Author: Texas OP Nuns

\”The virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall name him Emmanuel.\” (Is 7:14) In today\’s readings we see a contrast between two \”sons of David\”, Ahaz and Joseph (who according to Matthew is Ahaz\’s great-times-15 grandson) in their response to this promised sign from God. Ahaz does not want to listen, nor does he care about God\’s sign; Joseph hears and recognizes it. Scripture scholars as far back as Erasmus have pointed out that the Hebrew word translated here as \”virgin\” is \”almah\”, which means a young girl of marriageable age. The immediate fulfillment of Isaiah\’s sign was probably the birth of Hezekiah, Ahaz\’s son, who proved to be a just king. But as with other prophecies such as Balaam\’s star (which originally pointed to King David), the immediate fulfillment fails to satisfy the human heart. A just earthly king ensures peace and prosperity, but he cannot bring peace to our hearts. He cannot deliver us from our compulsions, our addictions, our weaknesses, our broken relationships, our petty rivalries, our egoism. We need a spiritual king, one who will deliver us from our sins. The angel reveals to Joseph in his dream that this type of king is coming. The old sign takes on new meaning. The Hebrew \”almah\” becomes the Greek \”parthenos\”, \”virgin\”. \”The virgin will conceive and bring forth,\” showing that God is doing something new in history. He is directly intervening. He, himself, is coming. The sign given to Ahaz did not affect him much personally, but the one given to Joseph touches his very heart. It destroys and remakes his world. Out of love and concern for Mary he determined his course. Having proved his trustworthiness, the mystery is revealed to him.

We really do try to spend Advent in silent expectation and prayerful waiting. But sometimes things come up! Like Sr. Maria Guadalupe\’s first feast day as our prioress! We had to do a little something to show her our love and thanksgiving for all her dedicated service to our community.

Because her feast day falls in Advent, Sr. Maria Guadalupe asked for \”something simple\” and that is what we tried to provide. We watched an excellent movie about the life of St. Augustine in the morning, and had gifts in the afternoon and then a fun and actually relatively simple program. Here are some highlights of the day…

 The gift table in all its glory

Sister was delighted to receive a number of books for her feast day…she\’s truly a Dominican!

A beautiful painting of St. Martin de Porres

One talented sister crocheted an octopus for Sister! A charming and whimsical gift!

We sang the feast day song in the evening, and then each sister took a turn wishing Sr. Maria Guadalupe a happy feast!

Sr. Mary Jeremiah (assisted by Sr. Mary Gabriel) humorously described some places we might not want to visit, such as Cahoots, Conclusions, and other unusual spots

Sr. Mary Thomas and Sr. Mary Margaret entertained the community with several piano duets.

Sr. Mary John and Sr. Mary Rose concluded our evening with a rendition of \”Ave Maria\”

What a great day! Now we are happy to return to our regularly scheduled Advent silence and waiting for the coming of Christ…although we never know what else God may have in store for us!

For two days we enjoyed a great visit from Fr. Brian Pierce, OP, who is a friar of our Southern province and also happens to be the Promoter for the Nuns of the Order of Preachers. Father will be stepping down from his office early in 2014 (after six and a half years!) and taking a well-deserved rest. But for now he continues his busy schedule, visiting nuns all over the world–even in Lufkin, TX! 

Father gave us a beautiful study session on the Master of the Order\’s letter on the Liturgy of the Hours. Following this, we had many intense discussions about the nuns of the Order and various other things. 

Father Brian listening intently to our questions and considering an answer!

We can\’t help but mention that it was through our monastery in Lufkin that Father received his vocation. He visited our monastery and made his first contact with the Dominican Order while he was a student at nearby Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, TX. We consider him in a way \”our\” vocation and we have been praying hard for him all these years. And of course we will continue to do so!

Providentially, Father was here to visit us on the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe–which happens to be Sr. Maria Guadalupe\’s feast day! What a blessing!

Thank you so much for all your hard work on behalf of the nuns of the Order, Father Brian! We look forward to seeing you again soon!

A: We have a lot of things we do during the Advent season. Primarily of course we pray and keep a special silence, awaiting the coming of Christ. The Advent liturgies and Mass readings give us much to contemplate.

We also put up an Advent wreath. Actually, we have about three: one in the chapel, one in the refectory, and one in the novitiate. The candles on the chapel wreath are lit for Mass and Morning Prayer and Vespers; the refectory wreath candles are lit for our evening meal (and accompanied by special prayers) and the novitiate traditions vary according to times and circumstances.

We do some penance during Advent. Advent is not a major penitential season like Lent, but it is a time for doing some extra little things to help prepare for Christmas.

During many Advent seasons, one of the matachines groups from our local parishes comes out and dances for us in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe. This is always an exciting event!

A: We save Christmas carols for the Christmas season. When we sing during Advent, we sing Advent songs and hymns like \”O Come, Divine Messiah\” and \”O Come, O Come, Emmanuel\” (just to name two most people know). We often go caroling through the monastery during the Christmas season (that\’s December 25 until the Baptism of the Lord) and it\’s a lot of fun! Not too cold either because we mostly stay inside!

A: Being Dominicans, we take a theologically nuanced view of this concept. Of course we know there was a St. Nicholas who (according to questionable legend) not only supplied poor but deserving girls with much-needed dowries, but also attended the Council of Nicaea and defended the true faith against the Arian heresy. So, in a sense, yes, we believe in Santa. But we don\’t exactly decorate with images of Santa Claus, or even St. Nicholas (although OK, yes, we have a few little things…). Hey, we don\’t even start decorating for Christmas until about December 22! That\’s part of keeping the spirit of Advent. And when we decorate, we have mostly nativity scenes or creches, with Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus and later the wise men, instead. That\’s the way we operate. But there\’s nothing wrong with Santa, or St. Nick, as long as you look at the whole picture of what Christmas (and Advent) is all about…which is the coming of Christ into our world, to save us.    

Almost every Scripture reading and prayer in today\’s Liturgy speaks of all the nations seeing the salvation of God. Let\’s examine the entrance antiphon: 

People of Zion, behold the Lord will come

to save the nations,

and the Lord will make the glory of his voice heard,

to the joy of your hearts.

Augustine wrote that \”Peace is the tranquility of order.\” We see in the universe an astounding order to things. When God began the work of redemption there is also a refined order. He chose specific people and events to set this work in motion. From the choice of Abraham and the patriarchs, God founded the Jewish people. 

As this people grew, especially in their self-identity, they came to believe they were the only ones to be saved because they had the divine revelation–the promises, covenants and laws. But in the course of time God raised up a great prophet, Isaiah. Part of his message was to correct the people\’s myopic vision of salvation and to expand it to a universal salvation. God\’s gifts of redemption are open to everyone who responds to his call. God chose the Jewish people, the people of Zion, in order to bring all other nations to a love and knowledge of the one true God.

From the chosen Jewish people came Christ the Lord, the salvation of the nations. Thus, following their elder siblings in faith, the Church, the new people of Zion, carry on and extend this mission of proclaiming God\’s love to all the nations.

We have been given the tremendous gift of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. This is not a secret to hoard, but an experience of love to share. Blessed John Paul II once said that \”faith is strengthened when it is shared.\” We also owe a profound debt of gratitude to the Jewish people for their fidelity to God\’s covenant through many trials. All people are called to live in peace and brotherhood in the family of God and to worship him together in peace!

The Lufkin Daily News publishes a bimonthly magazine called Charm–and they featured our monastery in their December/January issue! You can read the article here (be sure to go to pages E24-E25 to see us!). You can also check out Charm magazine on Facebook here, and we understand they\’re also on Pinterest. Many, many thanks to Melissa Heard (author of the article) and Andy Adams (who took the cover picture and some of the ones inside too), and everyone who works on Charm!