Bring Your Own Beads!

Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the Chapel for Wednesday's Feast.

"Bring Your Own Beads" is what BYOB stands for on Wednesday afternoons in our chapel. Recently, a few moms, a few students and any available sisters have been gathering on Wednesday afternoons for an impromptu praying of the Rosary after the last period class lets out. This past Wednesday, being the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe was an especially beautiful occasion to gather in prayer.

For a short time, the Feast of Our Holy Mother, Saint Jane de Chantal, was celebrated on 12 December (and still is in most countries outside of North America). Prior to the elevation of Our Lady of Guadalupe to a Feast, it was a Memorial which, in our houses, was not recognized due to the Solemnity of Our Holy Foundress. Our sisters recall, with a chuckle, the response of our Sister Barbara, of happy memory, who was an Indian; despite being from Mexico, she had no Spanish or Mexican ties at all. She was native to the very area in which her kinsman (loosely speaking) Juan Diego was born. When "Happy Feast Day" greetings were exchanged with her on the 12th of December, she would grit her teeth and say, "It is NOT the feast of our Holy Mother; it is the Feast of the MOTHER OF GOD!" Dear Sister Barbara was vindicated when Our Lady of Guadalupe was elevated to a Feast in dioceses of the United States and Saint Jane de Chantal relocated to 18 August.