Wednesday: Sister Mary-Katherine picked me up at the bus station. She kept looking at me funny, and finally asked what my hometown was. I told her, and she asked what High School. I told her, and she told me her old name and asked if I remembered her. After I adjusted for years past and not being able to see her hair, I DID remember her! She was three years ahead of me and we were in Choir together!

We had an absolutely AMAZING converstation in the car. God bless Sister MK!! I really needed to have that conversation. It was kind of funny/alarming driving with her, because she would get excited and be gesturing with both hands while driving! Eeeek!

We went to pick up the priest who was going to celebrate Mass for us that afternoon and then we had to buy a cake for another Sister's feast day. HILARIOUS! There she is, zooming around Zehers in her habit, and then she finds the cakes, throws up her arms and goes, "Thanks be to GOD!" Then she said to me, "Ok, this is terrible, but I'm going to get one with pink icing. Sister Elizabeth Marie HATES pink. Heh heh heh!" (Just like any siblings, no?) We picked up Father and then got some flowers for the Marian crowning. How beautiful was that! We had a procession with rosary recitation, and then the crowning. I am so lucky to have arrived on the Feast of the Visitation! I almost got eaten alive by bugs, but I didn't care! The sweat was just rolling off me in the heat, so I felt bad for the Sisters.

After dinner, there was vespers. Again, beautiful! During intercessory prayers, Sister Elizabeth Marie prayed forthe end of the evil of abortion. Right when she said "abortion", a gigantic thunder clap rocked the chapel and shook all the windows. How apt. After vespers, there was a special feast-day recreation. We had lots of laughs. The sisters are pretty hilarious.

We were supposed to keep silence after Compline, but the Sisters excused us. I think they saw that we really needed to talk to each other about our discernment journeys. It was wonderful to talk to other young women of the same mind.

Thursday....well, Thursday was interesting. All I am going to say about the prayer aspect is that it was a day of testing and I really felt as though I were doing spiritual battle while in prayer. I invoked St. Michael a lot that day.

For recreation on Thursday, we went to a conservation area and went canoeing/rowing. The guy at the boat rental place was laughing his butt off, because apparently Sister Bernadette fell in the lake last year! I'm kind of sorry I missed it!

Friday was AWESOME. We opened the day with Lauds, then breakfast as usual,and then a wonderful discernment talk by a very holy, faithful priest. We had the opportunity for confession before Holy Mass. The entire morning just carried me back to where I needed to be, spiritually. Friday was a day of silent retreat, so I had a lot of time to think and pray. I broke my silence for another talk with Sister Mary Katherine, which was, again, wonderful. Silence was broken at dinner, and then we had vespers and a bonfire. That was fun....lots of singing and craziness. I laughed so hard at Sister Bernadette that my sides hurt. She is a funny lady.

Saturday: lauds, breakfast, packing up, and then we drove to the other convent,which is attached to the retirement home in which many of the Sisters work. We celebrated Mass there, and then had lunch. Sister MK drove me back to the bus station, and I got to see the power of the habit. A man came up to her and asked what order she was from, and that opened the door for her to speak about our faith and our Blessed Mother. The man was not Catholic, but seemed very interested in what Sister had to say about Mary. He accepted a green scapular and said he'd wear it, so she may just have begun winning another soul to the faith!


So....I have lots of thinking and praying to do. One thing I do know is that I am definitely called to an order which

a) wears the habit
b) prays the Divine Office

Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. God does everything for a reason.

PRAISE BE TO OUR LORD, JESUS CHRIST!!!

What an amazing experience. Thanks so much for sharing with us!

wow, what a wonderful visit! Thanks for sharing

Sounds amazing, thanks for sharing! I really wanted to visit these sisters but I couldnt make it to the retreat. I am going to contact them when I get back from OLAM and see if I can go for a visit outside of the retreat Did you discern that they werent for you?

God Bless,

Allison

You know, I'm not exactly sure. Wednesday and Thursday, I spent the whole time going, "God definitely had a purpose for my being here, but I don't think this is where I am called." But then, that could have been because I was just settling in on Wed, and then Thursday was pretty brutal, spiritually. Friday, I felt a lot more at home, and Saturday, I wasn't quite ready to leave. Still, I'm not sure. While the Sisters are wonderful, welcoming, holy, faithful women of God, I don't know if my place is with them.

Remind me to PM you if you want to hear more.

Love it when you gals/guys share your experiences like that.
So happy for you!

Bernadette

We have a phatmasser in that order,Sr. Erin Weir.

In Christ,

Ed L.

Sister Erin is Phamily? That's cool!! I wish I'd known. I knew someone from SOLI was Pham, but I figured maybe it was one of the sisters out west!