Louella 'Lala' Vicente celebrates another birthday!

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Lala, with Jordan

I first wrote this post in October 2008 and used it again in 2011 under the title Lala and Queen Elizabeth II. I have re-posted it a number of times, with variations, because Lala's story is one that should be told over and over again. This year I am re-posting what I posted three years ago, with a couple of updates on ages. Today Lala is celebrating another birthday. No doubt, the occasion is being marked at Punla, Ang Arko, where Lala lives, the only L'Arche community in the Philippines, in Cainta, Rizal, part of the metropolitan sprawl of Manila. 

The Pope's Universal Prayer Intention for September 2014 was: That the mentally disabled may receive the love and help they need for a dignified life. The truth is that persons with mental or learning disabilities can teach the rest of us about the dignity of life, as the photo above of Lala helping Jordan with his meal shows.

Let us show our service to the poor, then, with renewed ardour in our hearts, seeking out above all any abandoned people, since they are given to us as lords and patrons. (St Vincent de Paul, used in the Office of Readings for his feast day, today.)

St Vincent de Paul, (24 April 1581 - 27 September 1660)
Simon François de Tours [Wikipedia]


Both Lala and Queen Elizabeth II have have two birthdays, the real one and the official one. Lala’s official birthday is 27 September, the feast day of St Vincent de Paul, and she turns 45 today. Queen Elizabeth’s official birthday is celebrated in 53 Commonwealth countries, but not on the same date. Only the Falkland Islands observes her official birthday on her real one, 21 April. In the United Kingdom the Queen’s official birthday can be on the first, second or third Saturday in June. She turned 95 on her most recent birthday.

Continue at Bangor to Bobbio.

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