Most people don’t consider Lufkin, TX a crossroads in America–but it sure does seem like we get a lot of visitors! And we’re delighted to have them! Recently, these two sisters from the Dominicans Sisters of St. Cecilia, based in Nashville, TN, stopped by for a brief visit. They’re vocation directresses for the community, and they were busy driving to various spots in Texas to promote vocations. They promised to spread the word about us, too, which we appreciate. We’re always struck by the similarities in our habits–only the veil is noticeably different.
May God bless the Nashville Dominicans with many good and holy vocations, and may He send some our way, too!
We’ve been meaning to post this for a while…things have been a little busy! It all happened back in September, on the feast of the Holy Cross, to be exact. Sr. Mary Margaret’s actual feast day (for St. Margaret of Hungary) falls on January 18, which is too close to Christmas and Epiphany for a big day, so we celebrate it on her “mystery” day — she is Sr. Mary Margaret of the Cross. We had a fun-filled two days of games, refreshments, and a movie! Our theme for the feast was “Monastic Olympics”–but instead of doing the usual kinds of Olympic feats, our sisters competed in various monastic fields such as sweeping floors, bowing in choir, and other events.
For the Olympics, you’ve got to have medals!Singing the feast day song to start everything off
As you can see, Sister received lots of homemade gifts to give away–just what she asked for!
Ice cream floats in the afternoon
We all had a great time, and we enjoyed the movie the next day, too!
We’re celebrating our 75th Jubilee! Finally…after postponing it a year (thank you COVID) we’re having our Mass of thanksgiving for 75th years in the Piney Woods of East Texas, praying, praising and interceding. If you’re in the Lufkin area on November 9 at 10:00 AM, you’re welcome to join us! We do ask that you wear a mask. If you can’t be with us in person, please join us in prayer!
If you’ve been following this blog, you know that we always love to get visits from our fellow Dominicans! Recently, we were blessed with two visits–one from the novices of the Province of St. Martin de Porres (the Southern Province) and another from the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist, who recently opened a new house in Waco. So here are the stories!
These four young men came with their novice master, Fr. Francis Orozco, O.P., one afternoon. We had a delightful time hearing their diverse and interesting vocation stories, and we told them ours, too.
Please pray for the perseverance of these novices, and for many more vocations to the Dominican way of life!
A little later, we had a visit from the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist. They are teaching at a Catholic high school in Waco, TX (only about 2.5 hours from Lufkin).
From left: Sr. Maria Francisco, Sr. Mary Rita, Sr. Maria Benedicta, and Sr. Maximilian Marie
You may have heard of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist–a dynamic young community of teaching sisters based in Ann Arbor, MI. We have always felt a special connection with them (in addition to the natural Dominican ties!) because Sr. Maximilian Marie went to college with our sub-prioress, Sr. Mary Rose.
The alumnae of Magdalen College of the Liberal Arts
Just as we did with the brothers, we shared vocations stories and other tales with the sisters. It’s always remarkable to see how closely we are related, despite our different places in the Order–preaching friars, teaching sisters, contemplative nuns. But that is part of what makes the Dominican Order so great! We keep our sisters in prayer, that they may teach well and have many vocations–and we hope both the friars and the sisters will pray for us to have vocations, too!
A while back, we mentioned that the St. Philip Institute here in our diocese of Tyler, TX came out to interview two of our sisters for a feature called “East Texas Catholics”. Well, the video is up and we hope you’ll check it out! You can see it here on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFLErzBQdn8 or watch it on our website. Enjoy!
The Lord grant that you may observe all these precepts in a spirit of charity as lovers of spiritual beauty, giving forth the good odor of Christ in the holiness of your lives; not as slaves living under the law but as women living in freedom under grace.
The Rule of St. Augustine (followed by the Dominican nuns)
It’s that time of year again! We had our raffle drawing on August 22, and we’re so grateful to all the people who entered. As usual, it was so much fun we drew a few extra tickets for “surprise prizes”.
Sr. Mary Margaret shaking the tickets up really wellWho will it be?Picking and grinning!One of Sr. Mary Therese’s beautiful knitted creationsA surprise kittycat for one lucky winner
And people seemed delighted to receive their prizes, too, which made us happy.
Winner of a “Precious Moments” cross-stitchHis wife won it–but maybe they can share?
If you’d like a chance to win one of our great prizes next year, please send us an email with your name and mailing address, and we’ll put you on our newsletter list! Our newsletter, “Monastery Bells”, comes out twice a year, and we also send a Christmas card (with pocket calendar) and the raffle tickets. We won’t bother you too much, and we never sell our list!
Thanks again to everyone who made our 2021 Raffle so successful! We are deeply grateful for all your support, spiritual and temporal.
Dominican Life on Lotus Lane 