I am often asked the question, what is a “typical day” like for a Daughter of St. Paul?

My Community in Toronto
About my day…hmmm…no day is exactly the same, although I usually start my day with prayer. And every sister is involved in different aspects of our mission, so our schedules can vary quite a bit. Why don’t I share what I’ve done this week?
4:45 am — I rise early. Some of the sisters here in Toronto rise between 5:30 and 6 AM, but I like to get up a wee bit earlier to…well, you’ll see.
5:00-6:30 Meditation and Hour of Eucharistic Adoration (both of these are part of every day for a Daughter of St. Paul); I like the early morning quiet of the chapel.
6:30 Morning prayer together; we use Christian Prayer (also known as the Liturgy of the Hours, or prayers from our community prayer book, Prayers of the Pauline Family.)
7:00 Mass (twice a week in our chapel; the other days at the chapel of another community of sisters, the Disciples of the Divine Master.) This is the keystone of my day!
8:00 Breakfast together. Sr. Irene likes to cook up some eggs, which Sr. Maureen enjoys with her. Sr. Mary Peter, Sr. Helen and I run around the kitchen, each fixing our own pick-up breakfasts. We try not to bump into each other, as the kitchen is kind of narrow.
8:45-1:00 Our mission. We often call our work “the apostolate,” which reminds us that our work is truly a mission. The mission of the Daughters of Saint Paul is to communicate Jesus Christ through our lives and the media. Our worldwide Pauline Book & Media Centres are places where people can visit to find materials to nurture them spiritually. Here in Toronto, our centre is open from 10 am-6 pm Mon-Saturday. Sr. Maureen, Sr. Mary Peter and Sr. Irene spend a lot of time assisting people in the centre.
Other sisters–like Sr. Helen–work in outreach. They visit parishes, schools, and bookstores with the resources that we publish. Sometimes they are out all day visiting schools and parishes–they literally bring the Gospel “door to door” to wherever people are.
However, my apostolate in the morning is often writing, which is what I did this week. I usually take a coffee break around 10:00. If it’s Thursday, it’s my turn to cook. Then I usually go to the kitchen around 12:00 and cook a hot meal for the sisters–last time it was spaghetti and meatballs with a side salad.
1:00-2:00 Lunch together for those who are home. Our meals together are family-like. We talk about our mission, what we’ve done today, the news, the latest book that we read, what’s new in our families, a little bit of everything. We laugh a lot.
2:00-6:15 Our mission. For me, the afternoons have a lot of variety. Sometimes I contact young women in discernment, sometimes I fix the computers or phones–I’m a bit of a techie around here. Whoever I am in touch with I bring to Jesus in prayer.
4:00-4:30 Personal Prayer Break! Daily, we make a half hour of personal prayer before Jesus in the Eucharist. I try to pick the best time of the day to pray–when I will be alert (I can’t pray right after lunch or I fall asleep!) I can make this half hour of personal prayer any time…in the morning, just before night prayers, but often I’ll squeeze it into the middle of the afternoon. Usually, I follow my time of prayer with a quick snack.
6:15 Evening prayer together. We usually pray with the Liturgy of the Hours or from our Pauline Prayerbook.
Unless we have an event scheduled (like our monthly film nights), the evenings are often free. Sometimes I go back to my office and try to finish what I was working on. If it’s summer, I like to go out for a walk. I eat dinner around 7:00, sometimes with another sister, sometimes reading a book. Because we work with the media, and my specialty is film and TV, I try to catch at least a couple of TV shows a week, and watch one new film each week. The other evenings, I exercise, study, talk to my family on the phone, update my blog, go to a writer’s meeting, etc.
I try to get to bed by 10:00 pm, but I’m not very consistent….
That’s been my week this week. But often, my days are different and varied. Tuesdays are “community days” where we take the time to pray our Eucharistic hour of adoration together, plan our mission here in Toronto, clean the convent, or get out for a walk in the park. Saturdays are typically spent serving in our Pauline Book & Media Centre all day. Sundays are a day of prayer and rest, but also a day to build our community, because we need the support of one another to go forward in our mission.

I took this photo several weeks ago. A willow tree in a park nearby shed dozens of branches in a recent storm. When I picked one up, I was struck how this most tender and flexible of branches is ready–in the midst of deep winter (the previous week it went down to -20 degrees Celsius)–to burst into growth. These tiny buds appear to be in complete readiness to respond to nature’s invitation.
2. Making a Good Writer Great by Linda Seger – a wonderful companion to discovering a writer’s gifts, strengths and weaknesses, and using that knowledge to grow. Seger specializes in screenwriting, and I find all of her books helpful, but this is my favorite. (More later about best screenwriting books!) I also had the joy of hearing her speak about her own creative process about seven years ago, and she autographed a copy of this book for me.
4. Word Painting by Rebecca McClanahan – the best guide I’ve found to writing description. It’s so well-written and has so many good ideas and writing prompts, that this book is invaluable for whatever kind of writing I’m doing. Although description in screenplays must be spare, McClanahan encourages observation of the telling detail that one could include in a script. Word Painting has motivated me to become much more observant–an invaluable skill in a writer.

THE STONING OF SORAYA M.–A Close-up of Tragedy
June 6, 2009 by windowstothesoul
Like The Passion of the Christ, also produced by Steve McEveety, this is an extreme close-up of a horrifically violent and unjust death. All the considerable power of cinema is leveraged to draw us into the story, both visually and emotionally. Making the valid choice to tell this story of grave injustice through an “extreme close-up” enables us as viewers to uniquely experience in some small way the emotional and physical beating and stoning of Soraya. But as powerful as the film’s approach is, it will most likely limit the audience of the film. Which is too bad, because this is a story that needs to be heard now, perhaps even more urgently than in the past.
Mozhan Marnò as Soraya M.
Director Cyrus Nowrasteh gives the film an immense commitment to the details of the world of a tiny Iranian village. The writer, director, and all the actors except Jim Cavaziel are Iranian, Iranians in exile, or Iranian-Americans. Powerfully written, acted and directed, all the elements of the film conspire together to make the story seem an entirely credible, eyewitness account. Despite the victimization of Soraya (in a marvelous understated performance by Mozhan Marnò), the strength of her character in facing death is inspiring, as is the strength of her aunt Zahra, in a moving all-out performance by Oscar® nominee Shohreh Aghdashloo.
Shohreh Aghdashloo as Zahra
Jim Cavaziel as the journalist
Actor Jim Cavaziel was present at the screening, and he made a point I could not agree with more. He pointed out that while some people might be upset by the violence in the film, in reality, they should be upset–outraged!–that this violence really happened to a young woman named Soraya, and still happens to women today. This is a film that should disturb, anger, and hopefully, provoke to action. The horrible injustice against this one woman reverberates in and against every woman, in every society.
Producer Steve McEveety also talked about the film as a way of “bearing witness” to these kinds of tragic, senseless deaths. He feels the film is for anyone who’s been a victim, and I agree. The Stoning of Soraya M. gives a voice to Soraya herself who, during her lifetime, could not be heard.
The Stoning of Soraya M. is a movie with a profound message: it compellingly and artistically tells a story of injustice solely from the victim’s perspective (or more accurately, from the perspective of the victim’s nearest relative). In being faithful to this eyewitness account, the pain is heart-rending. But the film’s single perspective can be a two-edged sword–limiting the complexity of the film and making the actions of everyone but Soraya and Zahra not only inexcusable, but incomprehensible. On the one hand, this kind of close-up, single-minded account could lead to an immense outrage against this kind of injustice, a prod to prevent similar injustice in the future. But on the other hand, the lack of complexity in this film could lead to a loss of something precious–a sense of compassion–that we are not so very different from the people of this village.
Who of us has not given in to some of the familiar social behavior in the film–granted, without such consequences? Haven’t we all traded favors? Haven’t we all fallen into the trap of thinking like the people surrounding us? How many of us have perverted religious ideals by using them to look down on someone else? Who of us hasn’t tried to protect someone we love at someone else’s expense? Manipulation, pressure, taking sides, fear tactics, and abuse of power are the engines that drive one man’s desire to be free of his wife into a communal murder.
The Stoning of Soraya M. is not comfortable to watch because, at the end, we have to decide what we will do with the immense sadness and anger roiling around in us. We are left with burning questions: What happened to the villagers afterwards? They must have been (and most likely still are) haunted by the atrocious murder they committed together. What could make a difference so that those who seek to draw closer to God through living Shariah law do not use it to oppress women? And what is our response to the oppressors–not just the villagers, but especially the conspiring murderers at the center of the plot–whom we have seen involved in nothing else but murder? We cannot lose sight of the respect each person deserves, even when it seems they have forfeited the rights of being human. When one woman is condemned simply because she is a woman, we are all condemned along with her–even the oppressors. How can we respond to this injustice?
The question is particularly compelling to me, living in Toronto. In 2004, allowing a form of Shariah law to be practiced as part of faith-based tribunals was seriously discussed in Ontario. Shariah law is a code of life that many Muslims adhere to, but its place in Canada continues to be an ongoing concern because there is no consensus in its interpretation. Of much greater concern is the injustice against many women around the world, with the excuse of Shariah law.
This film is not suitable for children because of its horrific violence. But it is an important film–especially for people interested in religion, anthropology, and human rights. Becoming aware is the first step to ending injustice. There is not yet a theatrical release date for Canada, but I’ll post a link when there is.
If you can’t see the film but still want to make a difference, why not take the time to find out more about the rights of women and children in countries where human rights violations are common? For those of us who can see the film, perhaps researching how Shariah law is practiced in various countries can nuance the film’s presentation of Muslim customs.
Posted in Faith and Culture, Film Commentaries | Tagged film commentary, human rights films, The Stoning of Soraya M. | 1 Comment »