Category: Uncategorized

Check Out Our New Website!

We\’re happy to announce our new website is up and running! We\’re still adding a few pictures and other things but we hope you will come check it out–our new address is www.lufkintxnuns.org. We have many new features and more coming, including a new and improved donations page and hopefully soon some videos of the nuns! We are very excited about this new website and hope you will find it informative and enjoyable. Please do come visit us!

A Gift of Peaches

We have been really blessed by our benefactors this year, especially in gifts of food! Yesterday we received 23 boxes of very ripe peaches. We gave a few away, and started to take care of the rest.

The kitchen sisters hard at work…
We were able to freeze a lot of the peaches, and of course we ate a great many, too! They are so delicious!
We love to receive donations! 
We are so grateful to the many people who donate money or food or other things to our monastery. Your donations help us to continue our life of prayer, praise and sacrifice! May God bless you all abundantly for your generosity!

A Visit from the Master of the Order–Fr. Bruno Cadore, OP!

Today we are filled with joy as we were able to spend a short but spiritually enriching time with the Master of the Order–the head of the international Order of Preachers, or as we are better known, the Dominicans!

Fr. Ed Ruane, OP and Fr. Bruno Cadore, OP on either side of Sr. Mary John, our prioress–and oh yes, all the rest of the community, too!

We are so grateful that Fr. Bruno and Fr. Ed were able to stop at our monastery for this visit, on their way from Houston and to Irving, TX as part of Fr. Bruno\’s visitation of the Southern Dominican Province. It only lasted about an hour and a half, but it was quite a time! We asked many questions and received Fr. Bruno\’s thoughtful (and thought-provoking) responses.
Sr. Mary John welcomes Fr. Bruno and Fr. Ed
Fr. Bruno considers a sister\’s question…
A close-up of Fr. Bruno
All the sisters gathered in the community room to hear Fr. Bruno speak–and it was wonderful!
Fr. Bruno has a nine-year term as Master, and since he was elected in 2010 he still has a few years to go. We hope and pray his travels will bring him back to Lufkin sometime!

A Fantastic Fourth of July

In the United States, we celebrate our independence on July 4 every year, and in the Monastery, this means a special picnic day! We always continue to pray the entire Liturgy of the Hours and keep adoration on picnic days, but instead of working we fill in the time with fun, games and extra recreation.
We began our day with prayers and Mass, followed by the solemn raising of the flag.
After the flags were raised, we all sang patriotic songs and said the Pledge of Allegiance.
Whew! It was pretty hot outside so several sisters went back inside to play an intense game of Sequence.
Meanwhile, some of the sisters played beanbag Tic-Tac-Toe. This was Sr. Irma\’s first Fourth of July in the United States (you may recall she is visiting us from Mexico)! Other sisters just enjoyed sitting around and talking while they enjoyed a rare privilege: snacks outside mealtime!
In the cool of the evening some of the sisters went for a ride on our golf cart. 
Of course, we had to stop and pay a visit to St. Dominic at his shrine in the woods!
It was truly a fantastic Fourth of July and we all went to bed that evening tired but happy, refreshed and ready to return to work this morning!

Peter, Paul and Dominic

St. Dominic was not one to speak much about his inner spiritual life, but there is possible evidence that on a few rare occasions he confided some experiences to a companion. One such event was the vision of Saints Peter and Paul, which probably occurred in 1217 while St. Dominic was in Rome. The chronicler tells us that while Dominic was at prayer, he saw Peter and Paul coming toward him. Peter gave him a staff and Paul handed him a book, and they said, \”Go and preach, for God has chosen you for this ministry.\” The vision continues with a scene of Dominic\’s sons, the friars preachers, \”scattered throughout the world, going off two by two to preach to the people the word of God.\” According to the historian M.-H. Vicaire, OP, Peter and Paul are symbols of the Roman Church. Peter\’s staff is the official sign of God\’s messenger, while the book Paul gives Dominic represents doctrine. In this vision, Dominic received his inspiration: first, \”to make his order coextensive with the world\”, receiving his message directly from Rome; second, to separate preaching from defense of the faith, and finally, that his brothers might be allowed to preach in every diocese in the world. (cf. Vicaire p. 230) Dominic may not have had an imaginative vision as portrayed above, but something certainly happened with God\’s grace, and inspired him as he founded  the Dominican Order. May Saints Peter and Paul continue to inspire us today as we strive to preach the word of God to all peoples!

Sr. Mary John\’s Feast Day Celebration

We observe Sr. Mary John\’s official feast day on December 27 (because her patron is St. John the Evangelist) but we celebrate her feast day at another time not so close to Christmas! This year the date we chose was June 23, vigil of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist.
We had a really fun filled day, beginning with a festive song and dance in honor of Sr. Mary John.

Sr. Irma plays the drum while Sr. Mary Margaret unrolls the feast day banner! In the background you can see Sr. Mary John greeting the sisters.
We played a variety of fun games in the morning. All of them were centered around finding treasure, so we had two different kinds of scavenger hunts! It was really enjoyable and designed so that everyone could participate in some way. One of the hunts was made a little more complex because each team had to solve a riddle before going to find the item in question. For example: 
With arms outstretched
Young face serene
Beneath his feet 
Find something green.
It was our statue of the Infant Jesus, of course!

 There were many such fun clues to ordinary things around the house.

Sr. Bernadette Marie, Sr. Irma, and Sr. Mary Rose having a good time!

In the afternoon Sr. Mary John opened her many gifts, mostly handmade by the sisters, which will be used for a future bazaar or raffle–who knows?? 
 Sr. Mary John seemed pleased with everything!
In the evening, we had a delightful trip around the world via DVDs of various exotic locales. We were entertained in between segments by our sisters, who performed lively dances typical of some of the countries we visited. In all, a wonderful day! Thanks to all the sisters who worked so hard to prepare everything, the community who participated so enthusiastically, and thanks to Sr. Mary John for being a great prioress!