For anyone waiting for my musings on the election, don't worry, they're coming. Tomorrow.
But tonight I just have to celebrate friendship a little bit.
I happen to have a friend from college who entered the Poor Clares about a year and a half ago. She'd discerned that this was her vocation and she patiently waited for a number of years while she paid off her student loans before she was finally able to start her life with the sisters. Last Saturday, on the feast of All Saints, she became a novice, which means she received her habit and her new name. She also removed her shoes -- except for working or praying outside in their gardens, these Poor Clares go barefoot.
This afternoon a group of about two dozen friends got to visit with the new novice in the convent's parlor. The Poor Clares are cloistered, and according to old custom, our newly-minted sister visited with us from behind a fine wire screen. We could all see and hear each other, but we couldn't touch, couldn't hug. The closest we got was to touch palms through the screen; the warmth of our hands the only sensation of contact.
There was much laughter and scattered bits of personal and family news shared with the young woman none of us had seen since the Sunday before she entered the convent. But despite her new clothes and her new name (Sr. Marie Ancilla of our Holy Father Francis), the same sweet, silly, contemplative woman shown through.
It was truly a privilege to spend those 90 minutes that way, sharing in her obvious joy and seeing how the Lord was beginning to reshape her toward the mission to which He has called her. Of all the family members and friends she could have invited, I'll never know why I made the list, but I'm grateful for the gift of such a friendship.
Please pray for my friend, Sr. Ancilla ("ancilla" is Latin for "handmaid," a reference to Mary's "yes" to the angel's message that she would be the mother of the Savior). And know that she's praying for you, too.
