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The first reading at Mass, from the Acts of the Apostles, seems particularly appropriate this year, when some awaited the end of the world on May 21 (now moved to October) and others worry that the end will come in 2012, according to the old Mayan calendar. Jesus makes it clear to us here: we don\’t know, and we won\’t know, until it actually happens. But the Ascension of Our Lord into heaven is something we can hold on to with hope. The \”two men dressed in white garments\” told the apostles that Jesus would return, and this promise is meant for us as well. Pope Benedict XVI tells us that it would be wrong to think that the Ascension means \”the temporary absence of Christ from the world.\” Instead, he says, \”we go to heaven to the extent that we go to Jesus Christ and enter into him.\” He has not left us orphans; he is present with us every moment. Alleluia!

 The procession

Singing the Litany of Our Lady

Sr. Mary Giuse presents the crown to Sr. Bernadette Marie

The crowning of Our Lady 

We all renewed our consecration to Mary with a special prayer

Sr. Mary Lucy and Sr. Mary John serenaded Our Lady on their violins with a beautiful hymn.

\”If Christ is growing in us, if we are at peace, recollected, because we know that however insignificant our life seems to be, from it he is forming himself; if we go with eager will, in haste, to wherever our circumstances compel us, because we believe that he desires to be in that place, we shall find that we are driven more and more to act on the impulse of his love. And the answer we shall get from others to those impulses will be an awakening into life, or the leap into joy of the already wakened life within them.\” 

— Caryll Houselander, The Reed of God

The novice directressses got a new speaker this week, Sr. Dominica Brennan, O.P. of the Springfield Dominicans.

Our last evening together was both joyful and poignant–joyful because we have all gotten to know and love each other more through personal contact, but poignant because all the novice directresses soon had to return to their home monasteries! We hope at least some of them will be able to visit us again someday.

You can see some more views of this meeting at the excellent blog by the nuns at Our Lady of the Rosary Monastery in Summit, NJ here.

Thanks to all who made this wonderful meeting possible and thanks to all the sisters who attended for enriching our lives with your presence! 

St. Dominic died on August 6, 1221. For some reason (his successor as Master of the Order of Preachers, Blessed Jordan of Saxony, refers gently to the \”brothers whose simplicity outweighed their prudence\”) he was simply buried in the church of St. Nicholas of the Vineyards in Bologna, Italy and more or less forgotten by the brethren, who were apparently too busy carrying on Dominic\’s work to think of Dominic himself! Some, as Blessed Jordan points out, disagreed with this policy, but they \”offered no opposition because they were fainthearted.\” It doesn\’t speak well for the first followers of St. Dominic! Finally, twelve years after Dominic\’s death, Pope Gregory IX encouraged the brethren to move his body to a more suitable tomb. The brethren had misgivings about this, fearing that Dominic\’s body–which \”had lain in a mean tomb exposed to the elements\”–would be found decomposed. However, their fears were foolish. When the tomb was opened \”a wonderful odor poured out from the opening and its fragrance caused astonishment among those present. Everyone shed tears and feelings of joy, of fear and of hope rose in all hearts.\” The body was taken to its new  tomb (or \”translated\”, hence the name of today\’s memorial). Blessed Jordan writes, \”This marvelous aroma, which the holy body breathed forth, was evidence to everyone how much the saint had truly been the aroma of Christ.\” This day, May 24, 1233, was the beginning of the canonization process of Dominic and it was completed on July 3, 1234, when he officially became St. Dominic. Since 1267 St. Dominic\’s remains have resided in this tomb in Bologna: