Joanna Moś rscj, province of Poland
Joanna Moś, rscj
|
With a student.
|
Joanna, pronouncing her vows.
|
|
|
|
 Toña Monzón
|
I was born in Gdansk, a harbour city near the Baltic Sea, but I grew up in Gdynia, which is also a harbour, 25 km from Gdansk. I’m the youngest of six children and my brothers and sister are much older than me. When I was 10 the last of my brothers left home and started his own family. I lived in Gdynia until I was 24 years old, when I entered the Society. I finished high school there. While I was in high school I discovered a deep desire to help people, those who feel lonely, sad, and without a sense of life. I just knew that each person needs love and, I wanted so much to convince them that they are worth loving, that they just have to believe in it.
That is why I decided to study psychology – to help others to discover that life can be a great gift and an adventure, even when one experiences difficulties and sadness. I did my psychological studies in the University of Gdansk.
During the time of study I realised that my life was empty, that I needed Something in order to fulfil this emptiness. Also, helping people only by myself did not make sense. Then I met Jesus, and I began to feel a very deep desire to pray. So I shared with Jesus my dreams and desires, but also my problems and difficulties. This was my conversion. After that I made my first Ignatian Retreat, where I felt very gifted by Jesus. I knew that His Word had something very important to say in my life. I felt like I’d met a Person who knows everything about me and loves me unconditionally. At the time I was fascinated by many people, but with time I realised, that the Love of Jesus is much greater then human love. And after some time I decided to give Him all my life.
Just a year before I joined the Society of the Sacred Heart my mother died and I stayed with my father, who was older and very frail. I made the decision about entering, but the idea of leaving my father alone in the house was very hard for me. We were very close, especially after my mother’s death. My father was indeed very generous and helpful in my final decision. Although it was very difficult for him (he wasn’t very religious) he said that it is my life and he wished me to be happy.
So I entered to the Society in the 2001.
I had known the community of the Sacred Heart in Gdynia from my high school days. These religious had this Something... Their openness, hospitality, joy, friendship touched my heart. Now, when I look back, I see that what attracted me to the Society was the deep conviction that Heart of Jesus is the centre of everything – the centre of relationships, charity, love, joy... And I wanted to echo His Heart deep inside me, and to live according to Him.
In my mission as a psychologist, individual meetings with people are special places where I can meet Jesus. I encounter people of different ages: all ask for psychological help because of the difficulties they experience in their lives. Many can no longer manage inner conflicts, and this brings a crisis. I can compare the process of therapy with a journey we make together, the person who needs support and me as a psychologist. I wish to help the other person to develop awareness of what is really going on inside him or her, to discover his/her own feelings, his/her own identity and in overcoming unresolved inner conflicts and fears. I wish everybody could live life fully, and enjoy loving and being loved. From different encounters I have really learned to listen, to hope and believe in each one.
The growth of the total person is very important to me; the fruit of this growth is taking responsibility for his or her own life by him/herself, and making decisions. Confrontation with one’s own past, with one’s own history of life is also very important in the process of therapy. Very often, when this moment comes, a person feels free inside. When I listen to a story, I become a witness of another person’s life and I can touch intimate and dark sides of his/her personality. I experience this as “walking on holy ground”. This is the moment, when I am convinced that I am an instrument in God’s hands. God entrusts into my hands another person, with all his/her fragility.
The psychological mission means touching human hurts. But there is also another side – looking for all the talents and riches which are hidden inside each person. I try to accompany another person in a way that enables him or her to discover his/her talents.
Christian values are also very important for me in my mission. The starting point for my mission is the Christian concept of the person. That is why I strive for the psychological and spiritual integration of the person. Although during therapy I do not usually talk about religion and faith, I am convinced that each person is created with God’s love. After some time of inner struggle, the person in therapy suddenly discovers his/her own unity in God’s eyes. It helps him/her in building true and deep relationships with other people. Those moments give me a lot of joy. Very often I can see fruits after some time, for example when somebody returns after two years and shares about life now, with its joyful and hard moments. But the fruit is that he or she has managed to find happiness.
As a psychologist and a Religious of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, some words from our Constitutions are very important to me:
"Caught up as we are in the desires of His Heart,
we want people to grow in dignity, as human beings and as children of God."
(Constitutions rscj #7)
These words remind me that my mission is a gift from Jesus and his invitation to give an answer to His love. He is the One who inspires my heart, who gives me the desire to help other people. And I am not the source of the personal growth of another person. The only source of growth for everyone is the Heart of Jesus.
Province of Poland