Some of you know my very good friend, Sr. Miriam Caritas of the Lamb of God, with the Sisters of Life.
She came home for a visit last week and I was able to spend some really great quality time with her. This meant conversations about life in the Bronx, life in a convent, life with two kids and one on the way, our siblings, ugly Catholic churches we've been in, other nuns we love, FOCUS, Fr. Benedict Groeshcel, her mother's hummus recipe and public speaking.
It also meant a story that goes like this:
Sister and her mom go to a daily Mass at the local Maronite Catholic church, afterwhich they go out to breakfast with their priest.
So a priest, a nun and the nun's mom are all sitting around Perkins, getting lots of looks, when the priest announces that Secretary Ray LaHood (ya know, he's part of the President's cabinet) is in town. Sec. LaHood happens to be Sister's mom's cousin and a friend of Father's.
So Father pulls out his cell phone, calls Sec. LaHood on his cell and says, "I'm having breakfast with Betty and her daughter, you should come."
And so he does.
And so people stare even more when a priest, a nun, the Secretary of Transportation and a nun's mom are sitting around having breakfast.
Come on, that's funny.
Lastly, Sr. MC being in town meant that I got to go to her mother's house for Lebanese cooking. Kibbah, I love you! Grape leaves, I love you! Hummus so garlicy I could take out a small village with my breath, I adore you!
Bonnie,
ReplyDeleteIf there's one thing I distinctly remember about you and our time of living together...is your infectious joy whenever you would talk about or be around Sr. Miriam Caritas (or the Sisters of Life for that matter). Your friendship was so refreshing for everyone around you. Thanks for that.
How great she was able to come and visit! Hope she and her family are doing well. As for Lebanese food...I'll have to try it someday ;^)
umm...you can't talk about getting authentic lebanese recipes and not sharing ;)
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