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We just finished a amazing first week of the 2012 edition of the Monastic Theological Studies Program! This first week was devoted to the study of patristics (the Fathers of the Church) under the able guidance of Professor Noel Pretila from St. Louis University.

Professor Pretila gave a (literally) animated series of lectures, using PowerPoint to help explain the concepts. We wish we could reproduce his excellent presentation for you, but you\’ll just have to attend one of his classes at SLU to experience it!

The students listening in fascination to Professor Pretila\’s talk! 

Serious thinking going on. From left to right: Sr. Mary Rose (Lufkin), Sr. Maria Teresa (Summit), Sr. Mary Dominic (Lufkin), Sr. Mary of Jesus (Elmira) and Sr. Mary Thomas (Lufkin)

And the rest of us: Sr. Mary Giuse (Lufkin), Sr. Mary Francis (Farmington Hills), Sr. Marie Augustine (Lufkin), Sr. Mary Gabriel (Lufkin), Sr. Joseph Maria (Summit), Sr. Mary Amata (Summit)

You can\’t leave Texas without a souvenir! Professor Pretila seems pleased with his!

Smiling happily at the end of a FANTASTIC week of classes! You can see Professor Pretila\’s slide of Justin Martyr in the background…He will be defending his doctoral dissertation on Justin Martyr next week at SLU. We wish him well and keep him in our prayers! 

We will be bringing you more from the MTS in days to come…the second week of classes (which will be on moral theology) and our presentations from this past week. Stay tuned!

Sister Mary Dominic lights the candles…

Wow!

A real blast for her 80th birthday!

Blowing out the candles…actually, she couldn\’t, because someone used those candles you can\’t blow out! We had to put them under water to extinguish them!

Sister had two cakes. One was a gift from friends and the other was made by Sr. Bernadette Marie. Both were delicious, especially when accompanied by ice cream!

After all, you\’re only 80 once! Enjoy!

We wish Sr. Mary Annunciata many, MANY more years and good health to go with them! Hopefully next month we will bring you another birthday…this time someone who will be 90!

There\’s a legend that all twelve of the apostles were present when Mary was assumed into heaven. After her Assumption, they went out again to preach the Gospel to all corners of the known world. 

In a similar way (so to speak) it was on the 15th of August, 1217, that St. Dominic sent his brethren out to begin their preaching mission. They didn\’t want to go! Everyone said it was a bad idea to send the brethren out–so young, not well-educated, not trained in the ways of preaching. Dominic listened quietly to all their protestations and then, gently but firmly, insisted that they were going out into the world. \”Grain that is stored, rots,\” he explained. He had a tremendous vision of his brothers sowing the seeds of the Gospel throughout Europe and even beyond, to all the ends of the earth. And so they went. Almost eight hundred years later, they\’re still on the road!

Blessings on all our Dominican family and all who receive the word of God, whether from a Dominican or from a modern-day apostle! Know that we are praying for you in a special way today, that Our Lady will intercede for more preachers and apostles to carry the Gospel to the entire world–even to the universe!

Today we celebrate the solemnity of our holy father Saint Dominic! We\’d like to share some aspects of Dominic with you in honor of this special feast day.

 St. Dominic had nine different ways of praying, and probably more! This is one anyone can try for private prayer:  standing up, arms outstretched, remembering Jesus crucified. 

Many people are familiar with the story of Pope Innocent III\’s dream of St. Francis supporting the falling Church, but few perhaps realize that he had a similar dream about St. Dominic! Apparently he had a lot of prophetic dreams…

 St. Dominic often participated in disputes with the Albigensian heretics. On at least one occasion they decided to settle the dispute by throwing their books and other materials into the fire. The one whose books escaped the fire would win the argument! As you can see in this painting, St. Dominic\’s books always flew out of the fire unscathed, while the books of the Albigensians burned to a crisp.

Holy Father St. Dominic, pray for all your children today and every day!

Remembering Dominic
O spem miram!
Translation of St. Dominic

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!

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!