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A Very Happy Thanksgiving to Everyone!!

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the USA, and around the world where there are Americans. But we want to wish everyone, wherever you are, may you have a Blessed Day filled with Thanksgiving to God for all His blessings and graces.

At the Office of Readings today we had a beautiful refection from Blessed Cardinal John Henry Newman. We include a portion for you below:

Let us look at all we have as God\’s gift, undeservedly give, and day by day continued to us, solely by His Mercy, in a spirit of total dependence upon His providence, thankfulness and a careful remembrance of all He has done for us.

He gave us all we have: life, health, strength, reason, enjoyment, conscience, whatever we have good and holy within us; whatever faith we have, whatever loved toward Him, whatever power over ourselves. He gave us relatives, friends, education, training, knowledge, the Bible, the Church, our home and family. All comes from Him.

Let us humbly and reverently attempt to trace His guiding hand in the years which He has allowed us to live. Let us thankfully commemorate the many mercies He has given to us in time past, the many sins He has not remembered, the many dangers He has averted, the many prayers He has answered. Let us dwell upon times and seasons, times of trouble, times of joy. How He has cherished us as His very own children. How He has kept our hearts faithful. He has been all things to us. He has brought us thus far, in order to bring us further, in order to bring us to the end. He will never leave us or forsake us; so that we may boldly say:

\”The Lord is my helper; no evil will I fear.\”

The Bishop Comes for Dinner

Our Tyler Bishop, Joseph Strickland, has been to our monastery a number of times, but never for a lengthy visit. The big day finally arrived last week and he planned to be with us from 4-8 pm. After arriving, the prioress and sub-prioress drove him around outside in our golf cart to see our spacious grounds. He enjoyed this, having grown up on a large farm in northeastern Texas.

Then at 5:00 it was time to go to Chapel for Vespers (Evening Prayer). After that we went to the Refectory (dining area) to pick up our meal and take it to the Community Room where we could eat and talk more freely. After supper, all the Sisters formed a circle to ask the Bishop questions and get to know him on a more personal basis.

Bishop Strickland\’s birthday was on Halloween, so we presented him with a number of gifts for himself or places in the diocese. For example, we had a beautifully carved statue of St. Peter made from a tree trunk in Vietnam, which he wanted to put in the Chapel of Sts. Peter and Paul in Tyler. Our evening with the Bishop concluded right on time at 8 pm, when he drove back to Tyler and we went to Chapel to pray for his safety and Compline (Night Prayer).

A Poetry Reading

We had an afternoon of culture with the visit of two Incarnate Word-Blessed Sacrament Sisters from Corpus Christi: Sr. Lou Ella Hickman and Sr. JoAnne. Sister Lou Ella has been writing and publishing poetry for a number of years and wanted to share with us her first book of poetry on women in the Bible. Although there are many books about women in the Bible, hers seems to be the first book of poetry on the subject.

She: robed and wordless contains 70 poems on women in the Old and New Testaments. Our prioress, Sister Maria Guadalupe, open our culture-gathering with a prayer and we were encouraged to name our favorite women in the Scriptures. It was amazing how many poems Sister Lou Ella had written about almost everyone we mentioned. Among the \”crowd of witnesses\” were Old Testament women such as Eve, of \”the first love song\”, and Hannah, the mother of the prophet Samuel, \”the epitome of a pray-er.\”

They mingled with women of the New Covenant such as two from the Gospel of Luke: Elizabeth recalling her son John the Baptist \”dancing within her in like a curtain fluttering in the breeze\” and old Anna in the Temple to see the new-born Messiah, speaking of herself and Simeon, as, \”we like old books were there.\”

You may purchase She: robed and wordless at Catholic gift stores or from amazon.com.

After the formal meeting we had a little photo-op. The first photo below has one of our own Corpus Christi Sisters, Sister Mary Gabriel; the second photo shows some of our poetry aficionados.

Sister Mary Anne of Jesus, OP

Our dear Sister Mary Anne died on Oct 15 at the age of 89. We were all gathered around her praying and singing the Salve Regina, a tradition going back to the early days of the Order. Sister entered the Dominican Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament in Detroit MI in 1944, and 6-months later came now to found our Monastery of the Infant Jesus in the pineywoods of deep East Texas. She was just a white-veiled novice. Sister loved beauty and was a talented artist, craftsman and seamstress, making vestments and habits. She also served as a Novice Directress and Chantress.

Sister Mary Anne had a very deep devotion to God the Father throughout the years and always kept a drawing of God the Father on her wall. In addition to her consecration to Jesus, Sister had a devotion to the Carmelite mystic, St. Teresa of Jesus (of Avila). She constantly read her books, underlining passages until they were almost in technicolor. Thus, it was most fitting that Sister Mary Anne returned to her loving and merciful God on the Feast of St. Teresa, October 15. May Sister rest in peace.

Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary

This morning at Mass our chaplain, Fr. Marcos Ramos, OP, gave a lovely homily about the Rosary. You can read it on the Dominican Friars\’ Southern Province site here. Father Marcos described Murillo\’s famous painting of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary and then spoke of the importance of the Rosary in his personal life. Father also brought a large, full-length reproduction of the painting which we could admire throughout the Liturgy

We also had the official induction of the new officers of our local Dominican Laity Chapter of St. Thomas Aquinas. So it was a very special celebration, indeed.

The Angelic Life

Today is the Feast of the Great Archangels. It is so important to pray for their help, intercession and protection during these days of world conflict and turmoil. Saint Michael is a special patron for the spiritual warfare that is taking place in our world. Let us pray…
St. Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle.
Be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the Devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray,
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly hosts,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan,
and all the evil spirits,
who prowl about the world
seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

The consecrated life is often called the\”Angelic Life\”. It is not because we are perfect spirits or something different than other human beings. It is because the consecrated, and especially the monastic, life is focused completely upon God. The life of the angels is one of worship and praise of God. We join them at every Sunday Mass when we say or sing, \”Holy, holy, holy…\” The monastic life is one adoration, worship, praise, intercession and reparation. In this way we share in the angelic life.

Whether we are at home in our monastery chapel or away on business, as the nuns above in the photo at the Motherhouse of the Nashville Dominican Sisters chapel, we are always going about the Opus Dei, the Liturgy of the Hours or Divine Office. In this picture we are praying the Hour of Morning Prayer, but we return to chapel seven times throughout the entire day, every day to sing God\’s praises.

Returning Home

Our three travelers to the Association Assembly in Nashville TN returned home safely on Friday evening after a 12 hour drive. Everyone was celebrating, even the car!

Now that we have more time, we will try to put up pictures of all the Nuns at the Assembly. First, from Lufkin: Sister Mary Rose, novice directress; Sister Maria Guadalupe, prioress; Sister Mary Jeremiah.

The other southern monastery in Marbury AL was represented by Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart and Sister Mary Jordan.

Now, swinging over to the west coast, we have two Dominican monasteries. One is in Los Angeles, located under the famous \”Hollywood\” sign. There was one participant, Sister Mary Angela, the novice directress.

Then, heading north, is the monastery at Menlo Park. On the right is Sister Maria Christine, our Association President, and then Sister Joseph Marie, novices directress.

Heading back toward the east coast, Farmington Hills MI is the home of our founding monastery. They sent four participants to the Assembly: Sister Mary Thomas; Sister Faustina Marie; Sister Rani, novice directress; and Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, prioress.

The \”newest\” monastery in Springfield IL which moved from Elmira NY sent two nuns: Sister Anna Marie, novices directress; and Sister Miriam, prioress.

Finally, we reach the east coast and find several monasteries. Sister Mary Veronica, prioress, came from the Dominican monastery in Lancaster, PA.

We had four nuns from the monastery in Summit, NJ: Sister Mary Catharine, novices directress; Sister Mary Martin, prioress; Sister Denise Marie; and Sister Mary Magdalene, Assembly news and media person.

Going across the Hudson River we find the only contemplative monastery in Manhattan, the Dominican nuns in the Bronx, with Sister Mary of the Sacred Heart, prioress, and Sister Marie Grace.