It was quite a delight to have some time away from our CDN routine and be with our sisters from Columbus, Adrian,
Grand Rapids and Maryknoll (Chicago). On Saturday March 9th we left the CDN community after our directors sang for us the Dominican blessing. Joy filled our hearts as we felt them sending us forth, believing that God is
with us in our journey.
at the entrance''PEACE TO ALL WHO ENTER HERE.’’
Thank you sisters for your peace, love, and kindness towards us.
The following day, we left for Adrian.
And there, the sisters received us with a lot of joy too. They had been waiting
for us for the evening meal. We
attended the funeral of Sr Margaret and all the rituals involved. We noted how
things are done differently from our own communities and even cultures, but
there are some things we have in common .
Dear sisters, we were really impressed by
your different ministries and how you
make God's love visible to the people around you through your literacy
program, at Siena Heights University, the Dominican
Young Adult program, the care for the earth, the Weber Center, and of course
the Dominican joy which you show to the many people you meet. Thank you sisters for
your time with us and most specifically to those who generously gave of their
time in giving us different tours.
We then proceeded to Grand Rapids,
and there we spent one night. Even though there only one day, we received a lot by
being with the sisters. We experienced once more Dominican joy when we
attended the birthday celebration of the sisters, the sharing during our meals,
the famous chicken foot game- we learned from you sisters! 
We also learned about the history of the Grand
Rapids Sisters, we met with the affiliates and shared a meal with them, and they
all blessed us before we embarked for Chicago. Thank you our dear sisters!
Chicago Maryknoll formation house was our last
stop. Our Maryknoll Sisters living in
Chicago and the Maryknoll Society received us with a lot of joy in the Chicago
Maryknoll formation house. We shared
vocation stories, news, and meals, first on the men’s side and the following day on the sisters’ side. It was a good time for me to reconnect with them
after some months of absence. We made sure to visit the beauty of nature for refreshment after the long trip; we
had a quick walk to Lake Michigan which is not far from Maryknoll formation
house.
Thank you our dear brothers and sisters!
We very much enjoyed being with
you during our spring break and especially by experiencing the particular joy in
every house we visited. We were always encouraged and affirmed by you as
our elder sisters in this journey. Your
stories, your joy, community life and your commitment made us ponder in our hearts about what faithfulness
to one’s call means. From all your affirmation, encouragement, support,
joy, and love, we came back to our CDN community very refreshed and more enthusiastic.
Even though we had wanted to stay longer with the different communities we visited, we could not. We thank our directors who are very considerate. During
all the planning they had told us that just in case it snows, stay wherever you
are for one more day; but it never snowed for the whole trip, so we had to
leave!
We very much enjoyed being with
you during our spring break and especially by experiencing the particular joy in
every house we visited. We were always encouraged and affirmed by you as
our elder sisters in this journey. Your
stories, your joy, community life and your commitment made us ponder in our hearts about what faithfulness
to one’s call means. From all your affirmation, encouragement, support,
joy, and love, we came back to our CDN community very refreshed and more enthusiastic.
Even though we had wanted to stay longer with the different communities we visited, we could not. We thank our directors who are very considerate. During
all the planning they had told us that just in case it snows, stay wherever you
are for one more day; but it never snowed for the whole trip, so we had to
leave!
