St. Catherine de Ricci

 St. Catherine de Ricci was a Dominican sister, a reformer who also merited to bear the marks of the stigmata. She was well known in her own lifetime and beyond for her meditations on the Passion of Christ and her letters, which were written to famous men and women of her time as well as saints, including St. Philip Neri, St. Charles Borromeo, and St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi. In one of her letters she wrote, \”My dearest son, let us so strive that we may run and obtain that desired reward…We live in a time in which running and taking a stand is more than we are used to doing. Considering the height of the mystery of our redemption which is presented to us in these days, how much more should we stand firm and persevere!\” Catherine was a true mystic, filled with the wonder of God\’s love for His people and yet intensely practical and down to earth. May St. Catherine de Ricci intercede for us all as we run the race and stand firm to persevere!

Presentation of the Lord

The Presentation of the Lord in the temple is a beautiful feast. Christ appears to us as a shining light to the nations, the glory of His people Israel, as we process to the church with our lighted candles. However, as Blessed John Paul II reminds us, this feast is also about Christ as a sign of contradiction. In his spiritual exercises presented to Pope Paul VI (in 1977, when he was still known as Karol Wojtyla), the Pope wrote, \”The times in which we are living provide particularly strong confirmation of the truth of what Simeon said: Jesus is both the light that shines for mankind and at the same time a sign of contradiction. If now…Jesus Christ is once again revealing himself to men as the light of the world, has he not also become at one and the same time that sign which, more than ever, men are resolved to oppose?\” This message rings even more true for us today in a world in which consecrated men and women (and Christians in general) are increasingly seen as a sign of contradiction, even as a threat, to the status quo. Let us truly follow Christ, whatever the cost, and shine like lights in the world!

Our novice, Sr. Bernadette Marie, celebrates the anniversary of her clothing today! You can see our post about this event HERE. Please pray for more vocations to the religious life!

St. Thomas Aquinas, The Angelic Doctor

And you thought we were just being metaphorical!
We published a post on St. Thomas Aquinas last year (see HERE) but what can we say, we love St. Thomas so we decided to share a few more images and reflections!

St. Thomas looks kind of serious in this painting–even dour–but his writings are shining radiantly.
When St. Thomas was a young friar, his mother and brothers kidnapped him and forced him to live away from his Dominican brothers while they tried to convince him to choose another vocation. When his brothers sent in a woman of questionable virtue to tempt him, Thomas drove her out, and then, according to legend, he was girded with a special cord by the angels. This helped him live a life of perfect chastity. He never mentioned this episode himself but he is still a good one to pray for if you have trouble with chastity! (And it makes a great scene for artists to depict…)
Another representation of the episode in which St. Thomas heard the voice of Christ coming from the crucifix, \”You have written well of me, Thomas. What do you ask?\” And Thomas replied, \”Only Yourself, Lord.\” 
To sum up: \”The new law of Christ is nothing other than the Holy Spirit working in our hearts through faith in Christ.\” (St. Thomas Aquinas, ST I-II, q.106)

God\’s Bountiful Gifts

Our monastery has a driveway around the side with a porch and a window where mail, deliveries, and large donations of food or other items can be made. We call it the dock area (it\’s kind of an updating of the monastic \”turn\”). When you receive a page calling you to the dock, you never know what might be waiting for you, and yesterday this proved true again as a dear friend brought us a large supply of fresh cauliflower, cabbage, and bread!
Sr. Mary Veronica with an extra-large head of cauliflower!
We are always so grateful for anything that comes to the dock. We can use almost anything and everything we receive–and the very few things we can\’t actually use ourselves, we can distribute to other people in need. Your generous help and support, material, financial or spiritual, helps us to live our life of prayer and sacrifice for the whole world. Thanks so much to all the many people who remember us in our times of need! You are in our prayers every day!

Tet 2012–The Year of the Dragon

Today is the official beginning of Tet, the Lunar New Year, but we started a little early with a celebration last night in our community room!

We began our celebration with our traditional New Year dance. This year was rather challenging as we danced with lighted candles! Our music was a lovely Vietnamese-English version of the song \”Christ Be Our Light\”. We would like to share a few highlights:

We also played several fun games, including this one where you had to roll or throw a \”pearl\” into the dragon! As you can see, some of our sisters were able to wear traditional Vietnamese dresses over their habits (donated by a friend of the community).

A wonderful time was had by all! Thanks so much to the kind and generous benefactors who helped make our Tet celebration possible with snacks, treats and lucky money! We are so grateful to you!