St. John’s 

　
Sister Kato, who just started her walk with God, is originally from Sano Church. She has deepened her connection with God in the daily practice and through our communal liturgical services. We all pray that her vows would deepen during our communal life and be put into practice in her future service.

Sister Kitamura, who celebrated her Diamond Jubilee, served at Fuji St. John's School for a long time, teaching tea ceremony and other subjects to the residents. Surely, she had a lot of fun being with them, but she also must have experienced hardships in working with the mentally challenged. Each time she was with them, she saw Christ in them. After serving the school for many years, she contracted an incurable disease. Yet, her resilient spirit has been a remarkable testimony of what it is to serve even in adverse conditions.

Sister Toyama is the first platinum celebrant in our community. She joined at a young age and served at Sakuramachi Hospital for many years as a nurse and midwife. She knows in her bones how important a life is. Many times great joy and gratitude was brought to her as a newborn arrived safely, but sometimes tears came to her eyes when a life disappeared right in front of her. At times she was blessed with the joyful consequences of her work. One day a mother brought a beautiful young lady to introduce to Sister Toyama. She said, “This is the baby you took in an incubator to a big hospital to save her life!”

The day before the vow ceremony, we had a ceremony for two sisters from Vietnam to enter the novitiate. They have started to devote their lives to God in Japan. In our order, we receive names when we begin the novitiate. Sister Dung received the name of St. Bakhita and Sister Ngan the name of St. Catherine Labre.

In his sermon that day, Father Kato spoke about the soil of the vineyard. It is in the soil that trees take root and later produce abundant fruit. I prayed with the sisters that our community, the Society of St. John, would be the soil to them so that they bear the fruits of their service. It is also our prayer that their future service will be a fertilizer to our community and that together we will produce the fruit of God's grace to offer to the world we serve.