A Saturday in New York City?
Just a few days ago we received an invitation to be present at the Mass and Reception for the Master of the Order, Fr. Bruno Cadore, OP, at St. Vincent Ferrer Church and Priory, NYC. Six of our sisters--the novitiate and their novice mistress, Sr. Mary Catharine, and Sr. Judith Miryam were chosen to represent the community. None of us felt crazy enough to venture to drive into the city so we took the train in. Since we had time after the Mass and reception, we opted to take the subway which is quite an experience for those of us (lucky enough) who haven't had to travel in and around NYC. Sr. Mary Jacinta was on "home turf" along with Sr. Judith Miryam who worked in the city before she entered.
At the very end of the reception we still hadn't met Fr. Master and Sr. Mary Magdalene was anxious to give him the habit rosary she had finished just the night before! Although he had been answering questions for over an hour, Fr. Bruno was delighted to see us as we made our way over to him before he left to go to the friars' priory. His eyes lit up as Sr. Mary Jacinta began talking to him in French and they conversed in creole. (Fr. Master was missioned to Haiti at one time.) Sr. Mary Cecilia also spoke in French and Sr. Mary Veronica gave him a good laugh has she spoke in French saying something that purposely showed she couldn't speak French!
Fr. Bruno was happy to receive Sr. Mary Magdalene's rosary and enjoyed her Irish sense of humor as she informed him that he had just blessed this very rosary. (He blessed religious articles at the end of the meeting.) Unfortunately, the visit was all too short but we were delighted that he got to meet our youngest sisters.
After visiting St. Vincent's and taking time for some much needed silent prayer we then began our trip home and the monastery with it's silence and prayer was a beautiful place to see as we pulled into the driveway.
Click on the photo below for the slideshow. We were having a terrible time with the camera and couldn't get good settings so most of the photos are a bit grainy! Eventually, you'll probably see photos of us on the streets of NYC because a lot of people were taking photos at every street corner!
