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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.

As a finale, the Canadian Dominicans Nuns–

 in Quebec, Canada, represented by Sister Julie, prioress.

As well as the west, in Squamish, British Columbia: Sister Mary Magdalen; Sister Marie Tersidis, prioress; and the inset, Sister Mary Columba.

Elections

 On Tuesday, September 20, the Assembly held its election for the New Council members for the next four years. Below is the new Council:

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Left to right: Sr. Mary Rose (1st Councilor and Secretary, Lufkin TX); Sr. Marie Tersidis (2nd Councilor, B.C., Canada); Sr. Mary Jeremiah (3rd Councilor, Lufkin TX); Fr. Walter Wagner (Priest-Assistant, Manhattan NY); Sr. Maria Christine (President, Menlo Park CA); Sister Mary Catharine (Vice-President, Summit NJ).
On Wednesday, September 21, the Assembly members had a \”field trip\” to the Dominican Sisters Retreat House a little over a hour away. There they had a tour, walked in the forest, celebrated Mass, ate a picnic lunch, rested, some went swimming in the large pond, etc.

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JOY Joy joy

Saturday evening many of the Nashville Sisters cam to recreate and personally meet the nuns. It was a wonderful experience to put name to faces and discover where people came from. In fact, one of the nun found out she was related to one of the Nashville Dominican Sisters! The President of the Nuns\’ Association gave the hosting community a beautiful new Marian chasuble (with matching, stole, chalice veil and burse). There are about 12 different panels beginning with St. Luke and illustrating the joyful mysteries of the Rosary. In the photo below, Mother Ann Marie, the Prioress General of the Congregation, is starting to hold it up for all the Sisters to see.

  
Today the Nuns had several sessions with Fr. John Paul Walker, OP, pastor at St. Mary Church in New Haven CT. He spoke on Joy and the New Evangelization and used stories from the Lives of the Brethren, a book about the early Dominicans.