Celebrating the Feast Day of Mother Joseph of Sacred Heart

Celebrating the Feast Day of Mother Joseph of Sacred Heart

Sen Nguyen and Hong Nga Nguyen, from Viet Nam, celebrate the feast day of Mother Joseph of Sacred Heart
along with Sr. Jessica Taylor and Sr. Mary Hawkins.

By Sen Nguyen, aka Rosa

Together with Sister Karen Hawkins, Sister Jessica Taylor and Hong Nga Nguyen, I went to see a movie whose title is “Happy Feet.”

Actually, it was on our agenda of Friday night for celebrating the feast day of our Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart. However, it was postponed to Sunday afternoon because of our time available.

We had a great time. I learned a lot from Karen, Jessica and the story of the movie itself. This is my first time going to the theater in the U.S., so I learned how to get a movie ticket and why people have popcorn while watching the movie. “That is a custom of Americans,” Sister Karen said when I asked her.

While being in Viet Nam, I only knew it through reading and no one could explain to me, and today I completely understood that.

I liked the movie very much. It is about the penguins marching. They live together in the desert. At first it was difficult for them to get along well with each other. Then for a while of having sacrificed out of love for their common good, they gave more understanding to be able to do all things together so that they could reach their goal.

Then they finally shared their happiness, joy, sadness, danger, difficulty and food, etc. They sang and danced together very well. I liked it very much. I will never forget it.

Tonight, after finishing our evening prayer, Jessica, Hong Nga and I imitated the penguins’ activities in the movie. We danced and sang just like them. I felt as if I were a penguin, too.

I’m very happy living with Karen, Blanca, and Jessica. I have been able to freely share myself with them: all of my dreams, hopes, happiness, difficulties. For me, they are my moms, my sisters, my family. They have helped me improve my English, adapting to the new culture. I love them so very much. My wish to them is that they would be in good health, both physically and spiritually, for their services to the needy and the poor.

By Hong Nga Nguyen, aka Mary

Sister Karen said, “We will go to movie on Friday.” At that time, I asked her why we went to theater. She answered me that it is a feast day for Mother Joseph and we were celebrating the day.

I imaged in my mind what the theater was look like and how the atmosphere would be. There were a lot of questions in my mind. We changed the schedule because of the time of the film.

I kept my thinking about it in my heart until Sunday. Sunday was coming. And I got up the same day and I thanked God first. Today was the special day for me. The weather was nice. The sunshine was great. I could hear the birds, who were singing a happy song as my heart was happy.

Sister Jessica, Sister Karen, and Sen (Rosa ) went with me. It was the first time for me to go to the theater. I said to Jessica, “We were going to heaven,” because everything was =new and strange for me. I was like a little child, the same as some children when their parents took them to cinema! I also learned the lesson: Ate Popcorn, drink kind of different water while watching film. This is the culture in America.

The movie was “Happy Feet.” It told about Penguin. He was different from other penguins because he had special feet. Some penguins disliked him. He was not able to sing. He was sad. He tried to learn more and more but nothing was good.

After that the leader expelled him. He began to travel and met many troubles and problems as a seal wanted to kill him, and two whales did, too. But he was lucky to escape them. He met five penguins with good hearts, and they traveled together. He returned to his home by pretending to sing a song, but five penguins sang as he mouthed the words.

When I watched, I felt sad. I sometimes looked like him. The end of the film was happy because the penguins understood him and liked his dancing.

The film was excellent end-to-end. I enjoyed watching this film. I loved the content and music. It gave me something to think about: What I should do if I were a penguin in the film?

By the way, I want to thank God, and Sisters of Providence. God gave me a lot of gifts through people. Providence of God, I thank you for all.