Author: Texas OP Nuns

Sr. Mary Margaret’s Triumphant Feast Day

On September 14, the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross, the community celebrated the feast day of our prioress, Sr. Mary Margaret of the Cross. Since this will be her last feast day during her term as our prioress, we wanted to make the day particularly special.

We began the celebrations by gathering in the community room and singing a special song that Sr. Mary Jeremiah and Sr. Mary Gabriel had written to the tune of “The Yellow Rose of Texas”. Then Sr. Mary Margaret opened all of the gifts the community gave her.

Sr. Mary Margaret’s Feast Day table

We’ve been working hard hand-making such gifts as knitted and crocheted items, stuffed animals, cross stich pieces, and diamond art pictures. We have plenty of beautiful items to go in next year’s raffle!

Sr. Marie Augustine and Sr. Mary Christine have a special gift for Sr. Mary Margaret–the novitiate bearing gifts!

Then we gathered in the community room for a special steak dinner.

Tables decorated for the feast day

In the afternoon, we watched the movie The Chosen, based on the Chaim Potok novel. It’s about two Jewish boys growing up in 1940s New York, and explores ideas of friendship and family.

The evening’s program was a variety show, in which various sisters showed off their performing talents.

The novitiate performed several songs.

Sr. Maria played a couple of pieces on her accordion.

In between acts, Sr. Mary Rose shared fun facts about Illinois, Sr. Mary Margaret’s home state.

It was a fun, relaxing community day for the sisters, and a wonderful way to celebrate our love and appreciation for our prioress!

St. Martha–and a Visit from the Polkers

The feast of St. Martha (which is now the feast of Martha, Mary and Lazarus) is a traditional day in our monastery to honor the sisters who do the cooking. In times past, the novitiate would take over the kitchen and give the cooks a day off. But, as our cook Sr. Marie Augustine reminded us, “Martha never took a day off!” So the novitiate came and helped Sister get ready for a delicious meal.

Diana, our kitchen assistant, and Sr. Marie Augustine, adorned in chef’s hats for this special day.

Sr. Marie Augustine prepares to slice a pineapple, but don’t worry. She’s wearing an apron–it’s white and blends in with her habit!

The other thing that happened on July 29 was that our good friends the Polkers came up from La Porte, TX–quite a drive, especially in the heat. The Polkers come about three times a year, bringing loads of food. This includes things we need, like flour, meat, sugar, juice and cereal, and things that are just treats, such as mini cream puffs and ice cream! Because there is a lot of food and most of it needs to be refrigerated or frozen–and all of it needs to be put away somewhere–it’s all hands on desk when they come.

Sr. Mary Christine and Michelle looking for places to put things!

Working together to get the job done.

Sr. Mary Giuse pushes a cart holding margarine and ice cream into the kitchen.

The Polkers always bring a lot of fresh fruit! The novitiate sisters–Sr. Mary Pauline, Sr. Mary Christine, and Michelle–carefully washed and dried everything so it would be ready to be eaten.

Did we mention the meals were delicious? Sr. Marie Augustine is a wonderful cook! We appreciate her very much. And we are so grateful to the Polkers and all their friends, who keep us supplied with groceries! Thank you both!

St. Martha, patroness of hard-working people, pray for us!

Sr. Mary Magdalene’s Silver Jubilee!

Sr. Mary Magdalene recently celebrated her silver jubilee–25 years a cloistered nun!

Sr. Mary Magdalene with Sr. Mary Margaret, our prioress, before Mass

Our chaplain, Fr. R.B. Williams, celebrated a festive jubilee Mass for Sister. Sr. Carmen Gloria, our sacristan, did the flower arrangement in front of the altar–as usual it was stunning.

Sister renewed her vows in the hands of Sr. Mary Margaret, as is traditional in the Dominican Order.

After Mass, we had a community day to celebrate Sister, with games, gifts, and delicious food–including Sister’s favorite, hamburgers!

Sr. Mary Magdalene enters the community room to begin the festivities.

Sr. Mary Jeremiah was in charge of games. Here she shows us how it’s done! You can also get a glimpse of Sr. Mary Magdalene’s gift table.

Sr. Mary Giuse takes a shot while the community watches.

In the afternoon, we watched Sr. Mary Magdalene open her many gifts, and enjoyed seeing the creativity our sisters possess.

A lovely card.

An afghan crocheted by Sr. Martin Marie

A paint by numbers kit! Sister is very artistic and loves to do cross stitch, crocheting, and other crafts.

This might have been her favorite gift! Sister really wanted a German shepherd for her jubilee–a live one, that is–but she got the next best thing instead. We don’t encourage pets, and when animals venture into the cloister, we try to find them good homes. Just not with us!

We all had a wonderful time celebrating Sr. Mary Magdalene’s jubilee! Although we will have to wait another 25 years for her golden jubilee, we have several sisters who will also celebrate silver jubilees just a few years from now. In the meantime, the prioress’ feast day is coming up in September–stay tuned!

How Does Your Garden Grow?

St. Catherine of Siena once said that the Dominican Order was like a “broad, fragrant garden”. And to make this figure of speech a reality, we have been fixing up our gardens–one new and one old!

We’ll begin with the infirmary garden. The plants we had in this area were frozen during the winter storm of 2021, and we are finally able to put new plants in, as the weather has been cooperating–lots of sun and rain!

Several views of the infirmary garden, from all angles

We gave up on ground cover, and are trying pine straw instead (which we have a lot of!). You can see several new plants here, including two dogwood trees.

We also planted a lot of caladiums–some of them are starting to poke a few leaves out!

Some dear friends of ours wanted us to put in a butterfly garden–and they generously provided the means for us to do this. In order that our many guests could enjoy it, we planted it out front.

Our workmen, David and Pete, look on as the special soil for the garden is delivered.

They really dumped it!

David filling in the beds

Pete smoothing them out

The new beds–ready for planting!

All planted! Now we wait for it to grow a little, and hopefully, the butterflies will come! Many thanks to our dear friend Carmen who helped so much with both of these gardens!

We also got some large rocks for landscaping around the front of the monastery. Thank goodness another friend of ours was able to find some men to help us place them!

These men ROCK!

Thanks to everyone who helped make these gardens grow! We appreciate all your time and hard work. Thanks to our sisters who worked very hard planting and designing and organizing the gardens. Please pray with us that these gardens will do well, and that we will hopefully avoid any more freezes like 2021!

Honoring Our Mothers–Updated

Sunday was the solemnity of the Ascension here in Texas…and it was also Mother’s Day! We had festive meals and games in the evening to celebrate these two events. We started with Mass of the Ascension in the morning, had a delicious meal in the community room for lunch, enjoyed some free time during the afternoon, sang Solemn Vespers of the Ascension, and had yummy sandwiches and chips for dinner. After that, we went back to the community room to play games!

Sr. Mary Margaret, our “mother prioress”, and Sr. Mary Rose holding the card she designed for Sister. We each promised to offer three days of prayer for Sr. Mary Margaret’s intentions.

Sr. Mary Pauline, Sr. Mary Giuse, Sr. Mary Jeremiah, and Michelle seated at one of the decorated tables in the community room.

Sr. Mary Christine and Sr. Carmen Gloria

Sr. Mary Therese, Sr. Maria Cabrini, and Sr. Mary Thomas

Sr. Maria, Sr. Miriam, Sr. Mary Giuse, Sr. Mary Jeremiah, and Sr. Marie Augustine–ready to play games!

Sr. Maria Cabrini, Sr. Bernadette Marie, Sr. Mary Margaret, and Sr. Carmen Gloria–another team for games

Spending some free time working a puzz

Michelle and Sr. Mary Pauline with the novitiate turtles, Jerome and Anthony

At the end of the day, we had our May procession (inside, because of the rain), singing the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

One more picture! The novitiate honored their directress with a lovely card and two plants.

It was a beautiful day, filled with many thoughts of Our Lord’s ascension into Heaven, and many prayers for all out mothers (and those who have been like mothers to us), both living and deceased. We keep all of you in prayer as we continue our May devotions this month!

Easter at the Monastery

Easter is the most joyful and solemn celebration of the whole liturgical year, and we act accordingly! Most of our time in the week after Easter was spent in chapel, singing the Divine Office and Mass, and adoring our risen Lord in the Blessed Sacrament. However–we did decorate! Take a look at some of our creative decorations.

The refectory. Can you see the “Alleluias” on the wall amid the butterflies?

The refectory tables. The novitiate made these charming flowers and vases. If you look hard, you can catch a glimpse of our candy table in the background. Hey–people send us lots of Easter candy, and Lent is over, so we celebrate for a few days!

The novitiate with their creations. From left: Sr. Mary Pauline, Michelle, Sr. Marie Augustine, Sr. Mary Christine

The chapel during the Easter octave. Sr. Carmen Gloria does a brilliant job decorating, and we are so grateful to her!

And the community room! Thanks to Sr. Mary Giuse who came up with this lovely display.

We hope you continue to have a joyful and blessed Easter season. Remember, Easter season lasts until Pentecost! So you can keep that Paschal joy in your heart, and if you have some jellybeans left over, celebrate!