NunEssential

The SOLT Sisters wish you and your family a very happy and holy Christmas. We pray that this New Year will bring you closer to Jesus and Mary and deepen your joy and happiness. Thank you to all who have supported us and emailed us. Let the light of Christ shine out to the world. Be not afraid. God bless you. Merry Christmas!

Sorry folks, I am having some website problems. I hope to have this worked out as soon as possible, please check back with us later. (www.soltsisters.org) thanks, God bless you- Please say a prayer that this is resolved!!!

Here's an interesting article found in Time magazine about the changing ways of religious life. I find it fascinating that the public is picking up on what is bringing women back to the discernment of a religious vocation.

Well, much like the rain here in Seattle, the hard times that certain people suffer do not seem to end! Just the other day at Mass, we heard the Gospel of Jesus exhorting his disciples that "Whoever wishes to come after Me, must deny himself, take up his cross and follow Me." Why does that still suprise us in our own life? I often ask myself that question. Sometimes it seems like we are jarred at the cost of living as a disciple. But as Jesus goes on to say in the same Gospel, we have to go into discipleship as an all-or-nothing deal. We can't begin this journey only to fall by the wayside half way through. Perhaps one of the reasons why discipleship is so difficult for us is because we are afraid to die to ourselves. We are afraid to give the things that Jesus asks of us. To us, these things seem very big, but they aren't in comparison to what Jesus wants to give us in return. But because we don't see the way that God sees, we hold back a bit. We hesitate. We wei...

We wish you a very happy All Saints Day! We join with the Church in thanking and praising God for all of His saints and we ask them to intercede for us to help us along our journey to eternity. God bless you! :)

Okay, Okay, I know this forum is usually reserved for ideas of a religious nature, but I would like to bring up something that affects us all- manners. Now, I am not refering to the kinds of "manners" we often use to hide the truth or to say things that we don't really mean, I am referring to the day to day way we treat each other in this world. I sometimes hear adults saying,"children these days have really lost their manners, they are so rude." Now perhaps we have all felt that way at times (and many of us have, considering that this topic has been mentioned even in the Old Testament!) and sometimes young people can be rude, but let's look up the river a bit and see where these children learn their manners, their way of treating others. Children learn from adults. They learn from us. And adults don't often give the best examples. The Bible speaks so much about humility, in other words, simply living in the truth. When we are humble, we know ourselves a...

Hello, Just a little news about our website, it's being reconstructed! So please be patient while all the, er, kinks are worked out. I will try to post a brand-new and improved site as soon as I can. Until then, our blog is still up and running. God bless you, thank you for your prayers

I have been wanting to write this for quite some time but I have been, er, suffering from a lack of time to sort out these thoughts and type them (however labored) here. Seriously, though, I don't know about you but it seems to me that so many people I know are really suffering right now. The types of suffering are vast; from a typhoon that greatly affected our community in the Philippines, to health problems, to family strife and on and on. A couple weeks ago it really struck me that a lot of people are suffering. Whenever I see a news headline, it just reminds me all the more that people are truly suffering all over the world. Now, granted that suffering is nothing new (and some of you are thinking, "Sister, I have been suffering for 20 years, tell me something new!") but, somehow it seems that we are all being prepared for something. There isn't a grace that comes from God that is detached from suffering. I am convinced of this truth more and more. Why is that? It...

Congratulations to Sr. Mary Elisabeth of the Coronation Marks, Sr. Mary Aloysius of Jesus Kim and Sr. Maria Giovanni Paulo Orsini who made their 1st Profession on Vows on August 15th.

Our SOLT Mission of the Rebirth Center (care for drug addicts) for women in Thailand: I will post a history of this center soon (which is amazing!) but here are a few pictures of the women chanting the principals of the center, the words to their creed, some of the buiding, and the site of a future dining hall.

Please say a prayer for all of the students and teachers as they head back to school. May God grant them peace of mind, widsom and an eagerness to learn all about His creation and marvels. A blessed new school year to you all!

One of the amazing experiences that I had in Thailand was to visit the Bridge on the River Kwai and travel on the railroad built by the POWs. It was humbling and very sobering to visit the museum dedicated to those who lost their lives building the Thailand-Burma railway. Here are some pictures and video of the journey.

Below is the site of the one of the former POW camps (minus the modern housing). Also the actual living conditions of the people along the river (middle picture) and the river itself, flowing majestically through the lush hills.

The Museum dedicated to education about the "Death Railway" and the cemetery where many of the POWs were laid to rest. Also, the Bridge on the River Kwai (which was rebuilt after it was destroyed by allied bombs)

A very warm congratulations to Sr. Mary Mediatrix of all Graces Patterson who made her first Profession in Wales, England on August 15th.

I had to leave Asia early, before our International Assembly ended, so I hope that some of my sisters will send me some pictures to post of what I missed, so you can all share in our gathering. If you ever get a chance to go and visit some part of Asia, do it! I am very grateful to have had this opportunity and it will impact me forever. It was amazing just to see how other people live and how other cultures relate. Wow. I have more information and pictures I will post from some of our earlier experiences in Asia, I really want you to know more about our SOLT Rebirth Center in Thailand that serves drug addicted men and women. That was a profound experience. So, I leave with you with some parting shots of my trip ;) from Taipei as a typhoon approached. May God continue to bless Asia, its land and people.

Our community took a little day trip by boat to the island of San Miguel. It was a sort of coming-home celebration for some of our SOLT members, who hadn't been back to the island in years. The people of the island came out in huge numbers to greet us and they performed some traditional (and more modern) dances as well. It was a great experience.

After we had general elections, our Founder blessed the new General Councils. The Sisters also had a celebration for those commorating 25 years or more of religious life. From l-r Sr. Mary of the Trinity Vaughan, Sr. Margaret Mary Loehr , Sr. Maria Teresa Pacheco and Sr. Marie Hesed Champagne. (my sincere apologies for the poor picture quality)

The Perpetual Profession of Sr. Mary Agnes of the Triune God Abordo, Sr. Maria Fe Ayucardo and Sr. Rosary Marie Marollano at our International Assembly (one of our brothers made his perpetual promises at the same Mass). A perpetual profession is when a sister declares her desire to be espoused to Jesus perpetually, for all eternity. It is a moving ceremony that takes place during the Mass. The sister prostrates herself on the floor while the congregrations prays the Litany of the Saints, and the sister is then clothed with a scapular and a crown of flowers! Congratulations to the Sisters!

Here's our SOLT Community singing "Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity". The video doesn't really do the song justice but it is so beautiful to hear the entire community singing. Enjoy!

You can see the statue of Our Lady with the flags representing our locations, a drawing by one of our seminarians, and some of our priests and sisters.

This is the opening ceremony for the assembly. The Thai, Philippine and Papua New Guinea members performed a cultural dance.