Hope is looking towards the future. It’s not optimism that disappoints, nor is it hope! Hope is like an engine moving towards a destination. It’s the mechanics of the Holy Spirit. If the goal is attractive, the engine works well too. Our goals are primarily the promises we have and their fulfillment. Promises are beautiful; Jesus has given them to us.
Today, we also want to look to the future with hope. I have hope because Jesus is with me. Jesus walks with me! He walks with me and leads me by the hand. Just as he has been with me and guided me so far, he will continue to do it. He will not leave me alone!
The theme of the first meeting in Prešov (a city in eastern Slovakia) with members of the Koinonia from Italy was: “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Mary says, “Yes,” and initiates the realization of the plan of salvation. From that moment (May 13-15, 1994), God’s plan for Koinonia began to unfold in Slovakia.
The beginnings, 30 years ago, were challenging. We had nothing. We were given a rented house and had to leave it after a year because we didn’t have the money to pay for it. We had no place to go, and for a year, we lived separately (a group of the first consecrated) in two apartments in Košice. After a year, we moved to Zlata Idka, to an abandoned parish house where no one had lived for 20 years. These are not complaints; on the contrary, this way, I recall that the scenario of Camparmò has often repeated for us.
But the community was growing. Every year, we welcomed 70 new members. Our hope propelled us forward, knowing that there is a tomorrow ahead of us, to which Jesus leads us. When we started building a new house in 2004, we didn’t have thousands of euros in the bank. The Archbishop of Košice, Mons. Alojz Tkáč, blessed the 3 hectares of land and said: God provides; he will take care of you. And so it happened. In the foundations of the new house, we placed a stone brought from Camparmò. A sign of the powerful seed of hope that has grown and is now a robust tree.
During the pandemic, but especially during the war in Ukraine, we had an interesting and powerful experience. Our house became a place of refuge for 200 refugees, and it was here that fleeing Ukrainians found the living Christ. We offered them our beds, our warmth, our protection. Our greatest treasure is relationships, friendship.
My latest experience was precisely this: I left my home in Vyšný Klátov for three months and undertook a mission in a Polish oasis: Nowy Radzic. The brothers and sisters of Vyšný Klátov are in my heart as richness, but the Polish brothers and sisters have also entered my heart. This is the greatest experience and the greatest richness for me. And I must emphasize that my missionary priority was to be close to them, as Paul writes: to be like the fragrance of Christ.
Fr. Milan Bednárik
