During the week-long mid-term break, some girls from all over Ireland, who had attended the Home of the Mother Summer camp, came to Roscommon for a few days for a “get-together”. These get-togethers are a great way for the girls to keep in touch throughout the school year and to become an apostle of Christ out in the world.
The theme for the get-together was “Saints or slugs”, focusing on sanctity, leading up to the All Saints Day Solemnity.
The first night, we watched “The Great Salmon Run”, a documentary film telling about the dangers and fight for survival of the great salmon of the Pacific Ocean. The great salmon, once out in the sea for a number of years, swim back to their fresh-lake water birth-site to be able to hatch their eggs and die where they came from. As they swim back to their birth place, there are many dangers: bears and wolves that hunt them, the strong current against them, the birds that feed on their eggs. But, they can smell a drop of fresh water in thousands of drops of ocean water and this guides them back to their birth place. Nothing stops them until they reach their goal.
This documentary became for the girls a chance for discussion and to be able to relate the salmon to their own fight for sanctity. They decided they wanted to be like salmon and not like slugs.
On Wednesday, October 30th, after prayer and mass-- Sports time! We played an intense game of soccer and Gaelic football. While some girls did not want to play, they all made the effort to be doing what they had to do in the moment. It was a fast-paced game and yet the girls had enough energy to run back to the house for lunch.
In this get-together, we wanted to encourage the girls to learn about and do apostolate, to share their faith with others. The girls brought flyers announcing a Holy Hour in the parish on Halloween and giving the mass times for the All Saints Day Solemnity to the different houses around Roscommon. The girls were very nervous about going to the houses in the neighborhood and inviting everyone, but they got very excited about the challenge. We prayed the rosary before they were sent off on their mission. The girls were also being recorded throughout the get-together, answering questions about what they think is a Saint and how to be a Saint in the world today. We hope to put the short video online to reach as many people as possible.
