A group of Danish young Catholics from St. Anne parish in Copenhagen, Denmark, made Icon Amen in 2017 for evangelization purposes in accordance with topics for WYD, Panama in 2019 and Lisbon in 2023.
Icon AMEN is a missionary Icon and an evangelistic tool to support of the Church’s evangelistic mission in the world.
Icon “AMEN” exhibits Mary, as the person who is completely open to God, her total ”yes” i.e.” Amen” (Thus the name of the icon). Mary hurried to Zechariah’s house to care for Elisabeth. The icon’s message encourages us to care for people in need.
In order to spread knowledge of the icon ”AMEN” and thus of Mary’s role in the man’s salvation, we made T-shirts with the icon printed on them. Several thousands are now widespread in several countries. The T-shirt is the calling card of the international community of families “Familiekirke”, which has been established at St. Anne’s Parish in Copenhagen in 2020. The family community expresses the Church as God’s family spread all over the world, yet united by the one same Catholic faith.
As part of the "AMEN" icon project, we help missions in different countries.
Currently we are helping missions in Africa.
In 2021, we began a collaboration with the Oblate Fathers (OMI) in Cameroon province, who bring the good news of man’s salvation by God and do everything possible so that every person they reach finds the dignity of the human person. In Cameroon, people live without access to drinking water. The Oblate Fathers in the Cameroon province were building wells in small poor villages.
The collaboration started through a seminarian from Cameroun, who was studying at the Oblate seminary in Obra, Poland. When he saw the icon, he became very enthusiastic about it and came in contact with the group in Denmark behind it. There he learned about the icon’s evangelistic purpose. The contact with the Oblate Fathers in Cameroun was thereby established.
The Oblates’ well-building project in Cameroon concerns water. Water is a symbol of life. As ps.42 expresses it: ”As the deer longs for flowing streams, so longs my soul for you, O God”. Each single human being has absolute value and is precious in God’s eyes.
Therefore, each human being from the moment of conception must always be looked at as a subject to be respected, honored and loved for his/her own sake. “He, who thirsts shall come to me and drink”, Jesus says (John 7,37). By being involved in providing clean water for people, we are also awakening their longing, their thirst for the living God. Looking at the icon, we see Mary as the one who brings us to the living God, her Son, Jesus Christ, the Savior.
Mary went to the veil and brought clean water to Jesus in Nazareth and she wants the same for every person on earth.
Without water there is no life.
Precisely Icon “AMEN” Mary is seen as the praying mother of Jesus and as the instructive and caring mother of all us with her command “do everything he says”.
When meeting Jesus, probably each of us would like to hear these words: “I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink” (Matt. 25:35)
Thanks to the inspiration of Icon “AMEN”, we want to help people in need with Mary’s help, just like SHE.
If you miss God and love thy neighbor, you can prove it by your testimony of caring for the poor by financially supporting a well-building project in Cameroon.
You can make a bank transfer to:
IBAN: DK81 2000 6893 4165 50
BIC: NDEADKKK
MARIA IMMAKULATA SOESTRENE I DK
Skippers Clements Allé 12
DK-2300 Copenhagen S
Denmark
and marked Cameroon Icon Amen. The entire amount donated will be sent to the Oblate Fathers’ mission in Cameroon, with a deep-felt thank-you for each person’s generosity.
