Ria Trog (1898-1993)

"LORD, STAY NEAR US, FOR NIGHT WILL NEARLY FALL"

Gretel Trog, Basel and Paul Trog, USA 

Gretel Trog writes to us: "Our mother, Ria Trog, went to sleep for good on the morning of Friday, May 14, 1993, in her 95th year. I am grateful that I was able to accompany her since December. Until the last moment she was very present in spirit. She was grateful for every gesture and in particular to be able to be at home. During the last 4 days she was bedridden, I read her Psalms and, at her request, the latest issue of "To change" which did us both a lot of good. Thus, she will have been linked to the activity of Moral Rearmament until the last moment, convinced that we were fulfilling, with the help of Christ, a very special task in the struggle for the coming of the Kingdom of God.

It all began in Egypt, when she was still a young woman and met the Oxford group. She started to read the Bible with her three children and to have moments of silence. When we came to Switzerland for the first time after World War II, she took us to a conference in Interlaken. In May-June of the same year, 1946, she was one of the 30 or so people who took charge of cleaning the Caux Palace. Her greatest wish was that her children and the world would live in faith.

My mother gave me a lot, but two exceptional gifts come to mind today. She gave me life, and for that I am very grateful. She taught me to listen to the Lord every day. Thus, she taught me not to be afraid to find myself in the depths.

The Holy Spirit, as I see it, is also a spirit of consciousness, which can seep into us through our thoughts. Through this example, it became clear to me that man withers when he does not take the time to get closer to himself and to nourish himself spiritually as well as physically. By her example, she taught me to feed on the word of God, the Body of Christ and his sacrifice. In times such as ours when force reigns supreme, this exercise becomes vital, as it evolves naturally into a rebirth and a change in the centre of our being.

Like all of us, my mother was imperfect in many things, but she constantly gave me food for thought that helped me find my way to Christ.