Mission: Community

Happy Tuesday!

In college, Tuesday was the best day of the week. I'm hoping that it lives up to its reputation today, as it's the first day of my week!

I spent yesterday on a JVC Day of Reflection with my community and Katie, our JVC Program Coordinator. We were at the Cenacle Retreat House, where I spent my day with Sister Mary a few weeks ago.

We talked about the four values of JVC, spirituality, simplicity, social justice, and community, and how each of them is playing out in our lives as JVs and in our community as a whole. We did an activity about which value we most identify with in certain situations, and which one our house engages with the most. It was interesting to see where we each stood on different values (literally, we moved to the four corners of the room depending on the value we were discussing), and how much we knew about each other and which answers weren't surprising to us.

We then created a mission statement for our community- and honestly, it's pretty beautiful. I love it a lot. We all contributed our ideas about community, and chose to model it after Karen's sorority's creed: we make promises to the world, to one another, and to ourselves.

Casa Rulitio Grande 2012-13

We are stewards to the world. We promise to use our gifts and talents to promote social justice. We are committed to seeking the truth, being a voice for the voiceless, and fostering a welcoming atmosphere for all.

We lift each other up. We promise to build a house with love, respect, and understanding. We will encourage each other to be open to challenges and sacrifice.

I am on a lifelong journey. I promise to have an honest, open heart, and a willingness to grow. I will be gentle with myself, and I will be open to vulnerability and new perspective. 

We are servants to ourselves, one another, and the world.

We're so poetic, aren't we? I love the mission statement, and we're planning to create a piece of art with the words and hang it above our couch in our living room.

The day of reflection was a nice break from the daily errands and business that we end up having to do, even on our days off. It was lovely to be able to hang out outside in the beautiful 75-degree weather, and in the morning when it was still "cold," we enjoyed some hot chocolate on our porch. 

Speaking of the "cold" in Houston, the universe finally listened to me and sent some cool weather our way! Sunday evening, we went to Hermann Park to a celebration of Gandhi's birthday, and sat at the outdoor theatre to watch a dance drama of an Indian tale called Manav Kanya. It was a nice night to be outside if a bit chilly, in the low 60s/high 50s. A sweatshirt and yoga pants kept me nice and toasty, but when I looked across the lawn and saw a woman wearing a giant puffy coat, I had to laugh. I checked my handy dandy iPhone- 63 degrees. Her coat was like the one I bought for New England winters from LL Bean.... Oh, Texas.

We're back in the 80's today... and I'm taking my students to a college fair at Strake Jesuit College Prep tonight (think St. Joe's Prep of Houston). I'm excited to see them interact with different college representatives, and especially to see Fr. Iri Andujar, OP, who will be visiting from Providence College! He's stopping by Cristo Rey Jesuit today, and I'm really excited to see him. I'm all decked out in my black and white today, a little taste of Providence on this terrific Tuesday!