My father has been ill with a brain tumour for a long time. His health has become more difficult. Over Christmas, everyone was at home. Now that my older siblings are going back to their places, I am thinking about this year's Christmas and New Year. We spent most of the time all together - 10 people of the immediate family. In the end, everyone decided to stay for New Year as well because we felt the need to spend this time together. It was a time when our father's condition suddenly deteriorated a lot. All the therapies fail to stop the progression of the tumour. It is very difficult to accept this. But in our pain we find a new level of love, closeness and hope. We had many touching moments of special closeness. After many years, we started again to pray together in the evenings. We felt God was very close in those moments. We decided to pray the Pompeian novena together with our friends for our father and the situation. A great network of closeness has grown across many borders. We trust in God.
