"Musik ist die Sprache des Herzens. Musik hilft, auf eine bessere Welt zu hoffen."
The "Lange Nacht der Kirche" only happens once a year, an evening during which all the churches are open late into the night and offering different programs…masses, adoration, prayer services, art installations, talks on spirituality, politics and the church, business and the church, art and the faith, art installations in the churches, plays, food, concerts, etc. You get a huge booklet and you go Church hopping all over Vienna. I started the night off by myself at Domanikaner Kirche (the Dominican Church) for the mass. I had been really struggling with finding peace in being in Vienna and with Heart's Home (mostly had to do with a little thing called homesickness). I went alone to mass (because at this point Alina was already in Italy and P. Jacques in France) and the gospel and homily spoke right to my heart. "You have not chosen me, I have chosen you!" and then later in the gospel…"Love one another". In these moments I am overcomes with gratitude because every time my vision becomes muddled and I start to lose my trust and my peace and I find myself just going through the motions to get to the next moment, God whispers in my numbness and beckons me to come alive again. He always takes me back, reassures me, helps me realize the ridiculousness of His love. "I have chosen you!" It was not I who first chose Him, it was not I who first chose to work with Heart's Home. It was not I who initiated my move to Vienna. He chose me, for this mission and this mission for me--my only responsibility is to love. "Love alone counts!" All my responsibilities and to-do lists, all my second-guessing or judgments, nothing matters in comparison to Him, and all He asks of me is LOVE. As soon as love leaves the center of my heart, the driving force of every little thing I do throughout the day…then that is the time to second-guess myself.
I went to meet Monika at the Hofburgkapella after mass to hear a concert in which a friend of her's, Johnny (a professional singer for the Vienna Opera) was preforming. After a beautiful performance, we left the Hofburgkapella in the pouring rain and crossed the inner city to the Missio Headquarters--the center of mission aid for the archdiocese of Vienna. After visiting the chapel there for some adoration, we finally got something to eat and found ourselves introducing ourselves to Pater Leo Massburg (spelling), a joy-filled, charismatic and open priest, director of Missio, and the former long-time spiritual director to Mother Theresa! After talking to him about Offenes Herz and our presence here in Vienna and our vision for our work here in Vienna, he immediately said, "You know, that is exactly what Vienna needs--how beautiful! There is someone I absolutely want you to meet. She is an artist, a violin player who played the most beautiful Ave Maria for the mass here this evening. She is the most beautiful person and actually is very much fascinated with the life of Mother Theresa. ……and you know what….you can start praying for her now because she's not even baptized!" And then he introduced us to Tomoko!
Tomoko is a beautiful, bright and joy-filled, 38-year-old mother of 2 and has been playing the violin since she was 3. After introducing ourselves and getting to know a little bit more about one another, Tomoko started telling us how she got to know Pater Leo--a friend gave her his book about his experiences with Mother Theresa, which she eventually read and which so touched her and helped her through an especially trying time in her life that an immense feeling of gratitude welled up inside of her that she knew she had to do something to contribute to the cause of the Missionaries of Charity. She got in touch with P. Leo, who she immediately became friends with, and then ended up having a concert in Peterskirche as a benefit for the Missionaries of Charity (unannounced to them) at which she raised 400 euro! Talking about these experiences led her to quoting some excerpts from P. Leo's book, and showing us a miraculous medal and picture of Mother Theresa that she always keeps in her wallet! The joy in this woman was so contagious and after exchanging contact information and receiving an invitation to her next violin concert in Vienna, I left full of gratitude myself for Mother Theresa, for violin music, for this long night of the Church, and for the beautiful beginning of friendship with Tomoko.
The rest of the Lange Nacht der Kirche was full of beautiful moments--but I really wanted to tell you about it because I wanted to introduce you to Tomoko who has since then become a dear, dear friend of ours!
A couple weeks after meeting her, Monika, Alina (when she came back in between her times in Italy) and I went to her concert--a free 'Musik Abend' in a hotel in Vienna. I was stunned. The talent of this woman--her passion and spirit when she plays is like nothing I have ever, ever seen! I felt like dancing all the way home after the concert! We spoke for a while after the concert, which is when we learned that she would be going to Japan for most of the summer, to play a concert and visit some family there. But that she would be back in September, with a full stock of new CD's she had recorded of her playing Bach (her favorite). That night we all became friends with her on Facebook and eagerly awaited her return to Vienna!
So the next time we heard from Tomoko was on Facebook inviting us to the next "Musik Abend" in hotel Papageno--by this time Alina and Fr. Jacques were back in the city. Fr. Jacques and I attended the concert--also bringing along Agnes, a long-time friends of ours who is especially dear to me, and his cousin and his cousin's wife who were on holidays in Vienna and whom we had the pleasure of getting to know over the week they were here and coming over for lunch and dinner, and going to museums, helping us move furniture, etc. It ended up that the concert was from a friend of Tomoko's, and not Tomoko playing, but nonetheless it was a wonderful opportunity for Tomoko to meet Fr. Jacques as well and the music was nothing less than superb. A beautiful blessing from this night was especially getting to meet one of the daughters of Tomoko--Keiko--who is a spunky little 10-year-old!
Since then our friendship with Tomoko has grown under the loving and providing hand of God's grace even more and I have slowly been brought to the realization, not only through our friendship with Tomoko but with many others as well, that there is only a difference of spelling that differentiates "friendship" and "miracle"--otherwise they are one and the same!
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and here is a video of her's so you can get a little taste...
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