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Summer Roundup

Hey, all y’all! It’s been a long time since we’ve had a chance to catch our breath and write something for this blog! Today we have some time so we’re bringing you a good old Texas roundup of some of the various events that have made our summer exciting (and busy).

Not long after Sr. Mary Veronica’s jubilee celebration, we welcomed Fr. Reginald Baconin, O.P. to our monastery for a couple of months.

Fr. Reginald comes from the province of Toulouse in France, but has been studying in Rome at the Angelicum. He is working on two licentiates at the same time–one on Trinitarian theology and one on Islamology. He speaks English beautifully, with almost no accent, and we were delighted to have him celebrate Mass for us–and give us some classes.

At the end of June, we had a farewell recreation with Fr. Ian.

Sr. Martin Marie crocheted this classic-looking scarf for him, which he was happy to receive.

We also gave him a Dominican coffee mug:

We are sad to see Fr. Ian leave, but know he is needed at his new assignment, which is much more challenging than the one he had here. We are proud of Father for finishing his doctorate and getting his degree. Hopefully he will come back someday, to give classes or even a retreat!

On June 30, Sarah Larmore entered as a postulant.

Sr. Mary Pauline, Sr. Mary Christine, Sr. Marie Augustine, Sarah, Michelle, and Sr. Maria Goretti

Sarah could hardly wait to begin her life as a cloistered contemplative nun!

On July 1, we had our 4th of July picnic. We like to have our picnic celebration on Satursdays if possible.

Here we are, all decked out for the traditional flag raising after Midmorning Prayer.

We had a joyful day of food, fun, games, conversation, and patriotic fervor.

As is our custom on the Fourth of July, we sang “My Country ’tis of Thee” from the Summit Choirbook at Vespers. While we were all filled with love for our nation, Fr, Reginald (joining us for Vespers in the outside chapel) was perplexed. He asked us later, “Why did you sing ‘God Save The King’ to celebrate July 4?”

And as it happens, July 4 is Fr. Reginald’s birthday! We had a special recreation with him that night.

Fr. Reginald has been a big Texas fan for many years, thanks to his father’s love for John Wayne movies (especially “The Alamo”), and various people in our community took him on many Texas adventures, including visits to a Native American reservation, Nacogdoches TX (the oldest town in Texas), the San Jacinto battlefield, and, yes, the Alamo! He bought this hat for himself soon after his arrival, but we had some gifts for him, too–especially this one:

A T-shirt that proudly proclaims, “Texas–Bigger than France”! He loves it!

A few days later we had a visit from our Southern Province novices. We’re happy to say all five of them made profession! Please pray for them, and for the upcoming novitiate class.

We have even more news to share with you, but this is enough for now. We plan to post the rest of the recent news soon. For now, we hope you enjoy this glimpse inside the boring and monotonous life of the cloister! (And yes, we always keep our prayer schedule–even on holidays.)

Lufkin Calling

We recently got s new phone and internet system! The good news: The reception is crystal clear and our internet is much faster. The bad news: We’re still working all the bugs out of the phones.

The old phone.

The new phone.

As you can see, in many ways the phones are similar. But you will also notice how many more buttons the new phone has, giving us more opportunities to be in contact with people–and also, more ways to drop calls! We hope you will be patient with us while we continue to work on learning how to use the new phones and also get all the technical issues worked out. We’re really very excited about this–our first new phones in about 20 years–and we are so grateful to Javier and his team at Innovative Office Systems, all of whom have been so kind about coming out to help and give tutorials and fix problems.

Please note that we only have one phone number now–the one listed here on our blog and on our website.

Thank you for your patience! We hope these upgrades will make it easier for all of us to stay in contact!

Annual Retreat 2023

We came out of retreat this morning! Out of the woods, and back into the clearings of civilization (or something).

We had a fantastic retreat preached by Fr. James M. Sullivan, O.P., currently stationed at St. Pius V Church in Providence, RI. Father jokingly said the theme of the retreat would be, “All I Ever Needed To Know I Learned in the Novitiate”, and it truly was a most excellent review of the basic principles and foundations of Dominican life. There were conferences on the evangelical counsels (poverty, chastity, and obedience), the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) and trust in God. Father also gave wonderful homilies every morning. We’re so glad we recorded everything and can listen again some time!

Father giving a conference in our chapel

Father is very animated, so it was a challenge to get pictures during his conferences. So…

…he allowed one of the sisters to snap his picture during a session of private direction.

Thank you for everything, Father Sullivan! We hope to see you again some day!

Into the Woods

It’s that time of year again! Today we’re beginning our annual community retreat, and we’ll be in retreat until June 14. We’re delighted to have Fr. James Sullivan, O.P. as our retreat master, and we look forward to everything he will say to help us grow in our spiritual lives!

You may be wondering–why “into the woods”? Don’t we usually describe retreats as a desert experience? This is much more common, but here in East Texas we’re short on deserts and long (or tall) on pine trees, so we decided to embrace our situation. And after all, the woods can be every bit as wild–if not more so–than the desert. We have all kinds of critters roaming our property, raccoons, opossums, foxes, snakes, bobcats–not to mention the numerous species of birds and some bats! So do keep us in prayer as we go out into the wilderness of the retreat woods, and know that we are all praying for you, too!

Sister Mary Annunciata’s Funeral

Sister’ funeral Mass was held on February 27, 2023. It was a moving ceremony presided over by Bishop Joseph Strickland, and many of her remaining family members and a few friends were able to attend.

Before the funeral, Sister’s body lay in state in our chapel. We kept vigil with her all day and most of the night. We pray the Psalter as we stay with Sister–starting at the beginning and continuing on until time for the funeral, repeating as necessary.

After distribution of the Holy Eucharist, the funeral ceremonies begin:

Praying and incensing the casket.

Then we begin the procession to the cemetery, which is located on our property. THe cross bearer and acolytes (holding candles) go first, then the sisters, followed by the clergy and the Bishop. Then comes a car carrying some of the elderly sisters who can’t walk as far as the cemetery, and finally the hearse.

As the sisters move into the cemetery, the pall bearers bring in the casket.

Sister’s family in the front row.

And at the end, the prayers at the graveside and the final commendation.

We sang the “Magnificat” at the end, which is our custom, and then processed back to the monastery. It is hard to say goodbye to Sr. Mary Annunciata, but we hope and pray that we will all be reunited one day in the glory of heaven. As we have mentioned before on this blog, we go out to the cemetery for eight days following the funeral to pray a decade of the Rosary at the grave and sing a hymn, usually one that had special meaning for Sister. We can’t be certain, of course, but it does seem like Sr. Mary Annunciata has been interceding for us already!

Eternal rest grant to her, O Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her. May her soul, and the souls of all the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.

COVID-19 Strikes the Monastery

Believe it or not, no one in our monastery had ever come down with COVID until just a few weeks ago! We were always careful about handwashing, wearing masks when out, and got our various shots, so maybe we were getting a little complacent. But somehow–somewhere–the COVID-19 virus entered our monastery and turned everything upside down for a couple of weeks. In fact, we’re still recovering.

It started small…just one sister. Then two more, and before we knew it more than half the community had it! The brave sisters who withstood the infection were nearly run off their feet bringing meals, keeping regular prayer times (although we did recite everything), checking on the sick, monitoring the telephone and dock (where we receive deliveries), and trying to keep from getting sick themselves. The only major observance we had to drop temporarily was adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We hope we can return to this soon!

Cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer, Lysol, and gloves–essentials for dealing with COVID. The vases were filled with beautiful roses and given to each of the sick sisters. What a lovely thought! Carts were used to transport meals and medical supplies over to the dormitory from the kitchen.

Thankfully, everyone is out of isolation now and back in the community. We are singing at Mass and the Liturgy, and we even began having a short period of recreation. But for now we are still using disposable plates and wearing gloves when we pick up our meals from the table. No COVID rebound, please!

Our recent adventure with COVID-19 has made our prayers for those who suffer all the more heartfelt, since we now know first hand the struggles people go through. We are fortunate to be a community, where people can pitch in and help out when things get bad. We have always prayed for the victims of COVID, and continue to do so, although as mentioned we now have a more personal understanding of the magnitude of the problem. We have been opening up a little (we’ll bring you a post on Sr. Mary Annunciata’s funeral soon, where we went without masks) and hope to do more as time goes on. In the meantime, let’s keep each other in prayer.

Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus 2022

Today the Church celebrates the solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an occasion to remember the immense love Jesus holds for all of us in His Heart. Sometimes it can be tempting to think that God has stepped away from His creation, or has lost interest in it. Today’s feast counters those mistaken thoughts with the knowledge that God loves us with a love beyond measure, a love so great and intense we cannot find words to properly express it–although texts from Scripture help to convey a small portion of it.

I have loved you with an everlasting love, so I am constant in my affection for you.

Jeremiah 31:3

With everlasting love I have taken pity on you, says the LORD, your redeemer…The mountains may depart, the hills be shaken, but my love for you will never leave you and my covenant of peace with you will never be shaken, says the LORD, who takes pity on you.

Isaiah 54:8b, 10

On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood there and cried out: “If any man is thirsty, let him come to me! Let the man come and drink who believes in me!” As scripture says, From his breast shall flow fountains of living water.

John 7:37 -38

May we choose today to again put out trust in the overflowing, endless love of Jesus Christ! Let us come to drink at His fountain!