The Eucharistic Letter

  

Twenty-two sisters from Africa, India, and France joined Sr. Marie Heckman (Institute St. Joseph--France) who presented a program on the Eucharistic Letter August 17-23 at the International Centre. The program was a pilot and will be offered next August as a Centre program.

The objectives of the program were fourfold:

1. To become aware of what resonates with each participant in the charism of the Sisters of Saint Joseph. 

2. To discover how I have inherited the way the Sisters who came before me received these texts, as well as the evolution of the Sisters of Saint Joseph’s spirituality over the centuries. 

3. To revisit the texts left to us by Jean-Pierre Médaille with fresh eyes—immersing myself in their context and the places where they were shaped—in order to hear what he intended to convey in his own time. 

4. To continue making these texts our own in the times in which we live. 

 

Group work 

                        

The sisters divided into groups to discuss various questions relating to the objectives of the program.

Journey to original SSJ communities 

The sisters visited Dunières, Riotord, Marlhes, Saint-Romain-Lachalm, Saint-Didier en Velay, Tence, Saint-Jeures--early communities where they began their ministries.

 Exploring Le Puy

Entering St. Michel, a walk of 285 steps up a mount, presents an eerie picture at a sacred and ancient sacred site.

 

 

Re-enactments of the SSJ story

____of Godly Play instructs the sisters on how to re-enact the original documents through role playing and then asking and answering questions about the particular parts of the history of the Sisters of St. Joseph. She uses playing pieces to tell the story and then invites the sisters to explain what piece says something to them.

 

 

 

 

 The playing pieces depict the town of Le Puy and various aspects of the Founding Sisters' lives: habit, lace-making bobbin, the Kitchen, and the Constitutions.   

 

The sister participants try their own hand at re-enacting the Eucharistic Letter in small groups. 

One group enacts the "founding sisters" who receive a package from Fr. Medaille that contains the Eucharistic Letter. The Letter opens a discussion among the "sisters" to guide them in their ministries. 

A young woman inquires about joining the Sisters of St. Joseph.

The "early sisters" make connections (with yarn) with various small communities that profess to serve the poor people.

 

 

Reading the Eucharistic Letter in an attempt to follow its directives.

The community of the Little Design discusses their ministries to the poor people of Le Puy.

 

"Fr. Medaille" walks in the countryside and then prays for guidance regarding the foundation of "The Little Design". 

 

 

"Fr. Medaille" recruits a young woman to join the Sisters of St. Joseph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sloppy Joes for Dinner  

The sisters try out an American favorite: sloppy joes, which consist of loose hamburger and onions drenched in ketchup, a bit of mustard, a dash of white vinegar, and a sprinkle of salt, pepper, and chili powder. The sisters eat their sloppy joes in their own ways.

 Good-byes involve cute cut-ups and dancing