Last June, the three sisters—Inma, Puy, and Chipi—from the Ain Karem group came to Japan for the first time. The Ain Karem visit was a much-anticipated event for us in the Province of Japan, as we celebrated a very special year: 75 years of the Vedruna Presence in Japan and the 70th anniversary of the founding of Aitoku School. Beginning with the Mass to open the celebratory year, presided over by Bishop Miguel Matsuura on June 7 at our school, on June 11 the Ain Karem sisters held a prayer gathering with all the students at Aitoku School.
After that day the group traveled to several places. She has animated a prayer meeting in Hiroshima with Spanish-speaking groups, Osaka and Tottori in Japanese groups, Mishima and, in the Tokyo region, the University of the Sacred Heart Sisters in Kamakura in Spanish, Matsudo Parish in Japanese and the Chinese Center in Tokyo, having translated and translated the lyrics in Chinese.
During the stay, they have had difficulty getting used to the humid climate of Japan and have suffered a little with their voices, probably due to travel fatigue. However, in spite of this, they remained strong in all the prayer meetings and tried to communicate with us Japanese sisters, and we felt like we had known each other for a long time. In this way we have lived very closely with all three of them.
On the Sunday before our return trip to Spain, a “Prayer Gathering” was held at the Provincial House in Tarumi. Despite the rain, many people attended, including elderly sisters, Christians from several nearby parishes, former students of our school, and teachers and staff from the Osaka Kindergarten. During the prayer, our sisters from Ain Karem always began by speaking about our Foundress, Joaquina, who lived with a deep trust in God even during the most difficult moments of her life, and how she lived in love; then they would begin to sing a song. The Spanish lyrics were translated into Japanese and displayed on the screen, which was very helpful, and the audience sang along beautifully. The series of stories and songs was truly wonderful and deeply touched people’s hearts.
The guitar playing and prayer singing seemed to sink deep into our hearts, sometimes silently and other times bringing us powerfully into prayer. Many people in attendance seemed to be fascinated by Ain Karem's voice and guitar playing. Singing has united us as one Vedruna Family.
Lucia Taya Wakana, ccv
