New Jersey with the Apostolic Sisters of St. John (January 10-day trip)

Eagle Eye spent 3 days in New Jersey with the Apostolic Sisters of St. John. As I think I mentioned in another post, the Community is a beautiful blend between Contemplative and Apostolic life. They have purely Contemplative nuns, who wear a white veil and then also Apostolic nuns who live contemplation through their work and wear a grey veil. So the sisters in New Jersey are active in their community.

Staying with them in East Orange, New Jersey, we were warned not to walk alone and to always go with someone, even to the chapel to pray. The house was always locked and we learned not to open any doors with the blinking red light of their security system was on. Green means go, and anything else you should shy away from.

By the time we got there, we were exhausted from spending two days in the car making various stops with families and sites along the way. The first day, they kept things light: we spent some time chatting and getting to know each other over coffee and tea after lunch and then took the 10 passenger van out for a hike. I had to laugh when one of the sisters recognized me from the Community’s calendar they put out in the US, as I’ve been in several group shots over the years. Before we began our hike, we took some time to appreciate the beautiful view of New York from the outlook. The weather was warmer, but that meant that the trails were kind of muddy, but after living on the gravel road of Princeville as well as building fires in the mucky ground of the front field, it was nothing.

The second day they took us along in groups to their different apostolates. An apostolate is a work given to a sister for the salvation of souls. One of their major apostolates that they carry together is to work in a Newman Center for a university there. They took half of us in the afternoon and half in the evening. I went in the evening and so in the afternoon I helped Sister Agapia teach her 6^th grade religion class. Sister had a fun game for the kids to play to help them study for their test. She’s a wonderful teacher. After that I was left at the house for a time, as they could only take three girls with them to the brothers for an apostolate. So I listened to some philosophy tapes and took a much needed nap. It was delightful. I joined the rest of the group in the evening to attend a talk given for the students at the Newman Center by Father Nathan. It was good to be reunited with him, as he’d been away with the Brothers.

Day three we spent in New York City, so I’ll dedicate an entire post to that experience. Living life with the Apostolic Sisters was an interesting look into religious life. I became more acutely aware of how much love it takes to be a religious sister. These women go into the streets every day to meet God’s people. They radiate such joy and light with merely their presence. It’s beautiful to see the fruit of Christ’s love so visibly.