Today Sister Marcelline Koch, OP is in Iraq with a delegation including two other Dominican Sisters to visit the Dominican Sisters in Iraq, Iraqi Christians and Iraqi citizens whose homes were overrun by terrorists causing them to be internally displaced.
Below is her contribution to an article written for Global Sisters report. Click here to read the whole article.
We have family in Iraq: A journey in solidarity and love
Marcelline Koch, OP, Dominican of Springfield, Illinois
The connection to our Dominican sisters and brothers in Iraq was ignited in us during the 1990’s by our brother, Timothy Radcliffe. Since then we have honored the claim that We Have Family in Iraq. As family we have grown in relationship – U.S. and Iraqi Dominicans.
For the past four weeks, all of us have been praying Come, Lord Jesus. We want our God to come among us, and God does, in and through all of us.
Meister Eckhart wrote that “we are all meant to be mothers of God . . . for God is always needing to be born.” As I place these words along-side the question in the Christmas message from the sisters in Iraq – Where and how are we going to be born in this tough crisis in which we live? – I know that I want to be about this birthing process. I want to visit our sisters and brothers, hear their stories, and let them know of our love and concern. As they have been for us in their suffering, I want the presence of our delegation, in the name of the Dominican Family, to be a sign of hope and solidarity.
In Jesus, we experience God’s solidarity with us. And in our solidarity with one another, we draw strength for all our birthing.
