Bingo!

Sisters at Salerno's

Artichoke Lucia.  Baked with Italian cheeses and breadcrumbs.
Grilled fillet salmon on a bed of blanched spinach and mushrooms, topped with pine nuts.
8oz. marinated and charbroiled steak topped with sauteed mushrooms; served over linguine.

Saturday night at Salerno's.
It was time to "open community."
Every year we choose a venue to celebrate the beginning of our time together as a religious community.  This year the venue chose us.

"Bingo!"
An almost audible gasp escaped from the surrounding tables.
Sr. Leslie Thu at our table had won another bingo game.

A Knight of Columbus member handed her a sealed envelope.
Her eyebrows arched in delight.
It was a $50 Walmart gift card.

We cleared our cards and another round started.
It was the Knights of Columbus Sisters Appreciation Luncheon.
It was on a early Sunday afternoon.

They had sent the invitation two months ago.
Sr. Jacinta Ngân had "highly encouraged" all of us to go since we were all ready to decline.

She said that the Knights put forth hard work to host us for an afternoon.
We said that Sundays were filled with teaching catechesis at Sunday school.
And it was our only day of break.

"Highly encourage"in religious life meant "do it."

"Bingo!"
Another Knight of Columbus member headed towards our table.
Trúc, our aspirant, had won.
This time the gasps from the other table were distinct.

Over 80 sisters came to the luncheon.
Eight at each table.
And six at our table had already won.

The atmosphere was palpably becoming un-nunlike, ie. menacing.

"Bingo!"
Sr. Leslie Thu won for the third time.
"Leslie, you better not win any more.  You're going to need another body guard besides me!" I whispered theatrically as more gasps slipped from the other tables. 

"What are you talking about," she mischievously responded as she pointedly looked at my two prize envelopes.  I smiled and remarked, "I just prayed that I won't any more!"

On our way out the door, we deposited our prize envelopes into Sr. Jacinta Ngân's hands.
Having vows of poverty, all our individual winnings became the community's winnings.

"What's the secret?" one of the other sisters asked teasingly.
"Obedience," I jested.
"Obedience?"
"Yes.  None of us wanted to be here.  Besides our superior, Sr. Jacinta.  Did you notice she was almost the last to win at our table?"

Part of our winnings was a gift certificate from Salerno's.
Amount?
"As many nuns that want to come."

And so, Jesus' words are still true two thousand years later.
Jesus said, “Amen, I say to you, there is no one who has given up house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the sake of the gospel who will not receive a hundred times more now in this present age: houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and eternal life in the age to come.  (Mark 10: 29-30)

ps.  In honor of the beginning of a new year.
ps2. Of course, I miss writing in my blog.