communitas et caritas

Merry Christmas! I've been here in Madrid a week as of yesterday, and I'm celebrating the feast today (and yesterday) with the community here. I'm staying with the elder sisters in a house named Rosales, which is on the same property as a school. Of course, school's out for the holiday. Across the street is a park (also named Rosales, for an artist), and within walking distance is a shopping district and access to all sorts of public transit. I am hoping to walk to the Cathedral later today to see the Christmas decorations. There are nativity scenes EVERYWHERE! In churches, on street corners, in department stores and corner drugstores. In the plazas at the center of tiny towns and big cities. There are four in this house in public areas, and I suspect many of the sisters have their own in their rooms! Here, at least, they definitely remember that Jesus is the center of this celebration. No Christmas celebration here would be complete without the kissin...

I wasn't sure why I kept this blog alive -- other than not seeing a reason to delete it. And now, the reason to keep it is here. A new adventure starts this week! A blog re-boot begins now, to tell the stories and share the pictures. I hope you enjoy. This adventure is the next stage of my formation as a Religious of the Sacred Heart. You can flip through the older blog posts to read the chronicles of my first years in formation, through my first vows and into my years as "professed of temporary vows." Now that six and a half years have passed since my vows ceremony, I am beginning to prepare for perpetual profession. Adventure time! The first stage of preparation is called an international experience. I am leaving on Sunday, December 16, to spend the next six months in southern Spain. Our Spanish sisters have had a ministry there for decades to assist migrants with their adjustment into Europe. Migrants come from all over Africa to work in acres of greenhouses in Alme...