Threshold - Winter 2005

Oblate Renewal Day

Oblate Shari Reilly sent this e-mail report to fellow oblates who were unable to attend the annual renewal day on October 1.

Hi all, I attended the oblate day last Saturday. It was really a swell day. I was actually a little surprised that I enjoyed it so much considering that I met Sister Therese Elias & Oblate Lyllis Ling at 7:05 a.m. at Guardian Angels to carpool up.

Here’s how the day went:

Morning prayer was lovely — they had our books all set up for us and sang a hymn I loved. Mass was fine, too — lots of silence and a good pace.

After Mass, we gathered in the dining room. They had drinks and donuts for us, and had printed nice new nametags and a program of the day. The dining room has new chairs! They are comfy and have nice high backs.

Our morning presentations began with a welcome from the subprioress, Sr. Mary Elizabeth Schweiger. She was really gracious, and pointed out that throughout the day, sisters from the community would be joining us for the various presentations, as well as the mid-day meal.

Sister Anne Shepard gave a presentation on the community’s plan 2005-2006. It was interesting and gave us a sense of where the community wants to invest its resources

Sister Marie Louise gave us a presentation on the history of the Mount. She had some wonderful stories of the various sisters that helped form the community, Marie Louise was droll and quiet but had us laughing most of the time.

After that, we had some time to shop at the gift store and a book table. Then on to the dining room for lunch. I got to see many of the sisters for whom I have great affection. Then we had midday prayer with the older sisters in the Dooley Center chapel.

After lunch we had a whole hour to ourselves for private reflection. Some went to the library, some to the chapel, some outside to wander.

One more talk in the dining room followed. John and Bonnie talked to us about their trip to the Oblate Congress in Rome. They described many of the speakers, and gave a website where you can find transcripts and more: www.oblatesworldcongress.com

After that, we ended with a renewal of our oblation in the chapel. It was, again, beautiful and simple, and a nice end to the day.

Shari


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