Monthly Retreat

Sunday,
November 29:
Come, Lord Jesus! The postulants began the season of Advent by making monthly retreat. We had a beautiful day of prayer and reflection on the Scripture readings of the day and on an Advent letter from our Superior General, Sr. Maria Antonieta. At Evening Prayer with the Sisters, we had a little ceremony and prayer to light our Advent wreath, asking Jesus to increase our desire for Him. Pray for us this Advent -- we are praying for you!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thursday,
November 26:
This Thursday, we had a double feast: it was Thanksgiving, and it was also the feast of our Founder, Bl. James Alberione. We began our day with Mass. Then we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on TV while we decorated and prepared our dinner. Jackie made kale, Emily made green bean casserole, and Sylwia made cranberry sauce. All the sisters made something, too, and we had a delicious meal! Later in the afternoon, we had our Hour of Adoration together and gave thanks for the gift of our Founder and our Pauline charism. Then we had an fun evening of recreation together with music, dancing, and games. We give thanks! Dziękuję! Asante!
P.S. What are you thankful for this year?

Christ the King Parish Exhibit in Kansas!

Saturday, November 21
- Sunday, November 22
This "Christ the King" weekend we were graced with the opportunity to bring the Word of God to the parishoners of St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Kansas City, Kansas. Monsignor Mullen, the pastor and his associate as well as the parish members gave us an exceptionally warm welcome. During our exhibit, we shared information about our mission and presence of our bookcenters in the country. Sr. Emi gave a brief talk about our mission and media to the congregation. Many parishoners thanked us for coming to their parish as they sought "food" for their souls and their loved ones after the masses. We drove back to St. Louis on Sunday evening after a faith-filled weekend, thanking God for all the people that we met over the past couple of days and offering our prayers for them that Christ may reign ever more in their hearts!

National Catholic Youth Conference!

Thursday,
November 19 -
Saturday,
November 22:
Thank you for your prayers for our exhibit at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) in Kansas City, Missouri! We joined 24,000 young people for a truly exciting and Spirit-filled weekend. On Thursday morning, we set up the exhibit. Our space was directly across from a booth that had a live Internet feed of the event, so our exhibit was online for people around the world to see the whole time! We were in a huge hall with hundreds of other exhibitors and vocation tables. On Thursday afternoon, the young people started to arrive. Many of them wore very interesting and very distinctive hats: everything from cowboy hats to crabs to chickens to cheese! From Thursday to Saturday, we gave out thousands and thousands of "Thoughts from St. Paul," vocation flyers, and bookmarks. It was great to be able to tell the young people about our charism and mission. We joined them for Mass during the weekend, and it was inspiring to see their faith and enthusiasm. It was also fun to see all the other religious communities who were there. We met some of Emily's friends from New York and Missouri, some of Jackie's friends from Tanzania and Colorado, and some Polish sisters and young women who were happy to speak in Polish with Sylwia! We had a beautiful experience -- as one priest said, "If you want to know what the youth of the Church are like, come to NCYC!" We will continue to pray for all the young people that we met.

P.S. Did you see us?!

Road Trip to NCYC, Kansas City, MO!

Wednesday, November 18:
We are heading out for an exciting missionary adventure to spread the Good News to about 20,000 young people at the National Catholic Youth Conference (NCYC) in Kansas City, Missouri. Please journey in prayer with us from today until Sunday November 22. Stay tuned for updates when we get back!!

Radio Station Recording - Testing, testing 1, 2...

Tuesday, November 17:
Today we experienced a beautiful part of our mission as the Daughters of St. Paul. Literally, using the media to spread the Good News! On Saturday December 12, we will be holding our Baby Jesus birthday party at our book center here in St. Louis. We drove to our local Catholic Radio station to record our advertisement for the party. We had so much fun creatively rewriting our short script, recording our message, listening to our recording and critiquing it! What a joy it was to know that Jesus used our little voices and technology to get the Word out to His people. Just think about how wonderful it is to have our modern media (internet, phone, radio - you name it!) to spring forth the saving message of Jesus Christ in our world today :-)

St Paul Movie Night

Friday, November 13:
Every month we invite people to come to our convent for our St. Paul movie night. This month we watched
"Padre Pio: Miracle Man". Our evening began at about 6:00pm with pizza and popcorn. We had almost 50 people join our "party"! The movie really introduced us into knowing Padre Pio: his upbringing, personality, spirituality, life struggles and tremendous graces granted by Our Lord. Padre Pio truly suffered many difficulties in his life especially his health. All in all, Padre Pio willingly surrendered himself to Jesus and bore the wounds of Christ, the Stigmata, for 50 years. Through St. Pio, we learned how to more readily embrace our suffering for the love of Christ with complete dedication to Him who has loved us and given Himself totally for us. What a humble and simple man of God, such a model for our time. St. Padre Pio, pray for us!

Lecture on Dominican Spirituality

Wednesday,
November 11:
The latest installment of our monthly lecture series was on Dominican spirituality. Sr. Carla Mae Streeter, a Dominican of Racine, Wisconsin, came to speak. She gave a good history of the Dominican order, and also gave a good sense of their spirituality and what Dominicans are called to be in the Church today. More than twenty people came to hear her. Next month we will learn about Franciscan spirituality!

Święto Niepodległości -- Polish Independence Day

Wednesday,
November 11:
We celebrated Polish Independence Day this Wednesday, which was also American Veterans' Day. We decorated the dining room in red and white (the colors of the Polish flag). Sylwia cooked a true Polish meal: zupa ogórkowa (cucumber soup), gołąbki (ground meat with rice, onions, and spices rolled in cabbage), potatoes, and red jello for dessert. It is always fun to celebrate our different cultural holidays and feasts with the community!
P.S. "Jeszcze Polska nie zginęła, póki my żyjemy!"

Free Sunday! Rockwood Reservation :)

Sunday, November 8:
We took advantage of the beautiful weather by going hiking! We went to Mass at St. Alban Roe Parish in Wildwood, followed by a hike at Rockwood Reservation. We spent a wonderful day hiking, taking pictures, and cooking kielbasa and soup for lunch. We came back very grateful for such a beautiful day with Jesus, with nature, and with each other!

"I lift my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:1-2)

Daily Meditation

Saturday,
November 7:
One of things we are learning about our Pauline life is the practice of daily meditation on Scripture. When you love someone, you make every effort to spend time with the person to get to know him or her. To know Jesus better, we cultivate the habit of spending time with Him through Sacred Scripture. Our meditation is usually on the Gospel reading for the Mass of the day. We listen to Jesus speaking in the silence of our hearts. As we spend this half hour of prayer and reflection with the Word, He reveals to us who He is and how we can be like Him. As He said, “Blessed are they who hear the word of God and observe it” (Luke 11:28). Daily meditation slowly transforms us so that we can think, speak and live like Jesus. What kinds of things are you doing to know Jesus more deeply in your life?

Monthly Retreat

Sunday,
November 1
- Monday,
November 2:
Every first Sunday of the month is a silent retreat day in the community! We look forward to spending this time with Jesus – “thanking Him for the lights, graces and invitations in the past month while examining our life of prayer, study, apostolate, poverty and life in community” (November retreat guide). This month, our postulant retreat was very special. It lasted two “big” days: All Saints’ and All Souls’ Days! On All Saints’ Day we visited a Carmelite monastery and on Monday we went to Our Lady of the Snows shrine in Belleville, Illinois (www.snows.org). Jesus was speaking everywhere – through the beautiful sky, trees and hills, Our Blessed Mother and the saints as well as in the Tabernacle – what a grace-filled time. We concluded our retreat on Monday with a holy hour of adoration as a postulant community. We now go forth to conquer the month refreshed and renewed :-) So, when was the last time you and Jesus had some good quality quiet time together? Spending a few hours at an adoration chapel close by or visiting a shrine would do. The Master is waiting for you...

It's Halloween - Let's Dress Up!

Saturday,
October 31:
We had tons of fun this Halloween. Emily and Sylwia put up the Halloween decorations in the refectory and on the community cars. Jackie carved her first pumpkin - courtesy of Emily her teacher. In the afternoon, Sylwia and Jackie took a bike ride around the neighborhood to get some pictures of how our neighbors had decorated their houses this year. With Halloween spiders in the salad and candy worms on the side for dinner, our evening was crowned by our dressing up as all sorts of people – a doctor, a shepherd, a king, an Easter bunny, you name it! What did you do this Halloween? Hope you took the time to have some fun-filled moments with your loved ones :-) It’s well worth it!

Enjoy the Halloween JibJab clip prepared by one of our Pauline cooperators, Dr. Jeff Mathews!
http://sendables.jibjab.com/view/AqoHz2E8tnpI6Bc6ck6B

Vacuum Cleaner Training

Wednesday,
October 28:
Our good friend Mike came to give us a very important training session: how to clean the filters on our central vacuum cleaner system. Jackie, Sylwia, Emily, Sr. Rebecca, and Sr. Emi participated in this training. Mike explained everything very clearly and showed us how to perform each step. That evening, we received signed "Vacuum Cleaner Training" certificates -- we are now fully certified vacuum filter cleaners! :)