Today we gather together on a special day for a special event.  Feast of the Assumption – Dogma of the ChurchHouse of Ephesus – Our readings speak of Mary’s journey – her constant journeying to God culminating in her Assumption.The bronze relief on the death Door in St. Peter’s Basilica: used to exit after funerals – it depicts the deaths of Jesus, Mary, Abel, St. Joseph, Peter, and John XIII.  Mary falls and the angels swoop in to catch her at the m...

What a long awaited and beautiful day in the life of a religious – profession day – which translates “wedding day” with none other than our Lord and Redeemer, Jesus Christ! Sr. Carly Paula and Sr. Chelsea Bethany, you have found the ONE and He made sure to let Himself be found by you. And looking at you both, I have to admit that the Lord has done a great job in choosing! In psalm 45 that we prayed today, it says: “Radiant they shall enter the palace of the kin...

I never imagined it would fly by so fast. When I entered community life with the Daughters of Saint Paul as a postulant on September 22, 2011 so many of my sisters would comment, “These four years will go by so fast!” I remember thinking, “Yah sure, easy for you to say.” I had been waiting for what felt like forever already to finally enter, and now I had another four years of preparation before making my first vows to Jesus. That fire of love, of desire, makes it difficu...

People keep asking me: “Are you ready to make First Vows?” I never know quite what to say. Can one ever be totally “ready” for something like this?One day, a few weeks ago, I was asked for what seemed like the tenth time that week if I was “ready” to make Profession as a Daughter of Saint Paul. I was tired and I found myself struggling to answer this question yet again. The poor soul standing in front of me was just as shocked as I was when I said very definit...

Our dear Sr. Mary Gabriella passed into eternity on July 16, 2015. This past week we celebrated her life and the gift she was to us, praying for her and her family. Below are the words Sr. Mary Leonora, provincial superior, addressed to the community at the close of her funeral.“There is one thing I ask of the Lord; for this I long: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life” (Ps 27), so prays the psalmist and so prays the disciple and beloved of Jesus Master. In these weeks we h...

On this July day the Lord calls us together to celebrate Jubilee, the joyful recognition of God’s love and fidelity to our sisters in the course of 25, 60, 75 years! It is a festive day as each remembers the unconditional love of the One who calls, the very personal and individual way He walks and converses with each one, the deep relationship and bond with Him and with the sisters of community. The pervading feeling is one of gratitude. In the first reading, the author of Isaiah, speaking in t...

I was baptized Teresa Marie, with St. Thérèse of Lisieux as my patron. Saint Thérèse was a really easy saint for me to connect with as a child: she has so many stories from her childhood; her “little way” was quite understandable to me as a kid; my grandfather gave me a relic of her which I treasured; and when I was around twelve, I read herAutobiography for the first time.  But by the time I was twelve, I almost regretted having her as a patron. St. Thérèse was supposed to be my patron saint,...