Letters from the convents

CARMELITES OF THE CONVENT OF LISIEUX

Everything that regards the Church interests us keenly

Lisieux, Friday 17 March 2006

In the name of all my fellow sisters I wish to thank the Director of the magazine 30Days in the Church and in the World for the free subscription which he has just made us and for the interest he shows in the contemplative life. Be assured of our special prayer for you and for all of your staff. Saint Teresa of Avila wished us to be daughters of the Church, and it is because of this that everything that regards the Church interests us keenly and it is always present in our prayer. Thanks again and in profound communion,

Sister Dominique, Superior



CARMELITES OF THE EUCHARISTIC HEART OF JESUS
Uberaba, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Thanks for the booklet of the Holy Father’s meeting with the First Communion children

Uberaba, Wednesday 11 January 2006

Mister Giulio Andreotti,
may Jesus and Mary be praised!
What great joy to receive the gift of subscription to 30Days. How to thank you?
Only by hoping that Heaven will recompense you, in our name, as we ask in our prayers.
As for the two contributions: the first, yes, this work is truly within our prayers because it is totally ecclesial, pontifical, apostolic, missionary.
The second, certainly, every time it is possible for us, we will send some suggestion, according to our style of contemplative life. We will send you one immediately: maintain the charism of the magazine.
We also thank you greatly for the booklet The Holy Father’s meeting with the First Communion children. We read it in L’Osservatore Romano, but as a booklet it is precious for children, mothers and catechists.
Where can we find about another thirty copies?
Mister Giulio Andreotti! We are grateful to you thousands of times over! Thank you so much! Touched by so much goodness, we don’t know how to thank you, we will ask the Mother of Heaven that she obtain from her Divine Son, for you, all your intentions and a 2006 rich in blessings and graces.
In Jesus and Mary

Discalced Carmelite sisters


CARMELITES OF THE CONVENT OF CHRIST THE KING
Céu Azul, Paraná, Brazil

We live by our work and alms, trusting in Providence

Céu Azul, Wednesday 25 January

Dear brother in Christ, Senator Giulio,
may the peace of Christ be with you and with all,
we thank you from the heart for accepting the proposal of Monsignor Hugo da Silva Cavalcante, to send your lovely magazine to all the convents in Brazil. We in the Carmel of Christ the King have already received the first one. The community appreciated it greatly. We assure you that neither you nor your apostolate will be forgotten in our poor prayers. To let you know a little of our community, we are 17 sisters, 13 professed, a novice and a postulant. We live in Céu Azul, a very small but very welcoming town, in the diocese of Foz do Iguaçu, in the State of Paraná. We live off our work and alms, trusting in Providence. Thanks be to God we are well, we have spiritual assistance.
Promising our prayers for your intentions, we greet you cordially.

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph, yours.


CARMELITES OF THE CONVENT OF SAINT JOSEPH
Jundiai, Sáo Paulo, Brazil

We ask the Lord to reward you with abundant graces

Jundiai, Tuesday 7 February 2006

Very Dear Mister Giulio Andreotti,
peace! We have received your letter of last January with the first number of the magazine 30Days in the Church and in the World, which is the first of this precious gift to our convent and all the convents in Brazil. We thank you from the heart asking Our Lord to reward you with abundant graces. We think it will be a very valid contribution for our community. As far as the two contributions that are asked of us: prayers and suggestions… The first, we are already doing and the second will arrive in due time!
Attached we send a small album that we made on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the foundation of our convent (1994), in which we present some “sketches” of our spirituality and tell the history of our community a little. At present, we are a community of 21 sisters, 19 of whom are of perpetual profession and two of temporary profession.
Finally, we wish to make a request or a suggestion: presently our country is under the threat of the approval of a bill for the de-penalization of abortion. The bill is that proposed by the parliamentarian Jandira Feghali. The majority of Brazilians and, in a particular way, the Church are fighting to prevent this law being approved. Twice voting has been postponed because it was obvious that this bill would be rejected, and yet, within a few days, it will return to Parliament. Who knows whether the magazine 30Days in the Church and in the World could talk about the problem… Thousands and thousands of lives are threatened!
Should it be inopportune, it isn’t a problem, but we ask your prayers also for this intention.
Once again we express our gratitude for your interest in the convents. Count on our prayers for your intentions and that your work for society and the Church may be fruitful and blessed by God, through the intercession of Our Lady and Saint Joseph.

The Superior, for the Community


CONCEPTIONISTS OF THE CONVENT OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION AND SAINT JOSEPH
Bauru, Sáo Paulo, Brazil

We constantly raise to God our humble supplications for all

Bauru, Thursday 9 January 2006

Dear Senator Andreotti,
Ave Maria Purissima! We express to you all our gratitude and joy at having received the subscription to the magazine 30Days, for your courtesy and delicacy of heart in remembering this small “hidden part” of the Church of Christ. For us, Sisters of the Immaculate Conception, founded by Sister Beatrice (1489), it was a useful, as well as being a beautiful gift, given that some years ago, because of economic difficulties in our community, we cancelled our subscription to L’Osservatore Romano, which kept us informed in a secure way, on the subjects that involved the Church and society in the world. Because of this, we read with great attention in our refectory, the article on the Synod of the Bishops, and we savored with relish other articles that were very profound and at the same time compatible with our life of prayer and oblation for the Church.
Contrary to what many baselessly think, we are not estranged from nor indifferent to the sufferings of our many brothers. We are very close to and indeed suffer with them because we are all children of the One Father. With Mary, in an intercession full of love and hope, we constantly raise to God our humble supplications for all.
You, dear Senator, in a particular way, will always be present in our fervent prayers as long as God continues to act in the history of humanity, through your great efforts in the daily world. We propose an agreement with you: we will be your praying and silent heart that lives in the cloister and you will be our voice that, like that of John the Baptist, cries out in the desert of the world for a new conversion and love for Christ!
For the Community of Sisters, with most devout esteem and gratitude,

Mother Inés Maria Gomes O.I.C., Superior


CARMELITES OF THE CONVENT OF OUR LADY OF THE CARMINE
Santa Maria, Río Grande do Sul, Brazil

We thank God for your having remembered us

Santa Maria, Friday 10 February 2006

Very Dear Mister Giulio Andreotti,
we received with great joy and gratitude the magazine 30Days in the Church and in the World. We thank God for your generous charity and especially for having remembered us, consecrated to the contemplative life.
From our convent, we raise our prayers to the Holy Trinity for your intentions and needs, so that the best graces and blessings may be granted to you, to your family and for the happy outcome of all your initiatives.
As regards the contributions you request, as far as the first is concerned, you can be certain that we keep you ever present in our prayers, and as regards the second, when we have some suggestion, we will send it you with great joy.
May the good God, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel, always bless your life, your work and recompense you for all the good that you realize in favor of the Church and the world.
Greetings. In union of prayer.

For the Community of the Carmelite Sisters,
Sister Lourdes de Jesús



CARMELITES OF THE CONVENT OF SAINT TERESINA
Benavides, Para, Brazil

We have read secure information with joy

Benavides, Monday 13 February 2006

Dear Senator Andreotti,
we thank you for your kindness in sending us the magazine 30Days and the letter that accompanied it.
We have read with joy and interest these safe news reports that informed us of what is happening in the Church and the world.
We send you a small picture of our Carmel, situated in the Amazon region, the only one in northern Brazil.
We wish to thank you for with our prayer to which we are committed for justice and love.
Our most respectful greetings with esteem and gratitude.

The Discalced Carmelites of Benavides


CARMELITES OF THE CONVENT OF THE RESURRECTION AND SAINT EDITH STEIN
Senhor do Bonfim, Bahia, Brazil

We wished for the subscription to 30Days for a long time

Senhor do Bonfim,
Wednesday15 February 2006

Dear Senator Giulio Andreotti, shalom! Having been struck by your generous gift of the subscription to the magazine 30Days made to our convent, as also to other convents of contemplative life in Brazil, we wish by this letter to thank you sincerely and also to express our appreciation for your gesture of great missionary initiative.
Since it is communication that keeps fraternity alive, we also would like to share with you our prayers and thanks. May they rise up to the good God as the incense of a pleasing perfume, bringing to you, your family, and all those who work in the editorial staff of this magazine rich in content and beautiful page format, abundant graces, according to the necessity and wishes of each.
Saint Teresina says that God does not give us unrealizable wishes. Well, this truth we have experienced now, because we wished for a long time to have a subscription to 30Days to follow from close up the principal news reports of the life of the Church, to pray in an even more aware and objective manner. Also because “you cannot love what you do not know”. Since we prayed, the good God took it upon himself to fulfill our wish through this gesture of yours.
Our sincere gratitude, may God bless you.
In the name of the community,

Sister Maria Teresa de Jesus O.C.D.


CAPUCHINS OF THE CONVENT OF HOLY MARY OF GOOD COUNSEL
Notkersegg, St. Gallen, Switzerland

The good God amuses Himself by making small things happen

Notkersegg, Tuesday 21 February 2006

Dear Senator Giulio Andreotti, after having received with great surprise your free subscription to 30Days and having read the magazine with extreme interest, I wish to say to you, also in the name of our beloved Mother Superior, a cordial “may God reward you”.
May an echo of our gratitude, therefore, reach you from a neighbor of yours, Switzerland!
Without wanting to go into the details of the description of the “characteristics” of our community, the Capuchin sisters of the Convent of Holy Mary of Good Counsel of Notkersegg in St. Gallen, I simply enclose a brief publication about the spiritual-historical situation in which we live. Particular attention is given to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Gallen, once famous throughout Europe and suppressed more than two hundred years ago. This to underline the place of importance, now as then, reserved for “adoration and contemplation”.
Dear and kind Senator, some years ago your honor was gravely attacked at a political level. As a nun very interested in politics, I followed the matter attentively, in so far as it was possible for me, and decided in full conscience to take your honored person and the whole matter into my personal prayer.
Now through 30Days it is as if I meet you personally and I can say that I am very happy to make your acquaintance. And I add that the good God amuses Himself by making small things happen that are at the same time precious and sources of joy.
With best wishes and the promise to pray again for you and yours, I greet you with friendship and gratitude in the Lord,

Sister Maria Gertrude Harder