It’s not easy to answer this question, because it’s different for each young woman who enters! But we can give you a glimpse inside the entrance of our new postulant, Michelle.
Michelle arrived with several members of her family, who came to see her enter!
Michelle giving her mother a goodbye hug at the entrance door.
Michelle’s family doesn’t live too far from us, so they are able to come to visit once a month (with permission, of course). Here, we see Michelle and Sr. Mary Christine with some gifts her family brought on a recent visit.
A welcoming party in the novitiate! From left: Sr. Mary Christine, Michelle, Sr. Mary Margaret, Sr. Marie Augustine, and Sr. Mary Pauline.
Michelle has many talents–including playing the clarinet!
Once you have entered, and the farewells and greetings and blessings and parties are over, life settles into a daily regimen of prayer, study, and work. Postulants also have recreation both in the novitiate and with the professed community in the evening. We would love to bring you a story on what it’s like to be a novice…so keep praying for Michelle and for us over this next year!
On July 29–the feast of St. Martha–Sr. Maria Goretti began her novitiate with our community. Some of you may be aware that Sister had been a member of our community many years before, and left to join a Franciscan order. We’re happy that she came back! Everyone assumed she would keep the name “Sister Maria Goretti” since she has had it for so long (both here and elsewhere). To our surprise, a box and slips of paper were set out with it a sign: “Guess Sister’s New Name”. What?? Sr. Mary Margaret only smiled mysteriously.
The clothing was held in the morning, in our chapter hall. Since Sister was changing into our Dominican habit from her Franciscan habit, we did the full ceremony.
Sister Maria Goretti answers the questions put to her.
After being vested in the habit, the new veil is deftly slipped on to replace the old one.
Just a little adjustment needed…Perfect!
Sister is vested in the cappa, which we wear during the Triduum and for certain ceremonies (like this one–but today only Sr. Mary Christine and Sr. Mary Margaret are wearing it)..
Finally, after greeting the community, the great moment came.
“In the Order of Preachers, your name will be: Sr. Maria of Jesus.”
We all cheered with relief and joy and a little confusion. The new Sr. Maria quickly explained that she plans to keep St. Maria Goretti as her patroness, but decided to drop the “Goretti” because people often assume it’s her last name. Sr. Maria’s last name is Italian but it is nothing like Goretti! Following this, we read the guesses the Sisters had submitted, and had a good laugh to get ready for dinner.
Yummy Louisiana style shrimp gumbo for dinner!
After dinner we had our traditional party in the novitiate. Sr. Marie Augustine made an assortment of delicious cookies, and tea was served as well. We all enjoyed recreating together, and watching Sr. Maria open her many gifts.
Can I wear these socks with my habit?
We are blessed to have Sr. Maria back with us as a member of our community. Please continue to keep Sister–and all our novitiate sisters–in your prayers as they progress through their time of formation!
Sr. Mary Christine, Sr. Maria, and Sr. Mary Margaret
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.)
We were so blessed (in many ways) to have a visit from three newly ordained Dominican priests–Father Gregory Dunn, O.P. from our own province of St. Martin de Porres and Father Jordan Joseph DeGuire, O.P. and Father Peter Martyr Lewitzke, O.P. from the province of St. Albert the Great. Father Greg was ordained on June 10, and Father Jordan and Father Peter Martyr were ordained on May 20. The two Central Province priests came to Houston to see their classmate Fr. Greg ordained, and then they made a little “tour” of Texas, which happily included our monastery.
Fr. Peter Martyr, O.P., Father Gregory, O.P., and Father Jordan, O.P.
We had a lovely parlor visit with them on the feast of the Sacred Heart (June 16) and then Father Greg celebrated Mass for us on the memorial of the Immaculate Heart, with Fr. Peter Martyr, Fr. Jordan, and our chaplain Fr. Ian concelebrating.
After Mass, each priest gave us a “first blessing”! What a joy!
Everyone who came to Mass had a blessing, too!
As we said above–we are blessed in so many ways by these new young priests in our midst. We are sure that many people will be uplifted and inspired by their gift of self to God through their vocations, by their desire to serve the people of God, and their love for preaching the truth! We are praying for you, Fathers! Please keep us in prayer, too!
Sr. Mary Christine, Sr. Mary Pauline, and Sr. Mary Margaret
We had a festive day all day (well, we worked in between times) with delicious meals, a beautiful ceremony, and a fun tea party in the novitiate.
Breakfast in the refectory
Sister’s place mat, with art by aspirant Michelle and lettering by Sr. Maria Goretti. When we saw it, some of us were sure her name would have something to do with Fatima! (It didn’t–she just has a devotion to Our Lady.)
Sr. Marie Augustine busy in the kitchen preparing our dinner
The ceremony was held at 10:30 AM in the Chapter Hall. Since Sr. Mary Pauline is a finally professed religious, she will wear our black veil (even though this year is her constitutional novitiate year, as we explained in a previous post).
Sister received her new habit from Sr. Mary Margaret, and she left to change, with Sr. Mary Christine’s help.
We waited expectantly as Sister left to get dressed in our habit, and returned.
We each gave her the kiss of peace, still wondering, “What will her name be??”
As we finished singing “Ubi caritas”, Sister came to the center for the moment of truth.
Finally, it came!
She was clearly thrilled to hear her new name–and so were we!
We have a tradition where the sisters make guesses about a novice’s new name, and the box was conveniently placed outside the community room. Sr. Mary Margaret brought it to the ceremony and entertained us by reading the guesses afterwards.
Interestingly, a number of sisters guessed the mystery would be the Holy Spirit…but no one guessed Pauline (or even Paul)!
The novitiate sisters decorated Sr. Mary Pauline’s cell so elaborately that she had to move to the cell next door for a while.
After dinner, the professed sisters came over for a tea party, where we watched Sr. Mary Pauline open her gifts and drank tea and had homemade cookies. Sr. Maria Goretti even entertained us on the accordion! It was an afternoon we will long remember.
Please pray for our three novitiate sisters, and for Sr. Mary Christine, our novice directress, and Sr. Marie Augustine, who helps out. They would like to have more companions–and we would, too. Pray also for their perseverance!
Sr. Maria Goretti, Michelle, Sr. Margarita, Sarah, Sr. Marie Augustine, Sr. Mary Christine
Good question! We’re happy to say we have two sisters who are transferring to our community and two aspirants at present, with hopes for more. God is really blessing us! And Sr. Margarita will be receiving our community’s habit on March 25–along with a new name. We don’t know what it is yet, but we’ll keep you posted!
The sisters who live in the novitiate have their own dormitory, community room, library and classroom all in one convenient building. They spend most of their time there, although they join the professed sisters for evening recreation, meals, and (of course) prayers.
Our community policy is that a transfer from an active community of religious sisters spends about 6 months to a year as a visitor–that’s why we have the two sisters wearing their original habits. After receiving our habit, they remain in the novitiate for one year (required by our constitutions) and then spend a second year in the novitiate before they make the move over to the professed, where they spend some time integrating into the community before they make solemn vows. It’s a process, but the sisters who have done it say it’s worth it!
An aspirant comes for a specified length of time to get to know the community (and allow us to get to know her). If all goes well, they may return for the next step of religious formation–the postulancy, which lasts a year. After this, the postulant is clothed in the habit and receives her religious name.
Our novitiate has been having a lot of fun!
Recreation in the community room
Enjoying the cool March weather in the novitiate courtyard
The novitiate keeps the garden outside their building looking good.
Sarah and Michelle, our two latest aspirants. Please keep them in your prayers as they discern!
Sr. Maria Goretti and Sr. Margarita, our two active sisters. Sr. Maria Goretti is a Franciscan and Sr. Margarita is a member of an active Dominican community. Please keep them in your prayers!
Please pray for us, too, that we will be open to the Holy Spirit as we make our own decisions about these women!
Wow! We’ve had a busy time recently, with Sr. Mary Margaret’s feast day celebration and several women visiting to learn more about our cloistered Dominican life on Lotus Lane! In fact, one of our aspirants graciously took this group photo of the community which we’d like to share with you all.
There are a few sisters in this picture who aren’t on our website Community page yet, but we’ll post them soon!
If you’re interested in finding out more about our community and our Dominican way of life, please visit our website and consider writing (or calling) our vocation directress. We’d love to hear from you!
Dominican Life on Lotus Lane 