Category: Classes

You Gotta Have Heart

Recently, Mr. Daniel Morris, a nurse practitioner from the East Texas Heart Institute (located here in Lufkin) came out to give us a presentation on heart health.

He gave a very informative talk, telling us the factors that can affect heart health, the stages of heart disease, and of course how to keep the heart healthy! (We weren’t surprised to hear that diet and exercise play a big role!)

Daniel also graciously answered our many questions. We would definitely like to have someone like him around if we had heart problems!

As you can see, we (and Daniel) have our hearts in the right place!

Thank you so much, Daniel, for your time and expertise! We really appreciated it, and we are grateful to be more aware of the symptoms of heart disease and how to prevent them. God bless you!

A Class with Fr. Gavin Vaverek, JCL

Father Gavin Vaverek, pastor of Our Lady of Victory parish in Paris, TX, recently came and gave us a class on Lent. Father gives us classes on a variety of topics whenever he has time, and we always enjoy his great presentations and his witty remarks. In this class, Father encouraged us to “begin with the end in mind” when it comes to Lent, looking forward to the Triduum and Easter. He covered the main aspects of Lent–prayer, fasting, and almsgiving–encouraging us to use Lent as a time to grow in our Christian life and to keep up our good Lenten habits through Easter and beyond. Most of all, Father reminded us, Lent is a opportunity to grow in love and to share in the life of Christ. We had heard some of this before, of course–but it was a wonderful help to renew us in our Lenten practices, which can become mere form if we are not careful. And we can always learn something new about the spiritual life! Thank you, Fr. Gavin, for taking time out of your busy parish schedule and making the long trip from Paris (Texas, that is) to Lufkin! You are always welcome!

The community listens attentively to Fr. Gavin’s presentation. He’s a wonderful lecturer!

Classes with Fr. Raphael Mary, O.P.

We were happy to welcome Fr. Raphael Mary Salzillo, O.P. to our monastery last week. Father is a Dominican friar belonging to the Western Province (or Holy Name Province) but has been teaching at the University of St. Thomas in Houston for the past four years. We’ve been trying to get him to come for a while, but COVID kept getting in the way.

He gave a fascinating series of classes on Form of the Person and Soul in St. Thomas Aquinas–intense stuff, but Father made it fun with his silly examples (like “Sammy the Squirrel”). We all learned a lot and enjoyed his presentation and style immensely.

Father illustrates the concept of form in Thomas Aquinas using an orange

Father listening intently to one of the many questions we posed to him

Father Raphael Mary also led a small discussion group on the book The Women Are Up To Something, an intriguing study of four women philosophers at Oxford around the time of the second World War: Elizabeth Anscombe, Mary Midgely, Phillipa Foot, and Iris Murdoch. Those who participated enjoyed it very much!

For his last session, Father explained his work with Courage International and Eden Invitation, and asked out prayers for these two groups. We didn’t know too much about these ministries, so we were glad to know about them and will keep their intentions in our prayers.

Thank you so much, Father Raphael Mary, for a fun and educational time! We wish you well in your new assignment in California, and hope we will meet up with you again some day!