Happy Valentine's Day, all! I got to entertain a classroom full of excited kids this afternoon -- cupcakes, cookies, candy, and valentines. It was a delight to share in their happiness.
I got to visit a convent of sister nuns. One is a dear friend of mine whom I hadn't seen in a few years. Last time I stopped in to visit her she was in the hospital with a broken femur. She lived through the Holocaust, and later came to America.
I've had a set of fine china that I haven't used in ages and didn't know what to do with it. It's too fine to donate to Goodwill, and I don't use it. So this week I had a flash of inspiration that perhaps she could use it for her convent. All they have to live on is her pension from when she worked as a social worker here in the USA. When she lived in Hungary before coming to America she worked as a mechanical engineer. That was all she could do because the Communists would not let people who believed in God educate their children. They trusted her with mechanical engineering instead. She'd known she'd always wanted to be a nun from when she was a young girl.
Anyhow, for the first time I visited their convent today. My set of fine bone china was well received. So I'm glad I was able to find it a home. And I took them a big box of chocolates. How often do nuns get a big box of chocolates for Valentine's Day? I didn't know. But today they did. :)
They are mostly elderly now. Their convent used to be about 30. Now it's much smaller from attrition. I wish I could do more for these ladies. They're very dedicated and yes, saintly.
I can't imagine what it is like to be a nun and never know the joy of receiving a big box of chocolates for Valentine's Day "just because" from someone who is a silly sentimental goose (like me!)
If not for the china I wouldn't have ventured the trip there. It made it all worthwhile. I added some other trinkets from home that were as good as new still in their boxes I thought they might enjoy. Not too much, just some household items. If they cannot use them they would know someone who can. They have a smaller home now for their convent than before when they were 30.
It's a good size for the remaining nuns left - most of them are from Europe. One is from Cuba. And maybe one or two are from here originally. They have impeccable taste for women who have taken on vows of poverty. They live simply but seem very content with their lot. Wish I could say the same for the rest of us on this motley ship.
Alice Tolkien lived out her last days in a convent after her significant other, Gertrude Stein, passed away. She was quite poor by then so maybe it was the only place that would take her where she resided in Paris. Both her and Gertrude were originally from San Francisco. Both Jewish, and lesbian. Which I wondered if Alice had repented of that lifestyle in order to live in the convent? Or she was accepted as she was by the women who took her in? I don't remember reading that in her biography.
When I cleared it with the head nun she told me prior to my visit that if they weren't able to use it they would give it to a lovely person that they knew that was in need of a china service.
Since they already had one, but theirs was an older set. (Mine was 20 years old. It's a discontinued pattern but one I consider to be timeless. :)
After they saw mine yesterday one of the sisters told me they decided to keep mine and give their set to the other person. It was a service for twelve that I gave them. With a serving platter, bowl, and creamer and sugar dish.
I hope they get years of good service from it.
It was an unusual Valentine's Day for me that way. But one I will remember for years to come. :)
Summer gets my award for spending Valentine's with a classroom of children. Aren't we all just big kids at heart??
;-)
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2019 10:58AM by Amyjo.
She overcompensated for being a nun by becoming an academic!
She's made quite a career for herself. I liked this quote from the link you provided:
"I say that religion isn't about believing things. It's about what you do. It's ethical alchemy. It's about behaving in a way that changes you, that gives you intimations of holiness and sacredness."[12] She maintains that religious fundamentalism is not just a response to, but is a product of contemporary culture[13] and for this reason concludes that, "We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community."[14]
Thanks Shummy. I'll be more aware of her going forward. She sounds like a teacher's teacher. :)
You're an intellectual so if she had that kind of effect on you I can imagine the effect she's had on others.
The nuns I met with yesterday were quick to point out that one of their early converts to their convent was a Jew in post-war Europe. She may have been one of the early founders of the convent they represent.
To be a nun is a cloistered life and calling. It isn't for everyone. And that "career field" is shrinking as there are fewer nuns to replace the ones retiring from its ranks. It's a dying profession or going through some kind of rebirth.
Prego Those nuns of which you speak sound like some characters. I bet they have some excellent stories of their previous lives. Do you think they share their experiences with each other?
I think so. They gave me a book yesterday written by the Jewish woman who'd converted to Catholicism. She survived the Holocaust and Communism. Watched her family perish from the Holocaust, was imprisoned for ten years by the Communists for being a religious Catholic. She was finally able to seek political asylum in America.
Another of the founding sisters was executed by the Nazis in WWII for being a Resistance Fighter. She's been canonized as a saint since then. She willingly gave up her life to preserve the lives of other nuns at the hands of the Nazis. She was executed on a river bank with other resisters. She was their leader at the time of her execution.
I remember when we used to do that in grade school.
There was a really cute boy in 7th grade who gave the girls he had a crush on a tulip with a love poem one day (I don't recall it was Valentine's per se.) He made each girl feel like she was his special flame. When we realized that he'd given them to quite a few of us girls he had crushes on. There were at least ten or 20. :D
From what I remember back in grade school we exchanged cards with each classmate. I don't remember if it was an unspoken rule or not. It was something we just did. Seems like that's how my kids did it too when they were in grade school. It wouldn't be right if some of the kids were left out. I totally get that.