A Joke a Day...

We had a weekend filled with apostolic and cultural activity! On Friday we had our Faith and Film Night on "Pay It Forward." We had a really good group of people, some of whom had been before and others who were coming for the first time.
On Saturday night we went to the Rigali Center (the former seminary, now diocesan offices) to see a production on the life of St. Bernadette called "The Smallest of All." It was put on by a group called Theater of the Word. We know the founder of the company and his daughter, as well as another young woman in the production. Theater of the Word's aim is to "preach the Gospel without being preach-y," and they did a good job on Saturday night. It's exciting to see how many ways the Word of God can come alive.
Finally, on Sunday Sr. Laura, Sr. Carmen, and Alina held an exhibit for the Spanish Masses at St. Cecilia's. It was a way of continuing our outreach to the Hispanic community.

Sr. Carmen is in Anaheim, CA this weekend for a catechetical conference. The conference is hosted by the Diocese of Anaheim, but people attend from all over the United States, and we have a huge exhibit there. Sr. Carmen went to help with the exhibit, especially with the Spanish-speaking attendees.

I would like to share one of our morning rituals with you. Every morning, at breakfast, we read the "joke of the day." Sr. Mary Caroline, one of our older sisters in Boston, has made it her special mission to share a joke a day with the community of Boston. When the postulancy moved to St. Louis from Boston about a year and a half ago, she started sending the jokes one month at a time, so as to be sure that the postulants had their joke a day. Because, as she says, "A joke a day keeps the devil away!" The jokes range in topic from the Bible to nature to just about anything you can think of -- cows, in the case of this morning's joke: "When do cows go to sleep? When it's pasture bedtime!" Sometimes they elicit hearty laughs, and at other times groans, but we're always grateful for Sr. Caroline's joke apostolate. I will leave you with her motto: "Be joyful -- the Lord loves you!"

Have a blessed week!
- Emily