Religious communities periodically have what is called a \”Visitation\”. We have one every 3 years. A visitation is a time for the community to examine itself on its strengths and weaknesses in order to continue growing and improving. It is usually presided over by a Dominican priest appointed by the Master General. Each Sister, from the youngest to eldest, has the opportunity to speak privately with the visitator. A recommendation from a visitation over 20 years ago was to compose a \”mission statement\”, which we did. Our statement referred to the Monastery of the Infant Jesus as a \”spiritual Bethlehem\”. Time went by, then we had our last visitation 2 years ago, and a different visitator recommended that we have a statue or shrine to the Infant Jesus, our patron, in the outside area.
When we were founded in 1945 we did have a lovely statue in the front yard; but when we moved into our new buildings in the late 1960\’s the statue ended up in our infirmary yard. We did not want to put this one outside for fear of vandalism, but more importantly because of its historical and spiritual meaning to the Sisters. So, we decided to get a new one; that was easier said than done. But after much help from a dear friend, we now have a beautiful new statue that arrived and was put on a pedestal in December 23.
Dominican Life on Lotus Lane 