Where did the last couple of months go! It is hard to believe we are halfway through February. I just thought I would send out an update of my current journey. Over Christmas I had the wonderful opportunity to go back to my home parish in Colorado Springs for a week since during your first year in Postulancy this is allowed. The week started off with the challenge of an extended family members funeral and a friend's funeral, but I felt it was a blessing to be able to attend in person when I had thought it would not be possible. During the week I had the wonderful opportunity to also be at one of our seminarians' ordinations to the transitional deaconate. Throughout this week it was wonderful to see family and friends and to catch up and to "just be". I was so Thankful to a friend who allowed me to stay at their home for the week which was an amazing gift. A highlight of the week was to just spend time praying at my home parish Holy Apostles, to be in silence, to be in the place where Jesus called me to discern this vocation. I also went for a hike at Mueller State park which was amusing to hike the trails of back and forth snow pack to dirt. But how beautiful to be up in the mountains. The end of my week was Christmas eve Mass and then Christmas day Mass at Holy Apostles. I was so happy to have had this possibly last opportunity to celebrate Christmas eve and day Mass at my home parish. After Colorado I headed off to the Cleveland area in Ohio to see my mom and my brothers family. It was such a wonderful week to spend time with everyone and especially my five year old nephew Peter who is just a bundle of energy! Here are just a few pictures from many of my time in Colorado and Ohio.
After Cleveland I then headed off to my mission experience with our FSCC sisters in Cambridge, Ohio at St. Benedict School and Convent. I am going to just cut and paste what I wrote about this experience.
"I had a wonderful opportunity to join Sr Helen Marie, Sr June, Sr Mariadele, Sr Carol, and Sr Sharon for my Postulant Mission experience at St. Benedict Convent in Cambridge, Ohio. Throughout the week I had a chance to spend time with each Sister to see their different ministries at St. Benedict School and Christ Our Light Parish. What really struck me through the days was that I could see a true joy in each Sister as they interacted with students, staff, parishioners, residents. This joy and care is so impactful as each one of them are an outward sign of God’s love and the Catholic church to their community they are serving and in the world.
I was grateful that the students were returning to St. Benedict School as planned in person. Throughout the week I could see the excitement of the youth to be around their peers and to be learning in the classroom even if they had to wear a mask. I would say the 2nd graders were definitely the most curious about who I was in relation to the Sisters and they had many great questions on the day I joined Sr Mariadele as she taught religion and then practiced for the school Mass. All of the youth that I had an opportunity to meet were respectful and kind and were fun to be around. One of the highlights of the week was playing full court basketball with the 5th graders. They definitely kept me on my toes and tested my skills and it was great to be playing sports. I also was challenged to learn the recorder so I could play a couple songs with Sr Carols music class which went well and was a lot of fun. Then I listened to some singing practice and band practice and “flew” across the ocean in song and movement with the kiddos in preschool. Sr June gave me a glimpse at some of her daily duties in admin support and her guitar skills with Sr. Carol at the children’s mass. It was also fun to see the excitement of the youth coming into the library with Sr Helen Marie and to see how engaged the youth were as she read to them and as they chose their books. Outside of the school I was able to join Sr Sharon in her pastoral care role supporting those in the parish and visiting local nursing homes."
It has been wonderful being back at the motherhouse after those three weeks of journeying. As we entered into February we had our Formation weekend. During this time all of our Sisters in Formation came home to the Motherhouse, here in Manitowoc, for a weekend of fellowship, prayer, reflection, and of course fun as well. We had a wonderful day of talks on Prayer by Fr. Fliss from Sheboygan and then another highlight was our recreation night on Saturday and ice skating on the lake on Sunday. For recreation night we had indoor winter Olympics which included ice skating (shoe box skating), bob sled (scooter race), frozen disc toss, snowball roll, and then a challenge course full of fun. See the fun pictures below. Sister Mary Jane (Novice) and me - Gold medal winners, then Sister Cecilia Joy and Sister Mary Teresa - Silver medal winners, and then Sister Maria Guadalupe and Sister Concepcion - Bronze medal winners. We all had so much fun in faith and fellowship! Alright this is all for now but look for my next update in March!
Comentários