Feast of St. Paul

Happy Feast of St. Paul!

Yes, today, the Pauline Family celebrates the feast of our patron, St. Paul. Many of our sisters celebrate their anniversary of profession this day, and here in Rome, at least more than 50 celebrate their 50th year of consacrated life--just in Italy, Daughters of St. Paul. If you happened to be reading my other blog on Blessed James Alberione, we also celebrate his 100th year of priestly ordination.

25 of our sisters are also making their perpetual profession today all over the world and novices are making their first commitment through their first temporary profession. One of them is Karen Eng, who is from Singapore and will be making her profession today in Boston with her 2 companions. Please join us to thank the Lord for having chosen and called us to this special mission.

Feast of the Birth of John the Baptist

Happy Feast Day!

Yes, I am back from my 8 days of grace-filled and enriching spiritual exercises. Thanks for all your prayers. I will share later about this spiritual exercises based on our spirituality: Till Christ be formed in you.

Today the Church celebrates the feast of the birth of John the Baptist, an important figure, who pathed the way of Christ. I would like to also invite you to join me to thank God for the gift of my Pauline Vocation, in which 7 years ago, on this day, He graced me with the gift of first profession. Those who are interested can check this link: First Profession 24 June 2000

Please continue to pray for my perseverance.

Break....

There will not be any updates for the next two weeks because I am on a short-break, followed by an 8-days retreat. Please do keep me in your prayers.

Processions

I am probably a bit late, but would like to share a bit about processions here. On 31 May, I got the opportunity of joining the annual rosary procession in Vatican garden, which was opened to all. It was just impressive to see the number of people attending and praying in different languages. I tried to get some pictures, but it is difficult to balance between holding the booklet, rosary, lighted candle and then with a camera. So, obviously the photos didn't turn out well. The Pope came at the end when we reached the grotto of our Lady of Lourdes. There were readings and he gave the homily and blessings at the end.Then on Thursday, 7 June, we had the Corpus Christi procession. It started with the Mass outside St. John Lateran, with the Pope as the main celebrant. The square was not really filled up in the beginning but by the time Mass finished and as the procession began, it was just amazing where these people came from.

Again, this time, I didn't get good pictures because of the distance (my camera can reach only up to 4x zoom and my hands were not steady, probably because age is catching up). So from there we walked all the way to St. Mary Major, which is about 1.5 km. There were prayers and singing during the procession and it ended with the Pope's benediction.

Beauty and the Liturgy

Happy Feast of the Blessed Trinity!

I was reading the Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Sacramentum Caritatis of the Holy Father, and would like to share this phrase:

As St. Bonaventure would say, in Jesus we contemplate beauty and splendour at their source. This is the concrete way in which the truth of God's love in Christ encounters us, attracts us and delights us, enabling us to emerge from ourselves and drawing us towards our true vocation, which is love.