by Sister Brenda Lisenby on Sunday, October 31, 2021
On Sunday, October 24, our community hosted an Open House to share with family, friends, and neighbors our joy and gratitude at realizing our dream of One House, One Monastery. I led the first tour at 1:00 and did not stop until I said farewell to the last guest at 4:30. The other Sisters did the same. All in all, we estimated over 200 people visited us in our new home.
I felt our family, friends, and neighbors were blessing our new home with the gift of their presence and the sharing of our joy. Baptism is not the image that one might usually associate with this situation. But throughout the afternoon, the image of baptism was precisely what kept coming to mind again and again. In our local parish, whenever a baby is welcomed into the church, the family walks down the aisle and parishioners on either side make the sign of the cross on the child’s forehead. It is a sign of blessing and welcome into the community of faith that will nurture and support the child. I felt like we were that baby, that we were being blessed and welcomed into whatever the Spirit is bringing to birth here in our north Minneapolis community of faith.
Photos courtesy of Brian Mogren and Jody Tigges