Sharing our Life

The Sisters playing "zoo" with our visitors

"In all religious houses...some part should be reserved to the members alone. This form of separation from the world...is part of the public witness which religious give to Christ and to the Church. It is also needed for the silence and recollection which foster prayer." - Essential Elements 11

Our convent home is a special place, a place where Christ is loved above all else, a place where He is truly the Heart. It is a part and expression of our lives of consecration. As such, by the law of the Church, there are portions of the convent that are never open to the public. Because the convent, its configuration, and furnishings form a real part of our lives of consecration, the general population is rarely permitted into even the more "public" portions of the convent grounds. A notable exception was made recently in the interest of sharing our lives with the Queen of the Angels girls, a group of young ladies grades 3-7 who meet weekly at the Cathedral of St. Eugene.

The young ladies were given the opportunity to experience a small snippet of the different portions of our life of consecration and our mission to magnify Jesus Christ through communicating the Beauty, Goodness, and Truth of our Catholic faith.

In order for the girls to experience a number of facets of our life, they were divided into three groups, each small group experiencing three rotations focusing on our life of prayer and liturgy, community, and religious consecration and apostolate. A team of Sisters taught about each aspect of our life and enabled the girls to participate in it.

Beginning with the heart of our life, Christ, and His direct service through prayer, a group of Sisters explained the beauty of our liturgically based life. They taught the girls about the Liturgy of the Hours which we pray each day, instructed the girls in chant basics, and chanted a portion of the Office with the girls.

Learning to chant the Office

Simultaneously, another group of Sisters shared with a group of girls the beauty of our habit, the stages of religious life, and ways in which our charism is shared by Sisters in each stage of religious formation.

Can you believe that there are only three "real" Sisters in this picture?

A third team of Sisters instructed our visitors in some of the joys of community life, including how the Sisters strive to express our charism of communicating Beauty in even the simplest tasks such as setting the table or making a meal. Capitalizing on the visit's timing during Lent, the Sisters assisted the girls to make pretzels for their snack. (The twist of the pretzel represents arms crossed in prayer, among other things.) The girls also had the opportunity to set the table neatly before enjoying the delicious fresh baked pretzels.

Learning to set the table beautifully

Enjoying fresh pretzels

The evening ended with a tribute to our Marian spirituality - a candlelight procession to our Our Lady of Fatima shrine. Each of the young ladies carried a candle in procession and presented it to Our Lady, representative of her petitions and love. We pray that Our Lady bless and keep each of these young women close to the Heart of her Divine Son.