Picnic at the Falls

In my last blog I mentioned that we were expecting visitors from our Rome Mother house.
Last Friday Sisters Samuela Gironi and Anna Caiazza arrived. They had a very long journey from New York (Newark, NJ) to Toronto. A connecting flight was canceled after they arrived at the airport. They were bused to another airport where they had to wait several hours for their aircraft. Finally they arrived in Toronto close to 11:00 PM. The Sisters were very open, and "sisterly"--we felt that we were truly among family even though we came from different cultures. Sr. Samuela had spent 23 years in Africa. Most of those years were spent in Nairobi, Kenya. Before she left there in September of 2007, Sr. Samuela was partly responsible for our Sisters' opening a convent and book centre in the Sudan. In a country which still suffers from years of warfare, the Pauline Centre is a beacon of light in many ways.
The two visitors presented us with plans to celebrate our connection to St. Paul during the upcoming Pauline Year (June 29, 2008--June 29, 2009), as well as in the years to follow. They also presented some beautiful and profound reflections on St. Paul and our life and mission.
All of us joined in a dialogue about our own community, and our extended community of Daughters of St. Paul in the USA and English-Speaking Canada.
The two Sisters left for Chicago last Tuesday. Sr. Helen called from the Windy City to let us know that they arrived on time. We thank God for those small favors too.
Our Superior General arrived the next day with Sr. Inocencia Tormon. Sister is a Filipino who served especially as a translator for the Superior General. Some of my community speak Spanish, I speak Italian, and another Sister speaks it in a limited way. Still another Sister does not know either Latin language. At table it could become a bit noisy with three languages being spoken--sometimes at once. (We are women after all!)When Sr. Hosea, our local superior, discovered that Mother General had never seen Niagara Falls even though she has visited the USA often, we decided to give her a partial "free day." After some necessary errands on Friday morning, seven of us packed into our mini-van and drove to Niagara falls. In the morning I had listened to the Niagara Falls station. Weather-wise it was not good news: "possible scattered showers." Instead we had very sunny and pleasant weather. We picnicked on the grass near the parking area. As we ate, gusts of wind would blow spray from the Falls onto our faces. At one point a red winged blackbird ate from my hand. Some people at the Falls wanted to take their photos with us: one was a family from Afghanistan with ladies wearing colorful scarves; the other family was Australian. Now our faces may be in a photo album in the heart of the Middle East, and down Under.
Colorful rainbows appeared here and there as we peered at the torrents of water. We had been praying to the Holy Spirit, so the cascading waters reminded us of the Spirit's onslaught of gifts.
May you be filled with the Holy Spirit. In the next blog I will include some pictures.
God bless you!
Sister Mary Peter Martin, fsp