Trip to Denver, Colorado!

Monday, February 22, 2010:

We are off to Denver today! We will be sharing our media with people at schools, parishes and a catechetical conference. Please keep us in your prayers. We hope to post some more information on our road trip so stay tuned!

St. Paul, pray for us!

Appreciation Dinner

Sunday, February 21, 2010:

Today we were delighted to welcome so many of our benefactors and friends to our home for our appreciation dinner. We started off our day with mass in our convent chapel. The mass was offered for each of their intentions. After mass, we enjoyed lunch amidst good laughs and wonderful conversations. We had about 40 people in attendance. Some were board members, friends from our parish (St. Elizabeth's), volunteers for our Baby Jesus party in December...and many more! Indeed, our deepest gratitude goes out to them for their generous support - time, talent, or treasure - in our mission of proclaiming the Word of God. It was so good to meet so many people in our St. Louis community who collaborate with us in spreading the Gospel in this area!

St. Paul, pray for us and all who work with us in making Jesus known and loved!

Childrens' Bible Stories!

Saturday,

February 20, 2010:

Today we had a wonderful group of children gather in our bookcenter to hear the Bible story of "David and Goliath." The morning started with the children listening to the story and then answering some questions about what they had just heard. They were all so attentive and had great answers! Then the kids painted some rocks that they later used in a game. Laura taught them the words and hand motions to the song "Jesus Is Here" from our cd "God, Butterflies, and Miracles" (http://www.pauline.org/). Then we played the game with the rocks and colored a picture of David and Goliath that they could take home to share with their family. They all learned that whether they're big or small, courageous or fearful, they could do anything with the help of God.

May we all have the same trust and faith in God that David had.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sunday, February 14, 2010:

Happy Valentine's day! We hope you had a great day with your loved ones. Today, Laura and Jackie went for mass to our local parish, St. Elizabeth's of Hungary(http://www.psichurch.com/%20churches/016stelizabeth/index.html). After lunch, we went out to Ted Drewes (http://www.teddrewes.com/Drewes.asp) for ice-cream together with the other sisters in the community where we each got a pink carnation with our order! What a wonderful and welcome surprise to commemorate the day :-) The afternoon got even better when Laura and Jackie went to Kenrick-Glennon seminary for the open house tour. There were lots of people there and we thoroughly enjoyed the tour especially hearing about the history behind the seminary walls and the art accompanying it. We also got to meet some priests who are friends of our community as well as some "college" and "theologian" seminarians. The seminarians shared with us what their formation and life were like in the seminary, which was great. At the end of the day, we even got to meet some of the seminarian actors in the "12 angry men" play we had watched a couple of weeks ago! It was a relaxing Sunday - thank God for the gift of rest!

So, what did you do for Valentine's day this year?

St. Paul Movie Night

Friday February 12, 2010:

This month we watched the movie "Bernadette." We had over 25 people join us! We learned about her life and the apparitions of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Lourdes, France. There's a fountain of water that flows near the site of the apparitions and over the years, many people have been healed from that water. Many people visit Lourdes every day. Sr. Rebecca has visited Lourdes, so she shared a lot of information with everyone after the movie. She was able to answer a lot of people's questions from her first-hand experience which made for a lively discussion. Next month we will be watching "Molokai" which is about our new Saint Damien Molokai from Hawaii who worked with the lepers. Hopefully you'll all join us in March!

Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.

New Daughter of St. Paul!!

Thursday, February 11, 2010:

We have a new Daughter of St. Paul! On Saturday, February 6, Sr. Neville Christine professed her vows as a Daughter of St. Paul. What a joy for our community! Sr. Neville is originally from Cameroon and so she and her family participated in an offertory dance to bring the gifts to the altar. It was a beautiful cultural experience at our Motherhouse in Boston - our Boston community even learned a traditional Cameroonian hymn!

Sr. Neville Christine will now be with our community in Philadelphia. Please join us in thanking God for His goodness to her and our community. May the Lord continue to send us good laborers for His harvest. St. Paul the apostle, pray for us!

Here are some beautiful pictures of Sr. Neville Christine's profession: http://dsp.pauline.org/PhotoGalleries/SrNevilleChristinesFirstProfession/tabid/382/Default.aspx

PS. Please pray for our novices, Emily and Sylwia who are on retreat and will soon be beginning their novitiate!

Feast of St. Bakhita and FSPs in Sudan

Monday, February 8, 2010:

Today we remember St. Josephine Bakhita from Sudan who sheds light into the power of God at work in the most difficult circumstances of our lives. St. Bakhita was captured by slave traders and mistreated most of her youth. She later encountered the Lord and learned the way of forgiveness saying, "if these things had not happened, I would not have been a Christian and a religious today". She offered her life to God as a Canossian sister when she made her profession of religious vows on December 8, 1896 in the Motherhouse at Verona, Italy. On that day, she expressed her missionary desire to spread the Gospel to her brothers and sisters in Africa, praying "Grant, O Lord that they too may know and love You!". Today, we thank the Lord and pray for our sisters in Sudan, who in the use of modern media are making Jesus known and His Love shown to His people there.

P.S. Please pray for our sisters in Juba, Sudan:

http://www.paulinesafrica.org/fsp_sudan.htm
http://www.paulinesafrica.org/archieve/mission_in_sudan.htm

Excerpts of St. Bakhita from: "St. Bakhita: From African Slave to Servant of the 'Good Master'" by Ann M. Brown, 2000, New Hope Publications.

St. Paul Movie Night - This Friday!!

Join us for our St. Paul Movie Night!


Who: The Daughters of St. Paul are inviting you to...

What: a movie about the life of St. Bernadette and Lourdes

When: Friday, February 12, 2010 from 6-9pm

Where: Pauline Books and Media

9804 Watson Road

St. Louis, MO 63126

Call us at 314-965-3512 if you have any questions!

We also provide free pizza and popcorn!! Hope to see you there!!

Retreat Sunday and Superbowl

Sunday February 7, 2010:

We started our day on retreat. What a relaxing way to end our busy weekend! This was Laura's first retreat day with the St. Louis community. We spent some time in silence praying on our own and doing some personal reflection, trying to quiet ourselves enough to listen and hear God speaking to us. Listening can be hard since our days can become so hectic sometimes so it's helpful to set aside some special time to do just that. At the end of our retreat day we had a Holy Hour with the rest of the community. After, we spent time with some friends of our community at a Super Bowl party. It was a fun time of food and fellowship. We were very happy the Saints won, too!

When was the last time you set aside some quiet time to be with Jesus?

Hodge Podge Weekend

Friday February 5 - Saturday February 6, 2010:

We had lots of different events going on this weekend. On Friday evening, we attended a Holy Hour for Vocations sponsored by the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The priest who gave the homily has been ordained for 60 years! What a wonderful witness to truly living out your vocation faithfully. It was encouraging to see so many people come and pray for more vocations to the Priesthood and Religious Life despite the snow. On Saturday morning, Sr. Emi and Laura went to the Catholic Men for Christ Conference (http://www.catholicmenforchrist.org/) for an exhibit. There were over 1,000 men of all ages attending! It was so good to see so many men excited about their faith, eager to learn more about it, and really striving to grow in holiness. After the Men's Conference ended on Saturday afternoon, we packed our exhibit and drove to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque (http://www.smmaparish.org/) for another exhibit at their weekend Masses. We also attended Sunday Mass at the parish. We saw some familiar faces - friends of our community - as well as made some new friends. There were lots of young families with children eager to look at our book display. After a busy day in the apostolate, we went home for a quick supper and headed out to Kenrick-Glennon Seminary (http://www.kenrick.edu/) to watch the Seminarians perform the play "12 Angry Men." The play was about the deliberations of 12 jurors. All of the characters really got us thinking about 'reason' and 'reasonable doubt’ in the context of everyday life and certainly did a wonderful job acting it out!

What did you do for fun this weekend?

Happy Feast Day!

Friday, February 5, 2010:

Happy Feast day! Today is a big day for us Daughters of St. Paul. In a special way we remember our co-foundress and Prima Maestra, Mother Thecla Merlo's entrance into eternity. This woman of great faith responded to God's invitation to take on the remarkable journey to bring the Gospel to all the nations. Her 'fiat' reflected her ardent desire to give of herself to the Lord completely "without restrictions so that He could carry out His will in her to the depths of her being" (Mother Thecla). Like St. Paul, her goal was "love: always more love [since] this is the path which will lead us to accomplish the greatest good possible" (Mother Thecla). Through a simple and yet profoundly lived life, we are grateful to God this day for her example of love, faith and enormous trust in the Providence of God. Mother Thecla, intercede for us!

PS. Want to know more about Mother Thecla? Enjoy...

Mother Thecla Merlo - www.daughtersofstpaul.com/Founders/MotherTheclaMerlo/tabid/115/Default.aspx

A Call to Love - www.catholic-church.org/paulus/thecla.html

Mother Thecla's Act of Abandonment - http://paulinecharismlive.magnify.net/video/Mother-Thecla-Merlos-Act-of-Aba

Pauline Vocation Day!

Welcome to our Pauline Vocation Day!

When? Saturday, February 6, 2010

What time? 1:00pm to 4:00pm

Where? Daughters of St. Paul, Pauline Books & Media, 9804 Watson Road, St. Louis, MO, 63126

Topic? Discernment of Vocation

We hope to see you Saturday!

Feel free to email us at: fsppostulants@gmail.com. We are praying for you :-)

God Bless You Emily and Sylwia!!

Tuesday, February 2 - Wednesday, February, 3, 2010:

Tuesday was a big day for Emily and Sylwia. We had a drop-in party for them to say farewell to all the wonderful people they met here in St. Louis. We had a great turnout and the room was filled with much laughter and tears as they remembered all their good times. Sylwia and Emily created a Powerpoint presentation with the many pictures that they took during their postulancy. Thanks to you all for making their experience here in St. Louis so blessed. On Wednesday, we all had a big breakfast in the community to gift and bless them in their new journey.

God bless you Emily and Sylwia in your journey with the Lord in the novitiate - we are praying for you!

Sunday Outing

Sunday January 31, 2010:

Today was the last outing for Emily, Sylwia, Jackie and Laura as a group. We certainly made the most of our day together. First Emily and Sylwia went to the Polish Mass at St. Agatha's (http://www.polishchurchstlouis.org/) so that Sylwia could say 'goodbye' to all her friends. They had a great time and were able to spend time socializing with some of them after Mass. Jackie and Laura went to Mass at St. Francis de Sales Oratory (www.institute-christ-king.org/stlouis). The Mass was celebrated in the Extraordinary Form, using the 1962 missal (it was a traditional Tridentine Latin Mass). The schola (choir) sang beautiful Gregorian Chant. After Mass, we all drove out to see the Cahokia Mounds (http://www.cahokiamounds.org/) which were amazing. It's hard to believe the Indians carried all that soil to make such high mounds. Some mounds were burial grounds and others were the sites of homes for the Indian Chiefs. By building such high mounds, they could sit above the other tribes or classes below them, watching all that was going on. We climbed the steps all the way to the highest mound. When we got to the top, it was so quiet and peaceful and there was such an amazing vista. Every direction you looked in was so beautiful and serene. Sylwia took many pictures of the scenery, so we're sharing a few with all of you! Next, we went to Moolah lanes (http://www.moolahlanes.com/) for some bowling. We all had fun cheering each other on! To end the day, we had pizza and watched a movie together at home. What a relaxing Sunday!!! ;)

What did you do for fun??

St. Joseph's Parish Exhibit

Saturday January 30- Sunday January 31, 2010:

Sr. Emi, Sr. Noel, and Laura went to St. Joseph's parish in St. Charles, MO for a parish exhibit. This parish is connected to St. Joseph's school, where we were a couple days ago for the J-Club bookfair. It was so wonderful to see some of the children again!! St. Joseph's is a very large parish with over 5,000 families. The church was very large and full at each of the 5 weekend Masses! What a lively and active parish community. We met lots of parishioners. Everyone was so friendly and excited to find just the right book for themselves, their children, or someone else special to them.

May God open our hearts to accept all that He wants to teach us through His Word!

J-club Book Fair

Thursday, January 28
- Friday, January 29, 2010:

Sr. Emi and I (Laura) went to St. Joseph's school in St. Charles, Missouri for a bookfair. It was the first J-club bookfair (http://www.jclubcatholic.com/) for our St. Louis community! We had a great experience there. The children were so excited to look at all the books! One little girl said that she just loves "God books"! How wonderful it is to see children so excited to learn about the Church and their faith. St. Joseph's school has been growing and now has over 900 students in grades K-8. So, we certainly saw many children in our two days at the school. Everyone at St. Joe's was so kind and helpful to us especially the librarians and one of the volunteers. They answered our many questions and helped us pack at the end of the book fair. We had lunch with the Srs. Maria Christi (principal) and Marie Hannah who are both Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia based in Nashville, Tennessee (http://www.nashvilledominican.org/). The Sisters were so welcoming to us. We are really grateful that they understand and support our Pauline mission of evangelizing through the media.

May St. Paul send us more collaborators in spreading the Gospel!