What I've Learned in the Last Few Days

1. Polyester melts.

2. Duct Tape doesn't actually fix everything.

3. Chaperoning 1st grade girls on a field trip to go Christmas caroling and then eat at McDonald's is tiring, but well worth it when they spontaneously lead the whole bus of 1st - 8th grade students in Christmas Carols.

4. Chocolate chips don't always melt like they should.

5. I prefer eating oatmeal raisin cookies to baking them. (Thank goodness Sister is very understanding and she said just try again after the first batch flopped.)

6. Don't forget you're shoes outside because that will be the one day it actually rains. 

I think that's everything.

Convent Skills

Turns out the Movie Moments may not happen every week because my life just doesn't produce that many movie worthy moments.  If I really sat and thought about it, I could probably actually come up with one, but I don't have that time and I haven't watched that many movies.

Instead I'm working on developing other skills here in the convent, like getting up, getting ready and being in church in less than 10 minutes. Thank goodness for Guardian Angels.  (I'm pretty sure mine works overtime all the time.) Sunday I had my alarm set for 5:50.  It went off and I shut it off.  6:26 I rolled over and realized I had 4 minutes until Mass started.  I was up and out the door by 6:31 and made it into the church by the time Father was starting the Kyrie Leison.

Movie Moment

This week's movie moment once again brought to you by my gardening chore.

We have this huge viney plant that has grown over the wall from the lady's yard who lives behind us and it was decided it needed to go because it chokes out other stuff on our trellis and it cracks to wall. So today, since I had some time in the morning to work on it I went out to attack the vine and take back the wall. When I came in to wash up before going to help the kids with lunch, my dear companion took a look at my face and started laughing. "Your face is so dirty! You look like one of those people from the Industrial Revolution or a chimney sweep."  So there you have it. The movie moment of the week is the chimney sweeps from Mary Poppins.

I looked in the mirror and I promise I did not look that dirty, but hey it was her interpretation. 

Movie Moment

This morning during Mass the Windex commercial got real.  A bird had flown into the church and was unsuccessfully trying to get out.  Just as Father was starting the Eucharistic Prayer, the bird flew right into one of the windows and fell down to the ground.  Father looked over and just kept on going, but two of the parishioners got up to check it out and the bird got up and flew away from them.

Sidenote: Due to the bird, we also had a cat in church this morning.  (The priest have a cat, Dora, for mouse catching purposes.)  It saw the bird go in the church and wanted to catch it.  People were not a fan though so I got to catch Dora and take her back outside.

Movie Moments

Inspired by my current living situation, I've decided to have a new series of posts.  I'm going to try to keep them weekly, but with my schedule and the way convent life seems to go, there may be a few weeks that get missed.  Also, it's going to depend on inspiration.  Hopefully I'll get a little Divine Inspiration to help me out.

So I give you Movie Moments. We'll count my last post as the first one of the series since it referenced movie/TV characters that my life was reflecting in the moment.  The second movie moment is Weezer from Steel Magnolias.

I am not an old southern woman, but my current chore for the month is taking care of the gardens around our house and the other day during lunch assistance in order to provide myself with a little shade I borrowed a large, funny hat from the gardening supply/tool closet. 

What I Learned Today

Apparently getting ready to move across the country turns my life into a movie and a sitcom. This morning I went to finish up some packing and turned on the radio in my room, California Gurls by Katy Perry was playing and it was immediately followed up by a Billy Joel song that started out talking about some guy who moved to the west coast south of LA.  I felt like the character in the movies who turns on the radio and every song is something about what's happening in said character's life.  Later today, one of my companions and I were cleaning and she was like "Wow I'm impressed Relish." (I was questioning if she thought I don't normally do a thorough job." Then I realized that I was cleaning extra vigorously as a coping mechanism and 20 seconds later realized at one point I had been told that my mom does something similar. After declaring, "I'm turning into my mom. We clean to cope and like teaching junior high kids," My mind immediately jumped to the Reba episode where Van and Cheyenne decide eventually you turn into your parents.  Stay tuned to see if any more of this moving adventure turns my life into a TV production.

That Awkward Moment...

When your're standing at the pharmacy window picking up your antibiotic and the tech asks you to put in your phone number and you get it wrong twice so he asks if the number sounds familiar and then rattles off the number you were sure wouldn't be correct.

At least he still gave me the antibiotic.

I miss my pharmacist.

Happy Moment of the Day

One of the younger boys came up to me today during the dismissal time and was having a conversation with me. I was doing my best to give him as much of my attention as I could while listening to the walkie talkie so I could call kids whose parents had arrived to pick them up.

Boy: "Do you know what the best part of this camp is?"

Thinking he was going to tell me the pool or one of the games or other activities I said "No, what's the best part?"

His reply: "It's not the fun.  It's how everybody talks about God so much here."

His answer made me pause for a moment and it really touched my heart.  There are many moments throughout my day of herding teenage boys that I question whether or not they are getting the message about God's love we are trying to impart on them, but this young boy reassured me we are making an impact on their faith lives amidst all the games and activities.

My Laugh of the Day

Today while herding my crew of teenage boy campers to our next destination the following conversation took place;

Camper A: Relish do you have any brothers?
Me; Yep three.
Camper B: Do you have any sisters?
Me: Yep three.
Camper A: So you've got three brothers and three sisters?
Me: Yes and one on the way.
Camper C: You have 7 brothers and sisters!??! Eight kids in your family?
Me: Yes.
Camper D: 10 people live in your house??!!
(in my head at this point thinking,  "Well I'm glad they can do that math.")
Back to Camper C who's an only child: That's so many people living in one house!

Then the conversation turned to my age. Those dear children thought I was four years younger than I actually am.  So I guess it makes sense why Liz Taylor and I are confused as twins. I look the same age as her according to my campers.

What I Learned Today

I have an accent. And according to one of my campers, I have a South Jersey accent. I told him that wasn't where I'm from but he didn't seem to care. When he mimicked me the accent was from much further south than South Jersey.

The conversation about my accent took place yesterday. Today as we passed my companion who hails from the dear flatlands as well, he declared we both sound alike.  His shock at hearing multiple people with our accent was quite entertaining.

What I Learned Today

Putting on a habit (or uniform right now for me) makes random people comfortable talking to you about anything.

Yesterday we went to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the altar of Mary Help of Christians.  Sitting with some of my companions waiting for Mass to start, an elderly gentleman came up and took the open seat next to me.  He turned to me and began talking about the Basilica.  I asked him if he had been at the dedication of the altar 50 years ago which launched him into telling me about himself.  He lives at the Veteran's home in DC and since he's 94 years old he figured he should go yesterday because he just never knew how much he longer he would be able to go out.  Then he showed me the speaker device he had for his hearing aid because he had lost most of his hearing in combat.  "Take care of your ears.  Stay away from all those loud noses and things or else you end up with bad hearing like me.  They didn't tell us that back then. And make sure you brush your teeth.  They didn't tell us to do that either and I didn't brush mine." At this point he popped his dentures out of place and showed them to me.  "See.  You got to take care because you only get one shot. God only gives you one body.  God bless you." And with that he turned back forward.

It was very sweet of him.  Although it really took a lot to control myself when he popped out his dentures to not get a little bit of the church giggles, but I kept myself composed.

This particular situation is really a mild case of what happens in habit/uniform and honestly it could have just been an older gentleman taking a chance to share some things he had learned in life with a young person.  Either way I take it as preparation for the conversations that could happen when I don the habit, God willing.

What I Learned Today

I'm not valid. Turns out my lovely home state doesn't issue IDs up to federal standards and you can't get on federal grounds at places like West Point.

Today as culmination of our Don Bosco class, Sr. D took us on a field trip to visit West Point and our Marian Shrine where there is a replica of Don Bosco's childhood home.  The first stop of the day was West Point.  On arriving at the security check, point my companion and I were informed we couldn't go in because our licenses' didn't meet federal requirements, and we didn't have any other form of identification on us.  Divine Intervention saved the day as we had just met an officer from West Point when we were getting breakfast and he had graciously arranged to meet us and give us a tour.  Thank goodness he was able to come and get us in so we could join the tour.

Things I'm Not Ready for

Sunday morning we had our final CCD class.  It was my week to be with the 2nd graders as a teacher's aide.  When the teacher walked in I wished her a Happy Mother's Day, without skipping a beat she said Happy Mother's Day to me.  In the moment I said nothing, but at lunch later I was relating the story and how in my mind I was caught off guard by it. Sr. B then pointed out, "Um spiritual motherhood."  Oh yeah. Well, still not ready to be wished Happy Mother's Day by people.

The Alarm Clock Strikes Again

Some of you may or may not remember on my first morning in the convent, I had a bit of a struggle with the alarm clock and slept right through Mass, this morning the alarm clock struggle reappeared. Part of the problem I think may have stemmed from falling asleep while reading last night and walking up a half hour/45 minutes later to shut off the lights and actually go to bed.  This morning I rolled over to look at the clock thinking it was the middle of the night and I could sleep longer, only to realize it was 5:41 and I was officially a minute late to meditation.  Whoops.  As I scurried about my room getting ready I awaited the inevitable knock on the door.  5:46 Sr. TK was knocking on my door to make sure I was awake.  She was concerned I was ill.  I reassured her I'd be in chapel in a moment and she departed.  As Guardian Angel Grandma would say, I must have needed the extra sleep which I think was absolutely true because when I got in chapel I actually stayed awake for meditation.

#1 on to do list before bedtime tonight: Check the alarm clock.

Spring Break Convent Style

First off when you live in the convent spring break becomes Easter break and it starts Holy Thursday and lasts the whole week after Easter.  At least that's what I've been told, I'm not sure if it's the same in all of the Salesian houses.

Before break even began Sr. TK sat the six of us down and informed us in the Salesian world a break from school means a new job description for the break.  To be honest it really could have been much worse if you think of all the new job descriptions the six of us could have gotten.

Monday: This was a half free day.  The morning was spent doing a spring cleaning in the dorms.  In the afternoon five us loaded up and headed to a mega mall 30 minutes away.  I'm pretty sure it was quite obvious as we wandered through Target we don't get out much. Oh well.  We celebrated with some TGI Fridays and finished the evening off with some Coldstone.

Tuesday: Morning was spent washing all the chairs in the cafeteria.  Afternoon was spent helping Sr. M reorganize and clean the development office after they got new carpet the week before.  They had some very interesting things in there that had been donated for use at fundraising parties.

Wednesday:  Back to cleaning the school in the AM.  I got to wash windows with Sr. R.  As I've been declared a tall person here and I'm about five inches taller than Sr. R I was put in charge of all the windows that were higher up.  In the afternoon, I accompanied one of the development office employees to check out all the Easter sales at CVS, Walgreens, Dollar Tree, etc. to get Easter/Spring things for the upcoming raffle basket party.  On returning from the shopping excursion, one of my companions and I were in charge of supper.

Thursday: Field trip day with Sr. TK.  After loading up the cargo van with things food to be used at the retreat center where the novices live we headed to their house for the day.  I got to drive the cargo van.  It wasn't too bad.  I'm thankful for the Red Bus driving experiences I get asked to drive the larger vans around here.

Friday: Just like when I was in school, all the homework due Monday had not been touched so the morning was spent doing homework.  In the afternoon, we headed down to the Provincial House to entertain the elderly Srs. with a skit we had put together based on what we've learned in our classes about Mother Mazzarello.

Saturday: Chores and then we got to go with Sr. B and Sr. G to NYC for Catholic Underground.  It was a super cool experience.  Catholic Underground is run by the Franciscan Friars and it consists of Confession and Adoration with praise and worship music being performed. There were people of all ages there which was neat because most of those types of events I've been to are mostly for high school/college age people.  After the Holy hour they have some form of entertainment in the basement of the church with refreshments and stuff, hence the Underground part of the title.

Sunday: Back to CCD and enjoying the last few hours of break before going back to the regular schedule.

And so concludes my first convent spring break.

We Survived

Or at least externally everyone seems to have survived 7th Heaven's visit to the convent.  When they arrived the Charmer played his shy card, but he quickly recovered and turned on his normal charm with all of the Sisters.  Before their arrival I had warned one of the younger Sisters of his charming characteristics.  I don't think she believed me but within 2 hours of his arrival she was aware of his charm.

Sunday we went to Philly to check out some of the historic sites.  Star wanted to go see the Liberty Bell.  I'm fairly certain she has no idea what exactly the Liberty Bell is and we didn't actually get a chance to get up close it because of the long line.  We saw it from a second story window of Independence Hall instead.

Monday I took them around the school.  Liz Taylor came along with me to help in the cafeteria.  All the girls freaked out because we look so much a like and they thought it was cool that I had family visiting.  Then we went to the Provincial House to have snack time with the elderly Sisters.  Liz Taylor was in heaven or at least she might have been until the Sisters started talking about her following in my footsteps.

Tuesday we headed to the Crayola Factory.  It was a pretty cool place. They had a lot of really neat interactive stuff.  I spent a lot of time coloring while watching the kids on the massive playground they had inside.

So anyway all I heard about all day Wednesday and Thursday was how cute my siblings are and what a joy it was to have them visit.


On a totally different note of survival.  The Easter Triduum in the convent is a bit more intense than out of the convent even when you follow the Peggy days of obligation. Good Friday was an all day silent retreat. It was intense.  The parish I went to for all the services has a strong Spanish population and at one point I guess there were a lot of Italians there too, so all of the services were tri-lingual.  Definitely not something you ever found at my home parish.

The whole community pitches in to help prepare the Easter dinner.  I signed up for beverages because I thought how hard can that be? Just set out the trays of pop (or soda as they say on the East coast) and beer. Turns out that also includes making a punch.  Again not too hard and it actually turned out pretty well.  Some of the Sisters enjoy a glass of wine so I figured since it was kind of an important dinner I should make sure there was wine out.  I tracked down one of the Sisters and she helped me get out the right wine and then she was like here go open them.  When I told her I had no idea how to open a wine bottle she quickly told me I was going to learn right now.  So on Easter I learned how to open wine.

"I'm so excited..

and I just can't hide it." Because in 48 hours AL and some of the Seventh Heaven Crew are making their way to visit the convent.  The Srs. tell me they are excited too, but I'm not sure if they realize what is about ready to descend upon our house...

It's really a big moment if you think about it convent meet the fam, fam meet the convent.

Stayed tuned for more updates as the adventure unfolds.

Supporting Roles

Tuesday the news segment on the Srs. aired on the local news station.  The news anchor did a really nice job on portraying the Salesians as well as the other community she interviewed for the clip.

http://pix11.com/2016/03/01/young-women-become-nuns-to-pursue-their-passions-with-god/

God decided to answer my prayers of avoiding saying anything embarrassing or ridiculous by having my role in the clip be just watching the other Srs. answer questions.

Never Did I Ever

Think I would find myself interviewing to be on the news in the convent.  Once again, I was proved wrong.  A local news reporter contacted the Sisters a few months back about doing a piece on the Sisters.  The reporter has a teen daughter and wanted to find some positive role models for young women in a culture that is filled with a lot of not so great role models.  So, in light of this, I found myself sitting between two of our temporary professed Sisters yesterday morning answering questions about how we found our way to the convent and gave up lives that would be considered ideal for people our age.  My goal during the whole thing was to allow the two Sisters to answer as many of the questions as possible, which thank goodness, happened.

Remember Where You Belong

As part of our Salesian Spirituality class with Sr. B, we recently took a field trip to visit the Dominican Nuns of Summit, NJ. You might find this strange that a Sister would take us to visit another order, but it really was a great opportunity for us.  Some of us, myself included, didn't really look a lot of other orders during our discernment so our knowledge of other congregations' spirituality is very limited. The purpose of the trip was for us to interview the Sisters and then compare and contrast the differences between our Salesian charism and their Dominican charism.

It was very enlightening.  Going in Sr. B had prepped us a bit telling us that we would be sitting in a room with a wall in the middle and windows, the Dominicans would be one side and we would be on the other with the windows opened for interaction.  Other than than that all I knew about this particular cloister of Dominicans I learned from a five minute YouTube video we watched in class.

In my mind, cloistered nuns were quiet and super prayerful.  I figured they would be reserved and the conversation might be a little awkward just because of how reserved they were.  I was quickly proved wrong.  The Sisters came in and were super cheerful, one opening up the windows while another rolled in a cart with homemade hot chocolate and biscotti for us to snack on.  They were laughing and joking with each other and were super welcoming of us.  Sr. B and the Prioress (their Superior) exchanged little gifts and then we all sat down.  Each of us had prepared questions for them and after a round of introductions, we started asking. My first question was if they took some form of a vow of silence.  They don't and they were quick to inform us that although they have times during the day where they do observe silence, they never formally take a vow of silence and it's actually a very inaccurate stereotype of cloistered nuns.  Throughout the rest of the interview, I was surprised by several moments where I realized there were similarities to Salesians. Obviously, there were major differences as well because they're cloistered so their ministry is mostly contemplation and sharing the fruits of their contemplation through praying for others.  However, I noticed a joy the Sisters had that I have come to realize is present from doing God's will and living to serve Him.  They also had a real family like spirit.  After talking to them, it makes a lot of sense because unlike with the Salesians where we are moved from one house to another depending on ministry needs, once they enter the cloister that's their community for life.

The time for conversation passed very quickly and honestly I think I might have left with more questions than I came with, at the same time possessing a better idea of what cloistered life could be like.  We had already planned on staying for evening prayer, just participating on the public side of the chapel, but the Prioress invited us to join the Sisters in their side of the chapel.  It was a beautiful experience. The Sisters' chapel, instead of regular pews, has choir stalls since the Sisters sing the Divine Office. All of the choir stalls were made of very beautifully carved woodwork.

No worries though. I won't be jumping ship to enter the cloister. Before leaving on our field trip Sr. TK told each of us have fun but remember where we belong.  Coming back I told her the Dominicans were nice, but they just weren't the Salesians.

You can kind of see the wall and windows which were separating us during our visit. 

What I Learned A Couple Days Ago

When you live with your teacher you don't get real snow days, you get delayed starts.  Also, when you live in the convent and the bishop says Sunday won't be a day of obligation due to weather circumstances, you still have communion service.

It's okay though because I got to sleep till 7:45 three days in a row. Thank you Jonas.

Another Angle

A lot of times in my posts, you get the perspective of the formation journey from me, however, in a conversation with Munchkin, we were talking about the formation journey from the Sisters' side.  Yes I'm here to discern whether I fit in Salesian life and if this is God's mission for my life, but it's also a time of discernment for the Srs.  As people in formation, we are inserted into the life of the Srs so that we can see what it is like and at the same time they see how we fit.  If there are major issues or signs the Srs. pick up that concerns them, they have to address the situation because if we are going to be living and working with them we have to be a fit for them as well.  We're on a trial run.  Formation is somewhat like a long interview process to become a Salesian, with you constantly asking questions to learn more and being put into a variety of situations that one can encounter as a Salesian.  To move on through formation each year, you have to write a petition to the provincial saying you would like to continue on in your formation.  When that time comes, the formator kind of guides the young women through the process, but if the Srs. don't think you're a fit you may be told you probably shouldn't write one.  Or there may be a situation where you are politely told Salesian life may not be the fit for you.

Bottom line, it is possible to get kicked out of the convent.

Convent Q & A

Thanks for your responses.  

Mrs. had a great question.  What exactly will I be doing over the next few years?  

Answer:  After finishing the school year out, I'll be coming back to 7th Heaven for another home visit.  After that, I'll return to the house I'm at now to help with the summer camp here. When camp is over we'll have a few weeks to get our stuff together and then my companions and I will head to a suburb of LA to start our year as postulants.  As postulants, we will be doing many of the same things we do here.  The classes however, will be a more direct preparation for the following two years of novitiate.  Around May/June 2017 we will all head home for a brief home visit before returning once again to New Jersey for summer camp.  When camp is over, this time we will head an hour north of where we are now to begin our first year in the novitiate.  During the two years as novices we will be taking college courses in theology so that at the end of the two years we receive a certificate in theology that allows us to teach theology courses or serve as a director of religious education.  Besides that our main ministry will be helping run a retreat center on the weekends.  As first year novices, we will be completing what is called our canonical year.  This means we will be cloistered for the year. Cloistered for us however is different than cloistered for other communities.  Although we won't be leaving the house for home visits or things like that, we will still be leaving the house to go teach religious education and attend college classes.  After spending a full calendar year in the novitiate, we will go home on a two week home visit. Upon return we will complete our novitiate taking more college classes and preparing for vows.  Then, God willing on August 5, 2019 we will be making our first vows. 

Never Did I Ever...

Think I would be making a bet in the convent, but last night I was taken up on a bet by one of the Sisters in the house, Sr. BA.  Apparently this particular "game" is actually a rather common thing in the convent.  While eating almonds at supper I was told if you got a "twin" almond in the shell then you had to tell someone Bonjour Philipine.  Then that person takes one of the almonds and before eating them you set a time in which you must say Bonjour Philipine to the other person again.  Whoever says it then gets some form of prayers for the other person.  As it happened, right after explaining the whole thing to me, Sr. BA got the twin almonds and offered one to me.  So this morning after coming down to the dining room for breakfast, I had to say Bonjour Philipine to her first in order for her to offer her prayers and the mass she attends tomorrow for me.  Afraid I would forget since the whole thing was new to me another Sr. who had been sitting at the table reminded me before I came downstairs and made sure I knew what to say.  The whole having a prayer bet looming over your head can make you really paranoid while getting your breakfast ready.  The entire time I was getting my breakfast ready, I spent more time glancing over my shoulder and looking around for Sr. BA than actually looking at the things I was getting.  She finally showed up and, in case you were wondering, I won. It was very close and I was ready to call it a tie, but the Srs. who witnessed it declared me the winner.

It gets better though, not only were Sr.BA and I in this prayer bet, but the Provincial, who is currently visiting our house, and our Animator were also in one! (So basically the two Srs. in charge of my life right now were betting.)

Convent Q & A

Hello?  Everybody still there?  I know it's been a while.  Like everywhere else, the convent becomes a very busy place during the Christmas season with parties, Christmas programs, and last minute things before going on a home visit.  Once I got back to 7th Heaven the busy pace kept up and I was too busy soaking up every second of it to take a moment and blog.  Now after an entirely too short, but much needed two weeks spent at home I'm back at the convent.   With the New Year, I'm hoping maybe I'll get a little bit more of a routine in the posting, but we'll see what happens.  One thing I've learned in the last 4 months of convent life is nothing is set in stone, ever.

Today's question comes from Page Turner: Do you watch TV? Do you go to bed super early?

Answers:  Yes we do watch TV.  Every night after recreation we congregate in our study and either watch or listen to the news while doing other work.   On weekends, periodically we'll watch a movie. If you consider 10 early, then yes I do go to bed early. Bed time sort of fluctuates depending on the person.  Personally I try to be in bed by 10, some of my companions on the other hand are usually cramming in last minute homework at that time.   Sr. TK leaves it up to us to a point because she told us we need to be able to handle that sort of thing for ourselves so that we are getting enough rest to be able to function during the day.


And with answering Page Turner's questions, I believe I have gotten to everybody's questions from the last Reader Poll.  Once again, I ask you what you would like to know about life here in the convent? (I know some people had some questions they asked while I was home, but I've managed to forget them so if you could post them in the comments that would be fantastic. :) )