„Unless the Lord builds the house, everyone who builds it labors in vain … “ (Psalm 127)
We have prayed this over and over again in recent years – when the Capuchins withdrew from their monastery in Gmunden in 2007 and also when the Jesuit house on Lake Traunsee was sold (we lived there from 2007 to 2010). But when the houses didn’t go to us, our commitment to prayer in this direction also waned again. In general, even in the early years of KISI we dreamed of having our own house, inspired by the house of the de La Tour Foundation in Treffen (Carinthia), where we spent several summer weeks. In 2003, a young person at the time began making a monthly, earmarked donation for a KISI-house, which we still receive today. A KISI-mother, Renate, recently showed me a weekly prayer plan where she had already decided years ago to pray for the intentions of a KISI-house.
And as we know, God hears our prayers. In these weeks and months, we have been able to experience this in a way that we have „only“ heard from others before. I (Hannes) am already writing these lines in „our“ KISI-house, for which we signed the purchase contract a week ago. And when I say „us“, I mean exactly that: this house, sponsored by God, belongs to all KISIs.
It would go beyond the scope of this report to tell all the many big and small stories surrounding the purchase of this house. Therefore in „short form“:
March 2016: Hannes is looking for a house for friends and „comes across“ what will later become the KISI-house.
May 2016: The house is viewed for the first time. Summary: great house with a corresponding price. We know the seller couple, as we sang at their wedding many years ago and also had a performance organized by the seller a few years ago. They would be very pleased if we could buy the house, as it could be continued in their spirit, so to speak. We start praying for „more space“.
August 05, 2016: At the end of the early mass, Hannes receives the information that the couple has decided to make the first floor of the house available to us for the next 2 weeks starting that evening. Time and again this summer, we had experienced doors being closed to us that were actually already open: On this morning, I didn’t yet know where around 100 KISIs would be sleeping that evening … God helps in time at the latest.
August 06-19, 2016: We prayed with the children: Lord, is this house „our“ house? We went on a prayerful pilgrimage around the house. We climbed the surrounding mountains (including Traunstein) and prayed „down to the house“. We prayed a novena (more were to follow). We didn’t have a clear yes, but we also didn’t have a clear no. One thing, however, we realized: the children felt comfortable in this house. We adults did too, as did the young people.
But our hearts were not in the house. We let it go, knowing full well that the cost of the house was estimated at 3 million euros. We knew that we didn’t even need to start putting our money together. The sum was clearly too high. Well: for us.
Over the course of the summer, we prayed and fasted for the intentions of a neighborhood. In the meantime, 14 young people had begun their service at KISI as volunteers and our two previous apartments on Grasberg were no longer big enough. We definitely needed more space. That it would be so much: Who would have thought? To be honest, we didn’t really. But suddenly we began to pray more and more that God had indeed prepared a place for us:
Night of September 13 to 14: On the night’s journey from Volos (Greece) to Medjugorje (Bosnia Herzegovina) with the volunteer team, we received the following promises in listening prayer: „I am honored that you trust me like this. Keep your eyes open! I will give you a house. I will give it to you.“
September 16, 2016: Goldenstein Castle, Salzburg. KEY weekend. We keep our eyes open and discover a KISI-calendar for 2016 in the sisters‘ convent. The headline for the month of September reads: „We have a home. Hooray!“ The excitement is great: a confirmation?
18 September 2016: Mass to introduce the new team of volunteers. During the mass, the celebrating priest has the impression that God is telling him to ask a friend of his whether he could donate something to KISI. After the mass, the question at lunch: „Hannes, do you need money?“ – „Of course we need money. Our car needs more and more repairs. We had a deficit in the budget for the last working year. And then there’s this square farm. Does your friend have that kind of money?“ – „I don’t know,“ I was told. He had never spoken to him (the friend) about anything like that and he was very embarrassed to ask. We equipped the priest with promotional material and prayed.
20 September 2016: Two calls from the priest that day. In the morning: „Please pray. The conversation will take place at lunchtime.“ Afternoon: „I told my friend about you and also about the house. I ‚only‘ told him, I didn’t ask him for money. He said that he didn’t know KISI, but if the priest thought it was a good thing, he would be happy to support KISI with €500,000!“ Wow! We were overwhelmed, grateful and moved. And this was just the beginning.
27 September 2016, 15:00: A KISI delegation visits the benefactor to thank him, sing for him and bless him.
29 September 2016: The church commemorates the archangels Michael, Gabriel (Hannes‘ saint of the year) and Rafael. After the early mass, a cautious look at the account balance: the sum mentioned on 20 September was in our account twice over! We were overwhelmed, grateful and moved and praised God!
To cut a long story short:
24 November 2016, 17:30: We celebrate the first mass in the new KISI-house. It is the eve mass on the feast day of St Catherine of Alexandria. At the beginning of the year, she was chosen as the saint of 2016 for KISI. What divine timing. We had signed the purchase contract an hour earlier. The benefactor had transferred the necessary sum to us in 3 instalments.
26 November 2016: Debora, 8 years old, unlocks the house: KISI KEY moves into storage in the KISI-house for the first time.
So we can rightly say:
„1 Unless the Lord builds the house, everyone who builds it labours in vain. Unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman keeps watch in vain. 2 It is in vain that you rise early and sit down late to eat the bread of labour, for the Lord gives it to his own while they sleep. 3 Children are a gift from the Lord; the fruit of the womb is his gift. 4 As arrows in the hand of the warrior, so are sons from the years of youth. 5 Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them. They will not fail in the battle with their enemies.“ Psalm 127
Finally, words from the benefactor:
„Just one more thing that is very serious and important to me: thank and praise our Lord God with your family and children for this development. I know: you do that anyway. But it’s also the only right thing to do. But in our case, I really only have a pass-through function. Otherwise the Almighty would have to make it rain down on your house from heaven or suddenly smuggle it into your wallet. That would be a real miracle, which – it seems to me – he uses very sparingly, even for us.“
