From 3-5 February 2014, the Austrian Pro-Province invited for the first time all three branches of the SDS Family to participate in the Salvatorian Reflection Days at a retreat house of the Sisters of Charity near Vienna. It was a great pleasure that 20 confreres, 10 sisters and 4 lay people came, among them one from Germany, Belgium, and Spain respectively. Father Peter van Meijl organized those three intensive spiritual days with the topic “Prayer, Bible and Trust in relation to Fr. Jordan.”
To examine the topic of the first lecture, Fr. Jordan’s Prayer, Father Peter had chosen the form of a fictitious televised interview: A television crew films the private room of Fr. Jordan in Rome at the beginning of the 20th Century. This room emanates a striking simplicity and frugality that for us nowadays is difficult to conceive. As soon as Father Jordan is starting to talk about his life and his prayer, he becomes enthusiastic, engaging immediately his listener who is able to identify with him. Fr. Jordan’s room in the first floor of the Motherhouse, a refrigerator in winter and an oven in summer, exudes the character of a man who talks about himself in an open and honest way. He speaks about how the experiences of his childhood and youth have decisively shaped his way of praying; of how genial people, like for instance the lay bachelor Valentin Maier, provided him with beneficial books to read and on which to meditate; that two priests have supported his career spiritually and financially. In 1918, the old priest Pfyffer, the then preacher of Jordan’s first Mass, still remembers him with great esteem. “One got the feeling that this recently ordained priest will become an important character.”, he wrote. It was not always easy for him to pray, but the Founder never failed to pray regularly, and a lot: in the army, when travelling and visiting abroad and at famous shrines like Einsiedeln in Switzerland. This is how he finally became a man of prayer.
In that long interview Father Jordan revealed to his spectators and listeners also how one can pray in stressful situations, during depression and illness. What he wrote in his diary in 1906, the same year of the terrible press attacks, that “Prayer is the greatest power in the world,” reflects his experience as well as his teaching. A second interview was planned with Father Jordan but it was precluded by the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Later on, it emerged that Father Jordan during the last days of his life had become even more simple, personal and true. Not only did he preach that prayer is the greatest power in the world, but he also had the chance to experience that himself, until the very end of his life.
During the second day of the retreat, we reflected on that since his youth Father Jordan had studied an extraordinary number of languages and even specialized in oriental languages. Nevertheless, in the end, the most useful idiom for him was the one of the Bible to express himself and his charism as a founder. A power-point presentation gave unique visual insight into Father Jordan’s Way to the Holy Scripture and his approach in this regard. In this way, we examined texts within their biblical context and came to understand their significance. As an example and way to see the biblical roots, we analysed the first page of the Spiritual Diary as well as the Spiritual Testament of 1885 in the original and in the translated versions respectively. Conclusion: Father Jordan was not only a man of prayer, but also a man of the Bible.
On the third day, we returned to the results of the first day. To introduce the topic Father Jordan and Trust, the vivid testimonies of Salvatorian Sister Ludovica Gilkens and Salvatorian Father Hieronymus Benz were read out: “Sister, do you see St. Peter’s Basilica over there?” - “Yes, Venerable Father!” – “It is firm like this that you should stand in our Congregation.” Also, Father Jordan, standing at the open window in Stalden/Fribourg, said to Father Benz:“Oh Father, I wish I had men like these mountains!” The capacity that most supported Father Jordan during his life was trust. Among the 269 prayers of the Spiritual Diary, the In te Domine speravi, non confundar in aeternum (In You Lord I have hoped, I will not be confounded for ever!”)appears 32 times. Thanks to a fascinating handout we were able to trace the inner turmoil of our Founder in very difficult times (around 1898-1908), and to realize how this prayer in particular, In te Domine speravi, ((In You Lord I have hoped) was “coming to the surface.” Beyond the man of prayer and the man of the Bible, that day Father Jordan turned out to be also a man of trust.
In 1884 the Austrian composer Anton Bruckner, a contemporary of Father Jordan, composed his famous Te Deum. In its regard he stated: “In case God one day will call me to Him and ask: ‘Where did you put into practice the talents I provided you with?’, I will extend the score of the Te Deum over to him and he will judge me graciously.” The end and highlight of the Salvatorian Reflection Days was the audio-CD In te Domine speravi, non confundar in aeternum played in the lecture room. Silence ensued.
