A week short of a year ago we suddenly discovered that we could fly to France to see our Susan Angela Agnes take the habit of a little Sister of the Lamb and take the name of Little Sister Hallel on the vigil of the feastday of the Queenship of Mary... the 21st of August.
The last few days with all that has been going on with John... we have been in contact with Hallel for the first time since she went to France on the 4th of July! It was so great to hear her voice and to hear about her life there..."I am doing woodworking and cutting weeds." She also told me that they have had many feastdays that they have celebrated in the last few weeks... some with late night vigils - St Dominic and the Transfiguration.
This is a wonderful place that is called the Green Cathedral... it was a place of many of the special ceremonies and masses during our week in France and I am sure that it will once again be used next week when once again there will be those that take the habit on the night of the vigil and then the following day the simple vows of those that have been with the community for 2-3 years... Susan/Hallel could be among that group next year...
Each day Hallel has mass with her community... The Eucharist is so powerful as is the Word of God in the Gospel for each day... to see her face light up with joy as the Gospel is processed down the aisle and then read aloud... is a vision to behold! She shared at her feast on the hillside after the simple vows last year... her conversion story... it was centered around her love of the Gospel and how she found that with the Community of the Lamb!
Hallel was surprised as we were that we traveled to France to be with her on this special occassion! We had planned to go but when John got cancer... it seemed to be a impossibility! WE got home from his second chemo on August 17th and we were shocked that he got better with each day! He got to the bathroom on his own and that is when I thought that he could maybe get to the bathrooms in the airport by himself and we could think about going to France... This was Tuesday... on Wednesday the 19th we had tickets and left for our plane to France! WE were in shock and it was a major turning point for John! Now a year later..we had a blip where we had some concerns due to some changes John has noticed with his vision! Rochester got us in within a day and calmed most of our fears! We also had a chance to talk to Hallel so that she was aware and praying for her brother! She although experiencing huge things in her life.... has been with us on this journey! She traveled to the US and was here with John for his brain biopsy.
We have had the joy of spending time with her and the others of the community that are in KC... John and I were there for a week with Ruth at the end of March, and then we went with different groups of the 4 car loads of Verlys that went to say goodbye to her before she left for France on the 4th of July! If and when she is to take her first "simple vows" probably in a year or two... I would imagine that another trip to France would be in store, and what a gift it would be for John to be there cancer free! That is what we all fully hope and pray and expect!
When I talked to Hallel today she told me that everytime she sees their founder, Jean Claude...a Franciscan priest... "He tells me to greet my parents and John and to give them his heartfelt greeting." We met him firstly when Susan told us that she was going to join the community in front of Our Lady of Guadelupe altar in the chapel in KC that Susan had helped them work on just after they had arrived here from France to open their first house in the US in the heart of America! How we need to Little Sisters and Brothers of the Lamb in our country!
Although it was in French... the beauty of the mass at all the ceremonies we attended while in France was stunningly beautiful! No matter the language it is universally Christ come down to feed us with everlasting food of Life!
The sight of Susan/Hallel helping her brother walk down the paths of Saint Pierre filled my heart with deep memories of how Susan always cared for her younger brother with such devotion and tenderness and love! To see this picture yet brings tears to my eyes and deep feeling of the beautiful gift for us to be able to jump on a plane last minute and bring my two children together at a moment in their lives where they could share and support one to the other at a time that was as powerful as it gets... John with his cancer and the resulting ataxia and uncertainty of his future and Hallel taking such a major step in the answering of her personal call to follow Jesus even if it means leaving her family an ocean away and embracing poverty and chastity and obedience! For the two to share and support each other at this critical time in each of their lives was a beautiful and heart wrenching thing to behold for a mother of them! It was and is a gift for them and for me and for each one in our family! Thank you Jesus! Jesus we see that there is only blessings when we trust in you! Bless-bless, Barb
A week short of a year ago we suddenly discovered that we could fly to France to see our Susan Angela Agnes take the habit of a little Sister of the Lamb and take the name of Little Sister Hallel on the vigil of the feastday of the Queenship of Mary... the 21st of August.
The last few days with all that has been going on with John... we have been in contact with Hallel for the first time since she went to France on the 4th of July! It was so great to hear her voice and to hear about her life there..."I am doing woodworking and cutting weeds." She also told me that they have had many feastdays that they have celebrated in the last few weeks... some with late night vigils - St Dominic and the Transfiguration.
This is a wonderful place that is called the Green Cathedral... it was a place of many of the special ceremonies and masses during our week in France and I am sure that it will once again be used next week when once again there will be those that take the habit on the night of the vigil and then the following day the simple vows of those that have been with the community for 2-3 years... Susan/Hallel could be among that group next year...
Each day Hallel has mass with her community... The Eucharist is so powerful as is the Word of God in the Gospel for each day... to see her face light up with joy as the Gospel is processed down the aisle and then read aloud... is a vision to behold! She shared at her feast on the hillside after the simple vows last year... her conversion story... it was centered around her love of the Gospel and how she found that with the Community of the Lamb! 
Hallel was surprised as we were that we traveled to France to be with her on this special occassion! We had planned to go but when John got cancer... it seemed to be a impossibility! WE got home from his second chemo on August 17th and we were shocked that he got better with each day! He got to the bathroom on his own and that is when I thought that he could maybe get to the bathrooms in the airport by himself and we could think about going to France... This was Tuesday... on Wednesday the 19th we had tickets and left for our plane to France! WE were in shock and it was a major turning point for John! Now a year later..we had a blip where we had some concerns due to some changes John has noticed with his vision! Rochester got us in within a day and calmed most of our fears! We also had a chance to talk to Hallel so that she was aware and praying for her brother! She although experiencing huge things in her life.... has been with us on this journey! She traveled to the US and was here with John for his brain biopsy.
We have had the joy of spending time with her and the others of the community that are in KC... John and I were there for a week with Ruth at the end of March, and then we went with different groups of the 4 car loads of Verlys that went to say goodbye to her before she left for France on the 4th of July! If and when she is to take her first "simple vows" probably in a year or two... I would imagine that another trip to France would be in store, and what a gift it would be for John to be there cancer free! That is what we all fully hope and pray and expect! 
When I talked to Hallel today she told me that everytime she sees their founder, Jean Claude...a Franciscan priest... "He tells me to greet my parents and John and to give them his heartfelt greeting." We met him firstly when Susan told us that she was going to join the community in front of Our Lady of Guadelupe altar in the chapel in KC that Susan had helped them work on just after they had arrived here from France to open their first house in the US in the heart of America! How we need to Little Sisters and Brothers of the Lamb in our country! 
Although it was in French... the beauty of the mass at all the ceremonies we attended while in France was stunningly beautiful! No matter the language it is universally Christ come down to feed us with everlasting food of Life!
The sight of Susan/Hallel helping her brother walk down the paths of Saint Pierre filled my heart with deep memories of how Susan always cared for her younger brother with such devotion and tenderness and love! To see this picture yet brings tears to my eyes and deep feeling of the beautiful gift for us to be able to jump on a plane last minute and bring my two children together at a moment in their lives where they could share and support one to the other at a time that was as powerful as it gets... John with his cancer and the resulting ataxia and uncertainty of his future and Hallel taking such a major step in the answering of her personal call to follow Jesus even if it means leaving her family an ocean away and embracing poverty and chastity and obedience! For the two to share and support each other at this critical time in each of their lives was a beautiful and heart wrenching thing to behold for a mother of them! It was and is a gift for them and for me and for each one in our family! Thank you Jesus! Jesus we see that there is only blessings when we trust in you! Bless-bless, Barb
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