Celebrating St. Dominic's Day

Our feast day celebration began the evening before with Solemn I Vespers of the feast. At solemn Vespers we have incense at the Magnificat and the intercessions are chanted to a tone from the Ukranian Mass.
Mass the next morning was celebrated by Fr. Joseph Alobaidi, OP who is with us for a few weeks giving us classes on the Prophets. Father gave a beautiful homily on the Mercy of God and how St. Dominic embodied God's love for sinners, "holding all in the innermost compassion of his heart" as it says in our Constitutions. There was lots of "smells and bells" and our music directress told us that we sang beautifully! (She doesn't say that too often!)

St. Dominic's Day is a "recreation day" which means that except for the times of the Divine Office, Adoration and Rosary and private prayer we can talk, have snacks and sometimes we play games...and talk...and talk. This time we played one of our favorites which we especially like to try on newcomers: "Is the Pope Catholic?" Anyone who had the Baltimore Catechism has a distinct advantage. One of our love/hate places to land on is "nostalgia" because then the sister has to tell a Catholic story or joke. Fortunately, many of us have stories from the novitiate to draw upon. The "goal" of the game is go up the ladder and become Pope. The game takes so long that it almost never happens and 2 sisters seemed to spend an awfully long time in "the box" which meant they had to start all over again!

Our dear friends and benefactors always surprise us with many good things to celebrate the feast of our Holy Founder. For their kindness and generosity we are so grateful! Some of us might have gained 10lbs!

After a full day of recreation like this we are more than happy to go back to our usual life of silence the next day!

Our growing novitiate, Giang, our aspirant,Sr. Angela, postulant, Sr. Mariana, novice.