So also faith of itself, if it does not
have works, is dead.   James 2:17

Welcome to All Saints Catholic Community in Berlin, Germany. We invite you to visit and join us for Holy Mass on Sundays at 10 am. We hope our community will fulfill your need for a place of worship and to meet other English-speaking people. Situated in one of Berlin’s most picturesque districts, Dahlem, our facilities include a modern church, a quiet Blessed Sacrament Chapel, offices, meeting rooms, a library, a community hall with a kitchen and wonderful outdoor facilities where many of our social events take place, weather permitting.

All Saints is a congregation of faithful people committed to worship in English in Germany’s capital. We welcome new Eucharistic ministers, servers, lectors, hospitality providers, greeters, choir members – those who make our religious life active and colorful and our worship fitting to its purpose. So please do join us for Mass on Sundays, followed by our lively coffee hour in the community hall! We look forward to greeting you to All Saints. Hope to see you soon!

The All Saints Catholic Community is a member of the English-speaking Mission of the Archdiocese Berlin-Brandenburg. The Rector Ecclesiae is Father Herbert Gillessen. The English-speaking Mission members are St. Bernhard's (Dahlem Dorf), St. Albertus Magnus' (Charlottenburg), The Philippine Community at the Heiliger Geist Church (Charlottenburg), and All Saints Catholic Community (Zehlendorf).

Our Easter Retreat on March 6th provided valuable spiritual food and a great help in preparing our hearts for Easter. Click here to learn more.

Holy Father’s prayer intentions for March 2010

World Economy
General intention: That the world economy may be managed according to the principles of justice and equity, taking account of the real needs of peoples, especially the poorest.

The Churches in Africa
Missionary intention: That the Churches in Africa may be signs and instruments of reconciliation and justice in every part of that continent.

First Sunday in Lent, February 21, 2010

"All my fountains are in you, all good things come from you"
(Psalm 87:7) -
The three temptations (Luke 4, 1-13)

When I spent a year in Australia, I also spent a whole month with aboriginal people in the Tanami desert. I recall the red sand, the heat, and the marvelous nights – nothing between me and the stars in the sky. And I recall the importance of water – a well or a small pond where there was cool and refreshing water. The water there is precious, it is the condition for life, it is appreciated to an extent we simply do not know here in Berlin. Here, water is something so normal, it comes from the tubs, it is in the rivers, or – in winter – in snow and ice. But this is a privilege – in so many other parts of the world, water is rare, drinkable water is even rarer.

Sometimes, in a hot summer, we may feel the lack of water after a long excursion, when we look forward to drinking water. The people living in Palestine have very different experiences with water than we have. For the people in Palestine today and in the times of Jesus, water has a much more decisive roll than for us here. Only where there is water, life is possible. The bible often speaks of the life-giving water, speaks of wells and fountains. This is understandable on the background of the drought, the dryness that is everywhere in this region. "All my fountains are in you", "All good things come from you", "The source of my life springs from you”. This verse in Ps 87 is one of the scripture passages speaking of the power of water. This verse could be the title for today's gospel: Jesus had to endure temptations. And this story tells us about the fountains, the sources, the wells that gave life to Jesus.

At the time Luke wrote his gospel, people wanted to know, who this Jesus was. Is he really the son of God? How do we recognize this? And Luke answers by telling the story of the temptations of Jesus. And he does this in three images:

1. People need more than bread for their life

The first image: Jesus had not eaten for 40 days and nights, he is hungry. After 40 days, time had come to eat – and in this situation, the tempter, the Devil says to him: "So you are the Son of God. It is easy for you to end your suffering – make use of your relation to God and change this stone into a loaf of bread." Wouldn't it be good to have such a “miracle magician wonder God” - the right rituals, the right rites – and puff!, everything is in order... But the God Jesus is proclaiming, is different. This God is not a magician – Jesus does not want to use, to exploit, to instrumentalize God. Jesus wants to listen to the words of his God and he wants to understand his God. Bread is important, but also the nearness to God is important. This is one of the sources of Jesus – the relation to God that marks and enlivens and encourages his life.

2. All glory to God

In the second image, the tempter, the devil, leads Jesus on a high mountain. There he shows him all the kingdoms of the earth – power and wealth and influence are within reach for Jesus. Couldn't he use this power and this influence for good purposes? But they are not for free – this power and this influence, they cost something: “I will give it all to you if you will bow down and worship me." That is the condition. The basic question is: “To whom does my heart belong?” And Jesus doesn't hesitate for a moment: "The Scriptures say, `You must worship the Lord your God; serve only him.' " Again – all glory to God, all fidelity and faithfulness to Him – God is the source of his life.

3. It is about love and not calculation

And Luke presents us a third image: we see Jerusalem – and Jesus is on the highest point of the Temple. The tempter, the devil had lead him there. "If you are the Son of God, jump off! God will not let you fall!” And then, the tempter quotes the bible so as to appear pious and knowing the bible: “For the Scriptures say,`He orders his angels to protect and guard you. And they will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone.' " So God is presented like an insurance company – protecting you if you pay him enough. You give God faith, he gives you protection. But this is contrary to the God Jesus proclaims. God does give us his love, his fidelity – but this is not something like an insurance. You do not have any right to claim something from God – the relation to God is about love and fidelity, not about calculation. Again, this love, this fidelity of God is the source of Jesus' life. There is no need for Jesus to test God. He simply knows that he can trust in God.

Conclusion: For Jesus, God is the source of his life

And this is the message of Luke to the people asking him about Jesus: act like Jesus, trust in God's love and fidelity. "All my fountains are in you", "All good things come from you", "The source of my life springs from you” from Ps 87 could also be a confession for us. God wants us to have life, not just a bit of life, but life in abundance. We can scoop from this source of life and from the love of God. This source will never run dry. May these coming weeks of Lent give us many occasions to experience the nearness and fidelity of God in our own lives and in the lives of the people dear to us.

Thus we shall be able to confess: "All my fountains are in you", "All good things come from you", "The source of my life springs from you”.
Amen

Father Wolfgang Felber SJ

Fathers Ralf and Wolfgang concelebrating the Mass
on February 14

So faith, hope, love remain, these three;
but the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Holy Father’s prayer intentions for February

General intention: For all scholars and intellectuals, that by means of sincere search for the truth they may arrive at an understanding of the one true God.

Missionary intention: That the Church, aware of its own missionary identity, may strive to follow Christ faithfully and to proclaim His Gospel to all peoples.

Prayer from the beginning of the 20th century –
but attributed to Thomas More.

A Prayer (Chester Cathedral Refectory)

Give me a good digestion, Lord,
And also something to digest;
But when and how that something comes
I leave to Thee, Who knowest best.

Give me a healthy body, Lord;
Give me the sense to keep it so;
Also a heart that is not bored
Whatever work I have to do.

Give me a healthy mind, Good Lord,
That finds the good that dodges sight;
And, seeing sin, is not appalled,
But seeks a way to put it right.

Give me a point of view, Good Lord,
Let me know what it is, and why.
Don’t let me worry overmuch
About the thing that’s known as »I«.

Give me a sense of humour, Lord,
Give me the power to see a joke,
To get some happiness from life
And pass it on to other folk.

Thomas H. B. Webb

"Taking notes" of the sermon

Centesimus Annus No. 58.

Love for others, and in the first place love for the poor,
in whom the Church sees Christ himself,
is made concrete in the promotion of justice.

It is not merely a matter of "giving from one's surplus",
but of helping entire peoples
which are presently excluded or marginalized
to enter into the sphere of economic and human development.

For this to happen, it is not enough to draw on the surplus goods
which in fact our world abundantly produces;

it requires above all a change
- of life-styles,
- of models of production and consumption, and
- of the established structures of power
which today govern societies.

Pope John Paul the Second, Centesimus Annus in 1991

Rector Ecclesiae

Father Herbert Gillessen,
English Speaking Mission (www.english-mission-berlin.de),
Königin-Luise-Str. 33. Tel: 813 20 26

Catechism, baptism, marriage, confirmation, first communion and funerals