Precious Moments/INTENT!

I love precious moments, and this last week has been filled with them. I soaked each one of them in, hoping I will remember them for a long time.

The whole purpose I went home this past weekend was two-fold: there was a goodbye party for my friend Louis, who is one of the co-founders of Mission Haiti, because he is finally leaving for the seminary. After a long wait, he is now able to fulfill his vocation to be a diocesan priest in Haiti. I am so so excited for him and know that with our prayers and God's grace he is going to do amazing things in that little country! The second reason was because two very special Haitians were visiting Connecticut- Louis' brother Manno and Brother Delord, who is the spiritual director for the mission. This was Manno's first time in the United States, and I was so happy for him to finally be able to come here!

Precious moment #1 was seeing Manno and Brother actually standing right in front of me, dressed in warm American clothes, in an American front yard at Louis' party. I couldn't believe it! It was so surreal, almost like a dream. They are Haiti for me, so to see them outside of that context was such a big deal. It was like a piece of Haiti had come to me in the United States! I gave each of them big hugs and we just sort of stood there looking at each other and smiling, everyone in disbelief that this was actually happening.

Precious moment #2 was my parents coming to the party and getting to meet everyone who they've heard so much about. It was so amazing to have them get to experience the world that I've come to love. My passion for Haiti and my passion for my family came together in such a special way and it meant so much to me! I didn't have to choose between the two for this one day- I could enjoy both of them together.

Ashley and I slept over at the house where the party was, and as we were all getting ready for bed Manno came into our room to say goodnight. We asked him to sing us a song to help us go to sleep, and finally got him to sing one of my favorite slow, peaceful Haitian songs. This was obviously precious moment #3. If I closed my eyes and ignored the fact that we were all wearing sweatpants, I could have sworn we were in Haiti. It was so beautiful, and one of the sweetest moments of my life.

After getting back out to Steubenville, I found out that Manno was planning on making a visit here! Precious moment #4 was walking into the JC today after class and seeing him standing there with Katie. He does such a good job of blending in and making it seem like he's always been a student here. Wearing an argile sweater and jeans, it took me a minute to recognize him in the sea of students. We went to mass together and planned out precious moment #5.

Precious moment #5 was having Manno and Katie help me intent to Regina Angelorum last night. At Franciscan, there are things called households. They are sort of like Catholic versions of fraternities and soroities. Each household has a certain charism, and get together throughout the week to pray together, go to mass, and just call each other on to holiness. Regina Angelorum means Queen of the Angels in Latin, and is a household dedicated to Our Lady and the angels- especially St. Michael the Arcangel and our Guardian Angels. They focus a lot on spiritual warfare and imitating our Lady's virtues. I love this household so so much- I love Our Lady, and the spiritual warfare aspect of it really connects with my experiences in Haiti.

To intent to a household is like pledging. You come up with a creative way to tell the girls that you want to join, and then go through a period of prayer and formation as an Intent before you get inducted. I have known for about a week that I was going to intent last night at Rosary, but was still trying to think of how I was going to do it. I wanted to intent in a way that was special and would say something about who I am. Then I found out Manno was going to be here. God hit me with the idea- why not have Manno come and help me?? It would be a perfect way to intent- with someone who is so closely connected to my passion for mission work in Haiti, at my favorite committment so dedicated to Our Blessed Mother.

Manno, Katie, and I got to Regina's common room a little early and sat on the couch. After doing introductions, we stood up and I told the girls that I had brought my Haitian friends who were visiting and that we were going to show them some Haitian praise songs. We sang my two favorite songs, teaching everybody the second one, and then Manno was supposed to start praying in Creole. But he surprised me, and gave a mini talk first in English that was so beautiful and blew me away. Then he started praying and I tried to translate. Emphasize the tried to. At the end, he said in Creole that he wanted to present me to the Angels as their newest intent. I didn't even have a chance to say it in English before Laura Chance screamed out "she's gonna intent!!!!" and everyone went crazy. I took off my sweatshirt that was hiding my intent shirt and gave everyone hugs while they sang and clapped. It was so awesome :)

Then after settling down we prayed the rosary. Just imagine- 30ish girls packed into a room on a Tuesday night, all kneeling/sitting before a statue of Mary and a Crucifix, saying the Rosary. This is why I love Franciscan! At one point I just sat there in complete awe- Emmanuel Descollines, who lives on a mountainside in Haiti, was next to me praying the rosary at Franciscan in the middle of nowhere, Ohio. That just doesn't happen! It was a mini miracle to me, especially how everything came together at the last moment. It was totally due to the intercession of Mary, which made it even more fitting that this all happened at Rosary.

REGINA ANGELORUM, ORA PRO NOBIS!