone who hasn’t allowed her desire to dry up.
L.sr. Anny-Myriam