EXPERIENCE OF DOMINICAN JOY DURING OUR SPRING BREAK

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 9^th  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.

 

   

Joy filled our hearts when we met with our Dominican Sisters of Peace in Columbus, who received us with open arms and hearts. We shared stories, meals, laughter, prayers, and peace as was written
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!