episcogirlorama!

i went to the ceremony of the life profession of sr. lilli ana of the community of the holy spirit today. the bishop suffragan of ny, catherine roskam, performed the profession. the presiding bishop of the episcopal church of the u.s.a., catherine jefferts schiori was also there! that was a surprise - a very pleasant one. the homily was done by winnie varghese, who is the chaplain at columbia u. when it came time for the eucharist, i had a moment of god's grace and joy when i watched bishop roskam give the eucharist to bishop schiori and then they both gave the bread to the community and guests, while winnie and sr. lilli ana gave the wine. it was episcogirlorama!
we women are taking over the world you know.

the a word

i was just reading ask sister mary martha today about burying a statue of st. joseph upside down in your backyard and she says you have to mark the spot so you can dig him up once your house is sold b/c you have to take him with you and venerate him in your new house.
this reminded me of a story from my own church, holy trinity.
every year the sunday school children and teachers make a banner that says allelulia and bury it in the garden of our church to bring home the idea that during lent we don't say the a word and are more sober. on easter sunday the sunday school dig up the banner and bring it into church as part of the ceremony and we all say allelulia. one year, the kids were seriously late coming in and they were sans banner. turns out, they couldn't find the spot where they buried it. the teachers were digging all over the garden trying to find it and the kids were laughing and saying, oooooh! you're in trouble! so, the following year, the sunday school leaders decided to mark the spot with a small, homemade cross. when they went back to the spot at the end of lent to get the banner, they found two crosses! they reckoned that someone saw the first cross and took it for a pet cemetery and buried their own pet there and marked the spot with a cross!
hope everyone is having a blessed lent.

lent, so far

i love lent and i'm really enjoying this year. i don't give stuff up so much as take on spiritual practices that i really want to concentrate on.
this year i'm meditating more. i'm also doing the artist's way workbook, which is really opening me up a lot. i've added spiritual movies and documentaries to my netflix queue.
last night i watched monsieur ibrahim, with omar sharif. it was an outstanding film and i highly recommend it. i also recommend the magazine, spirituality and health. it comes out every two months and i have been subscribing for years. they have, among other great articles, a regular review of spiritual movies - from documentaries to "regular" hollywood or foreign movies that are in some way uplifting.
i'm really getting a lot out of this experience and am looking forward to holy week. i have a vacation from school during holy week (it doesn't always coincide), so i plan to go to the community of the holy spirit, where i am an associate, for holy week services.
blessed lent everyone!