Where is Neuzelle, anyway? The town of Neuzelle, with a population of about 6,400, lies south of Eisenhüttenstadt in eastern Germany, near the Polish border. The Neuzelle Abbey is located here and it was re-founded in 2018 after a 200-year interruption, now as a daughter house of the Heiligenkreuz (Holy Cross) Abbey in Austria.
Following a request by the Cistercian monks, there are now also two sisters from the Thuine Franciscans who, since October 2024, have lived there to provide spiritual support through their presence and tounder take tasks in other areas as well.
Father Kilian, subprior of the monks, set out at the beginning of February with Sr. M. Godeberta and Sr.M. Verekona for a first visit to Emsland, in order to get to know the sisters’ home. Candidate Justus accompanied the three. They visited, amongst other places, the sisters in our Provincial House in Schwagstorf and like wise paid a visit to our Motherhouse in Thuine, all done in a joyful mood.
Back in Neuzelle, an “Emmaus Vigil” took place a few days later. The “Emmaus Vigil” is traditionally atime for those under thirty to come together to pray and sing. During this vigil, Father Kilian shared atestimony of his experiences and impressions from the trip to Thuine. In the bible, it says, “from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks” (Mt 12:34)… and he took that literally.
The entire Emmaus Vigil can be viewed online by clicking on the link below. The homily begins near theone-hour mark, and subtitles that have been automatically generated and translated into English canalso be turned on. The link further below will take you to a document that has a list of corrections to theautomatic subtitles for the homily. We hope you enjoy it!