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Retreat…and Visitors

We recently finished up a wonderful retreat with Fr. Gerard Austin, OP. He was able to stay on a few days after the retreat as well, which was a real blessing. Father spoke eloquently in his retreat conferences about sacramental aspects of the liturgy and Mass, sharing his wealth of experience. He knew and lived with some famous French Dominicans who contributed to Vatican II, including Yves Congar. His retreat conferences helped us to see the Mass in a new and exciting way. Thank you so much for everything, Father!
Fr. Austin with (back, left to right: Sr. Mary Margaret, Sr. Mary Gabriel, and Sr. Maria Cabrini; front, left to right: Sr. Maria Guadalupe, Sr. Mary Annunciata, Sr. Mary Jeremiah)
We also recently had a visit from Fr. Peter Asantebwana, from the diocese of Moshi in Tanzania.
Sr. Marie Augustine and Fr. Peter in the large parlor. As always they are separated by a partition you can\’t see in this picture!
Thanks be to God for the blessings of our annual retreat, and for the blessings of the friars and priests who come to visit our monastery!

Annual Retreat 2013

Most people who go on retreat like to go somewhere beautiful…and who can blame them, since the beauty of God\’s creation often brings us closer to Him? But we are fortunate in that we have a lot of natural beauty without having to travel outside our cloister walls.

The monastery lake and surrounding forest
Some of the monastery buildings. The main building is on the left (you can\’t see it) and the professed dormitories and Chapter Hall are on the right.
Of course, being on retreat also means cultivating the inner life…

…through the gift of extra time for prayer, reading, and lectio divina. But many sisters enjoy a walk outside, especially since the weather is starting to be a little bit cool. (For Texas, of course!)

Fr. Gerard Austin, OP will be our retreat master this year and we are looking forward to hearing his conferences!

Please keep us in your prayers and know that we will be praying for you as well. We will be checking in on emails, etc. but not too often so please be patient if you need to contact us during retreat time!

St. Therese and her Roses from Heaven

On this feast of St. Therese of Lisieux we invite you again this year to encourage anyone you know who might have a vocation to the religious life to consider his or her call. There are many ways to do this…the classic way for devotees of St. Therese is to give the person in question a rose. This is because people who pray to St. Therese for a favor usually request that she send a rose as confirmation that she got the message, so to speak, and is passing it on to God.

It doesn\’t have to be an actual rose…it could be a picture, a symbol, even someone\’s name. (Did we mention our novice directress is named Sr. Mary Rose?)

Anyway, if you know someone who\’s considering religious life, maybe God (through St. Therese) is giving you a nudge today to help that person in his or her discernment. Or maybe you\’re discerning yourself and have been waiting to see if any roses unexpectedly show up. If so–maybe this is your sign!

Stuffing, Sealing, Labeling, Mailing

Yes, it\’s that time of the year again–time to get the latest issue of \”Monastery Bells\” ready for mailing! If you\’re one of our snail mail subscribers, we\’ll be mailing them out probably around October 7–and if you prefer to view the Bells online, we hope to post it around the same time. We\’ll let you know when this most recent Bells goes out to the world! 
Meanwhile, we\’ve been busy–not only composing the Bells but trying to get them stuffed into envelopes, then sealing the envelopes, and finally labeling the envelopes for mailing. It\’s quite a job!
Sr. Mary Annunciata, Sr. Mary Regina and Sr. Mary Sybillina hard at work, with Sr. Mary Dominic and Sr. Mary Gabriel in the background
Sr. Mary Veronica and Sr. Miriam labelling
Sr. Mary Christine, Sr. Mary Magdalene, Sr. Bernadette Marie, and Sr. Marie Augustine all sealing envelopes
Sr. Mary Regina, Sr. Mary Sybillina, Sr. Mary John and Sr. Mary Annunciata
Why are we working on the Bells now since we\’re not sending them until October 7? Well, our annual retreat begins next week–and we want to be able to spend our extra time praying, et cetera! We\’ll have more to say about this in a few days. Meanwhile, keep an eye out for the Bells! If you would like to receive the Bells via snail mail–it\’s absolutely free!–just send us your name and address and we\’ll put you on the list for our Christmas mailing. This will include our beautiful Christmas card and pocket calendar designed by the nuns! Of course, we don\’t sell or share our mailing lists with anyone. Sorry, we can\’t mail the Bells outside the United States.

Exaltation of the Cross, 2013

\”Those who believe in Jesus, crucified and risen, carry the cross in triumph as an indisputable proof that God is love. With the total gift of himself on the cross, our Savior decisively conquered sin and death.\” –Blessed Pope John Paul II
 
We all carry our crosses in life, as individuals, as communities. But this heavy, sometimes almost unbearable burden becomes easier to shoulder when we remember that we always have the help of Jesus as we go on our way. Jesus understands our sorrows, our pain, our hurts, our utter anguish better than anyone. He knows what we are going through and how much we can bear, and he does not ask more of us than he knows we can do. Sometimes–often–this seems impossible to understand. But we are asked to trust in Jesus, and keep walking on, carrying our cross with his help. God gave his only Son because he loved the world and wanted to redeem it. Can we accept that he loves us enough to ask us to share in our own small way in this work?