The good Samaritan. Replica of a painting of Rembrandt from the Eremitage in St. Petersburg. Replica in the basilica in Iacobeni/Romania. The parable of the New Testament (Luke 10,30 – 37) is about the good Samaritan. On his way from Jerusalem to Jericho a man was robbed and battered. Neither a priest coming by nor a levite (minister at the temple) looked after the injured man. Only a traveller from the enemy country of Samaria attended to the helpless. He cleaned his wounds with wine and oil and brought him to the next hostel on his horse. He left money so that he could be able to recover. Rembrandt painted the Samaritan with a male and a female hand. The picture has been copied for this basilica in order to refer to the deaconry and the caritas and our foundation for abandoned street children in Cincu, who have found a “hostel” there for 15 years.

 There was a young man already keeping all the commandments, who asked “What do I still lack?” And the LORD answered: "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me." When the young man heard this, he went away sadly, because he had great wealth (Matthew 19,21). And you? Come and follow me! We now establish the community of the good Samaritans. Leave everything you have behind you and follow me. The community of the good Samaritans are men and women in succession of Jesus. The community is interdenominational and lives and works in the spirit of prayer and gospel. The good Samaritans vow poverty, obedience, celibacy and charity, especially for the abandoned children and the poor and the old. These vows are taken for a short time, for one or several years or for a whole lifetime.

 
At the beginning of August my strength had collapsed once again. My Diabetes together with a kidney failure caused me a coma of almost 5 days. Viorel and my big children thought that now had come what I had always been announcing: the end. They stood around my bed – 5 days – and cried. Even the big boys cried. All the children ceaselessly prayed in the chapel. Nobody had told them. And they used their “contract with heaven”. On the fifth day I got up as if there had been nothing. Of course I had a beard and “Bonifatius” the new little dog in Iacobeni suddenly had grown a lot. The garden had got full of weeds and I then wrote: “Do not be afraid. Come to   m e . Follow me! I want to have you near   m e . That is your only aim. Do not look for other ones. Give you to   m e   entirely. Come to me without anything, like I have sent   y o u   to the world. But bring humans along. Especially the maltreated, especially the oppressed. I promise you my eternal recovery. I love you. I adore you. You are even not able right now to discern how much I love you. Time is running out. Do not get lost anymore. Not a foot. Do not waste your time. Not a minute. Soon everything will be done. The prayers of your children have prepared everything here. Your wonderful children. The angels of your children are ready. In the most brilliant light, in the most brilliant colors, like your children saw them. Put your „things“ straight. Fix everything well. Like I want it to be. Put on your most colorful dress and give back the colors to the angels in Cincu.“
 

* In 1995 my car was prepared by the Romanian „services“ in a way that surviving after a crash must actually have been impossible. But I survived this horrible crash and as a “reward” got a shock diabetes I have to live with since then.
 

Put on your clothes and sandals… Wrap your cloak around you and follow me… (Acts 12,8). You know that we have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us… (Matthew 19,27)? If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and the gospel will find it… We are looking forward to your visit…

 
 
Ecumenism

for us is that we respect your church membership, your belief and your religiousness … and you our Catholicism, for Catholic means all-embracing… So we invite you to

 
a life of prayers, to the Holy Mass, to receive the sacraments, even the Holy Communion, no matter, if you are Catholic, Protestant or orthodox, no matter to which religious denomination you belong to. There is only one truth, that frees us, and only one GOD: Jesus Christ…

First of all the most important is to fix a time and a place to be with God and to be with him alone … Building up instead of destroying, encouraging instead of hurting, freeing instead of making demands … not dreaming away from the bitter reality, but coping with the inner and outer chaos … being with your feet firmly on the ground, but living in heaven with your heart … therefore we need the vows … solitariness, silence, prayer, manual work, practising charity, leaving the stress and the “society of possessing”, turning to God, winning new standards. Not escape from the world, but ability to loving solidarity, to kindhearted company… therefore we need the vows of  

Poverty – abandonment of belongingsObedience – abandonment of selfishnessVirginhood – abandonment of sexuality, comfort and familyCharity – abandonment of success and vanity