Texas OP Nuns

Pictures at an Exhibition

Our retreat ended this morning–all good things must come to an end–but we will long remember Fr. R.B. Williams and his exposition of Dominican life, aptly called \”Pictures at an Exhibition\” (not to be confused with the piano composition by Mussorgsky!).

Fr. R.B. began with the four pillars of Dominican life (prayer, study, community and ministry) and then continued his series of \”pictures\” with some of the mottoes and phrases commonly found in Dominican life, such as \”Veritas\” and \”Contemplata Aliis Tradere\”. We were both challenged and inspired! Although we must leave the \”desert\” of our retreat, we take with us a wealth of new thoughts, prayers, and inspirations to guide us as we return to our \”normal\” contemplative life.

Above you can see another sample of Father\’s \”pictures from an exhibition\”. Thank you so much, Fr. R.B., for a great retreat and for your friendship to our community over the years!

St. Martin de Porres

St. Martin de Porres was a Dominican cooperator brother in Lima, Peru. The son of a Spanish officer and a freed slave woman, his options seemed limited, but he chose to train as a barber and surgeon. These skills proved very useful in his vocation as a Dominican, although even more important was his boundless love of God and neighbor! Martin was known for his compassion and charity toward both humans and animals…even mice! Today let us pray to St. Martin de Porres for our needs and intentions, confident that he will present them to our Lord.

Happy and blessed feast day greetings to all the Dominicans of the Province of St. Martin de Porres throughout the world!

All Souls Day

Our cemetery in the spring

We are blessed to have our cemetery on our monastery property, so we can go and \”visit\” our deceased sisters very easily. November is the month especially dedicated to prayers for the dead, so we\’ll be saying a lot of extra prayers for our departed friends, relatives, and benefactors–basically for all the faithful departed! Do you have someone you would like us to include in our prayers? Please, e-mail their name(s) to us here. We\’d be happy to remember them in our prayers by name.

Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord

And let perpetual light shine upon them.

May their souls, and the souls of all the faithful departed, rest in peace. Amen.

Solemnity of All Saints

\”This life of the saints, in its superabundant and inexhaustible fruitfulness, is at the same time a life of the richest variety and fullness. The one Spirit of Jesus, their head and mediator, is manifested in his saints in all the rich variety of their individual lives, and according to the various measure in which every single soul, with its own special gifts and its own special call, has received and employed the grace of God. The one conception of the saint, of the servant of Christ, is embodied in an infinite variety of forms. The litany of the saints takes us rapidly through this \’celestial hierarchy\’. And while every name denotes a special gift, a special character, a special life, yet all are united in one only love and in one gospel of joy and gladness.\”

–from The Spirit of Catholicism by Karl Adam

Into the Desert…

We will be making our annual community retreat from the evening of October 26 to the morning of November 4. Please be assured of our prayers for you and we hope you will be praying for us, too! Our retreat master will be Fr. R.B. Williams, OP, a longtime friend of our community. Please keep him in your prayers as well so that the retreat will be a grace-filled time for all of us. Thank you!

Queen of the Most Holy Rosary, pray for us!

The rosary is a prayer cherished by Dominican nuns. We pray the rosary every day for all the intentions recommended to us, and even for those we don\’t know personally–we pray for the whole world and all its needs.

You are welcome to join us in praying the rosary, either by coming to our chapel or by uniting your prayers with ours wherever you are. We pray the rosary as a community in chapel Monday through Saturday about 2:40 PM (Sundays we all pray the rosary privately). We pray a third part of the rosary (five decades) together, but many sisters pray additional decades throughout the day.

Joyful Mysteries: Monday and Saturday
Sorrowful Mysteries: Tuesday and Friday
Luminous Mysteries: Thursday
Glorious Mysteries: Wednesday and Sunday

Let us be united in prayer under the patronage of Mary, Queen of the Most Holy Rosary!

More Bird Watching…

Recently we have been visited by a heron–a great white egret. Normally it flies over our property and stalks around our small lake, hunting for fish and frogs.

But one day it decided to explore the monastery grounds! If you look carefully, you can see it walking alongside our main building:

It came up to the window and peered in at the delighted nuns (who were enjoying a bit of noon recreation), and then began to explore further:

Finally it returned to the pond, where it took off for its next destination…

We are blessed to live in a place where nature comes so close to us and we can see God\’s marvelous creation without ever having to leave the enclosure. May God be praised for all the wonders He has accomplished in this world!