Encounters of the Celebrity and Saintly Kind

I'm coming to find out that here in DC at the Jeanne Jugan Residence of the Little Sisters, it is quite the place for surprise (or not so suprised) visits by celebrities/royalty (literally) and Saintly folk in general.

The residents themselves even fit this category. Currently, we have staying with us Cardinal Baum (retired Cardinal for the Archdiocese of Washington), an Archbishop, a Monsignor, 4-5 other priests, and a little old Sister from Columbia who is in her mid 90's. We also have an EWTN host who is a priest that is a resident here...his name escapes me at the moment. Not to mention we also had a random visit by Cardinal O'Malley, and Francis Cardinal George was recently at the Basilica. Quite the group!

There is also "rumor" floating around that we are to have a royal visitor to the house soon. Anyone want to take a guess??? ;-D

On another note, the past few days have gone extremely well. I feel as though my body is finally beginning to adjust to the schedule and lack of sleep. Sunday was more relaxed, which was nice. I got some practice in for the big celebration we are planning for Mother Benedict's Golden Jubilee which is happening next Monday (pictures to be posted on this I promise ;-)). Monday had a lot of orientation training...and I managed to lock myself out of my room (hopefully this will not be a repeat occurrence). Tuesday was the volunteers day off, so I went with Samantha (another summer service intern here) to the Basilica for noon Mass, had lunch, and then walked a ways to this organic store to check it out. Also got some laundry done lol. And today I hosted cafe and listened to stories by Fr. Q, and hosted a "Trivia Night" with some residents which was a lot of fun...also took a few more pictures that I have posted, click here.

Interesting/heroic/inspiring note: One of the priests who says Mass here frequently is from Africa, and escaped the Rwandan genocide. He's been a priest for 10 years, and will be heading back to Africa soon. He happened to say Mass last Friday, the Memorial of Charles Lwanga and Companions who were Ugandan Martyrs. Listening to his homily telling some of the history behind their death moved me to tears. He is a very saintly priest.

More to come later...