Feastday Fun!

"Let us pray to Holy Mary for our Sister on her feast. Let us ask our loving Mother, grace and blessing to increase, that our Sister may grow closer to the Heart of Christ our King, and her holy Patron guide her, ever by the Cross to cling..." - MSSR Feastday Song

When at investiture the Sister receives her religious name and title, indicative of Christ's special call for her life, the feast of her patron saint (or that of the mystery of the faith for which she is named) becomes the Community's opportunity to honor the Sister and her Patron. This time of year is a major feastday season for the Community: St. John Vianney and St. Philomena's feastdays in August kick off the celebration, followed by the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross and that of St. Michael in September, while the feasts of St. Faustina, the Most Holy Rosary, St. Teresa of Jesus, and St. Margaret Mary bring this "feastday season" to a close in October.

Although the Sisters generally strive to mortify their curiosity about each other's preferences, and each Sister in turn strives to maintain a modest reserve about her likes and dislikes, for her feastday, the Community tries to honor the Sister celebrated with her favorite food (if we can find/make it!), a specially concocted dessert, decorating with colors she particularly likes, creating home-grown entertainment suited to her sense of humor, and of course, extra prayers and signs of appreciation.

It is charming to see the different ways in which the Sisters try to honor the special day.

The feastday Sister's place in refectory is decorated with an image of her patron, a candle, a little bouquet of flowers. Little notes have a way of appearing in unlikely places, and the convent is pervaded with a sense of ill-suppressed anticipation, while the Sister is gently but firmly excluded from daily tasks like dishes and anywhere there might be a flurry of top secret preparations. At dinner, the Sister shares about her holy patron, providing the Community with spiritual food while we enjoy the feastday fun.