Who Were Those Masked Nuns??

The Easter Octave is usually a quiet one for us. Unlike Christmas, with all its attendant activities–gifts, guests, special schedules, possibly a movie one day, culminating in Epiphany with games and skits and such–Easter is usually solemn. But nothing is the \”way it always is\” this year!

A silly time–but we really enjoyed it!

We had a delightful circle recreation on the evening of Easter Sunday. This is just what it sounds like: we all gather in a circle and recreate, instead of sitting together in small groups around the community room. We told stories of all the funny things that happened during our Triduum retreat (sorry, we can\’t publish them) and, much to our surprise, we received some little gifts! Most of us have never experienced this in the monastery. Each one received a sturdy plastic Easter egg with candy inside–a gift from friends, a darling handcrafted box from the niece of one of our sisters, and a fancy cake of soap made by our own sisters here at the monastery! It was such fun.

Close up of the fancy soap and handcrafted chick. There were also bunnies and flowers.

One of our sister\’s relatives gave us a DVD of the movie \”Apollo 13\”, so we decided to watch it, especially because the anniversary of this sad mission was around that time. Most of the sisters had never seen it, and many of those who had did not remember it too well. A very powerful story!

And finally–we received a belated Easter gift from our dear friend Janet Paneitz, a talented seamstress who, like so many others, is doing her best to supply ordinary folks with masks to cover their mouths and nose when they go out in public. She made them for us in a variety of colors and we each chose our own.

Can you recognize anyone in her mask??

Thanks to Janet and all those out there doing their best to stop the spread of COVID-19. We\’re praying for you all!