This week concluded what the postulants had dubbed: The Birthday Octave. Also known as, the week of Alina and Julia’s birthdays!
On Sunday, Alina, Emily, and Sr. Carmen celebrated my birthday with many surprises.
Sr. Caritas was my guide as I was given 27 clues to find throughout the convent and book center. With each clue was also a quarter (27 quarters= close to $7.00, in case you were wondering ;) As I began to collect quarters, I kind of began to figure out what would be in store for me later in the day. Earlier in the year- I believe I blogged about it- I had expressed an interest to returning to the Arcade which we had discovered at a local movie theater. But before I could think about it too much, I was blindfolded and taken to the car.
We did not end up at the Arcade, but to another one of my favorite places- The Laumeier Sculpture Park close to our house. We had a picnic lunch and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine that God had willed for that day! Then it was back to the car for the destination I had anticipated- the Arcade.
After winning enough tokens to win each of us a toy animal straw, I was blindfolded one last time. This time I had no idea where we were going!
After driving for a while, Sr. Carmen requested to get dropped off out of the car. I was totally confused! We parked a few blocks further away, causing Alina and Emily have to guide me from both sides (I was blindfolded, you will recall) until we reached my final surprise of the day- my sister, Janet, waiting for me at a St. Louis famous ice cream place- Ted Drewes! I am very grateful to Jesus and to the postulant community for making my birthday so special.
Wednesday we hosted a great friend of the community and one of our 2008 Benefit Dinner honorees- Zip Rzeppa- for dinner at the convent. It was a really nice evening for all of us. Zip is a great example of St. Paul because he has made it a personal mission to evangelize Jesus to the St. Louis community. He is a former sports broadcaster who now directs the St. Vincent Paul Society here in St. Louis. He told us many great stories of conversion and hope of people in the Church. We are honored to collaborate with him in our mission, and are grateful for all the people who collaborate with us!
This weekend will be a busy one for many of us. Alina is helping Sr. Laura with a presentation to Librarians this Saturday. Emily is also helping Sr. Laura this weekend with presentations she is giving on St. Paul. There is a theater company here in the diocese that is doing a play on St. Paul this weekend. Sr. Laura is giving little presentations on the life of St. Paul at each show. Again, a great collaboration with our mission!
God bless you all! Thanks for reading!
Peace,
Julia
2 comments:
Happy Birthday to the birthday postulants! Blessings to you!!
I viewed the Daughters of Saint Paul international site (Rome).
Very sorry to see that the Daughters of Saint Paul have followed the bad example of so many other religious Orders of sisters in the USA and throughout the world and decided to discard the religious habit! Your community up until about 1983 was one of the last which maintained their original and beautiful habits, and attracted many vocations.
I know for a fact that you have lost a lot of sisters in the USA and elsewhere since you've begun liberalizing both your habit, and lifestyle over the last 25 years. In the late 1970's and early 1980's in the USA, while other liberal Orders had already discarded the habit and traditional life, your Order...still wearing your original hbaits still had between 20-40 novices and postulants every year!
Today, since you have discarded the habit, I know for a fact that your community has been having vocations problems, and has only about 2-3 candidates a year, and has closed some foundations in the USA and elsewhere.
You've made a huge mistake by discarding your original simple and beautiful habit, which was highly respected by the faithful and which was a visible witness which drew hundreds of new vocations, many dozens in the USA alone.
Following the bad example of so many updated, liberal and habitless Orders, your community will quickly decline, not only in the USA, but around the world....as it is already doing.
It would be better to folow the holy model of new Orders of sisters being founded which are returning to the "old fashioned style habits", than to immitate the liberal habitless dissident communities which are rapidly dying out.
It would be sad to see the Daughters of Saint Paul follow down this road of error and rapidly fade out of existance.
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