The 2nd Week of Advent

We are now in the Second Week of Advent and it is becoming something very palpable. The Scripture Readings, the music and the advent wreath, all pull us deeper into the mystery of the Incarnation. Scripture, music, wreath and candles speak to us in a different language than words. Even though the Scriptures are composed of words, there is something more profound – divine – that comes through and touches our soul. Scripture is the Very Word of God in written form! Scripture, music, wreath and candles speak to our hearts in symbols beyond words. Let them touch you and change you this Advent.This year when we entered the Chapel last Saturday evening to begin our Advent journey we were confronted with a very different kind of Advent Wreath. Our creative Sister-Sacristan was inspired by a classic passage from Isaiah 11:1–

A shoot shall sprout from the stump of Jesse,
and from his roots a bud shall blossom.

Our wreath images this new shoot. The stump that has grown up represents the hand of God. The wreath is on the thumb, while the other four fingers become flames of fire as the weeks progress.

Sister spent many hours walking through our woods to find the exact tree to represent this unique sprout from the lineage of Jesse. It is one of our many crepe myrtle trees. In Trinidad, people call this tree, “the Queen of trees”. It loves hot weather, and in our Texas summers it is one of the few plants that puts forth blossoms.

Our Current Chaplain Substitute

Our current visiting priest at the Monastery for the weekend is Father Carmen Mele, OP, of our Southern Province. The last and only other time he came to visit was about 20 years ago. So it’s really wonderful to have him with us.

Father is originally from Chicago IL and met the Dominicans when he went to study at Providence College in Providence RI. After graduating, he joined the Eastern Province of Dominicans. When our Southern Province in 1979 was founded he took the plunge and joined us. He has ministered in Texas for many years, and is currently teaching Moral Theology at Aquinas Institute of Theology in St. Louis MO.

Thank you Father Carmen for volunteering to be with us.
We love your homilies.

Feast Day of St. Andrew the Apostle

Just a reminder that the St. Andrew Christmas Novena begins today on his feast day. It is a beautiful way for families to bring in the Peace and Joy of Christmas and the great Hope it offers throughout the Season of Advent.

It is piously believed that whoever recites the St. Andrew Christmas Novena prayer 15 times each day from the feast of St. Andrew (November 30) until Christmas Eve will obtain the favor requested.

Hail and Blessed be the hour and moment in which
the Son of God was born of the most pure Virgin Mary,
at midnight, in Bethlehem, in piercing cold.
In that hour, vouchsafe, O my God,
to grant my prayer and grant my desires,
through the merits of Our Savior, Jesus Christ,
and of His Blessed Mother.
Amen.


St. Andrew’s Gala

Our Master Cake Baker-Nun has outdone herself this time!  She was asked to contribute one of her cakes to St. Andrew Parish here in Lufkin. November 30 is their Patronal Feast Day and they will be having a special Gala in the evening to raise money for the Church.

Texas Chocolate Peppermint Cake

Her cake will be raffled off tomorrow– November 30, Friday night. So you might want to get over there for some Texas fun.

Thank You Bishop Strickland

Our Bishop of Tyler, Joseph Strickland, has been in the news the past few months. During the difficult situation of our Catholic Church in the United States, Bishop Strickland has shown himself to be a faithful, teaching Bishop.

Someone made a video and our Bishop is included in it. You can listen to his contribution at the General Assembly of the US Bishops held  in Baltimore this month. That\’s Bishop Strickland in the middle of the picture! His remarks begin at 4:00 on this video below:

Happy Thanksgiving

We are preparing for Thanksgiving
and turkeys seem to be popping up everywhere!!

Sister Maria Augustine is preparing a small one here in the photo below. She drying him /her off after a good bath.

A friend of ours in Groves, TX down by the Gulf, sent us two large “Bread” Turkeys. Very clever, beautiful and so soft and yummy …

We would like to share some lovely thoughts with you on this special day of gratitude for God’s gifts.

Thanksgiving Day comes once each year
Our president proclaims it far and near.
Thankful for the bounty of our land,
The harvest that makes this nation grand,
Bestowed us from above,
God bless this land,
This precious land we love.
                                                                  by Jeff Jacoby, columnist for the Boston Globe, 11/19/18

Oh, Heavenly Father,
We thank Thee for food and remember the hungry.
We thank Thee for health and remember the sick.
We thank Thee for friends and remember the friendless.
We thank Thee for freedom and remember the enslaved.
May these remembrances stir us to service.
That Thy gifts to us may be used for others.
Amen.

from \”Dear Abby\” in the Lufkin Daily News, 11/21/18
We pray everyone has a pleasant, peaceful, warm and cheery Thanksgiving with Family and Friends.

Pro Orantibus 2018

Today is Pro Orantibus Day in the Church. The phrase Pro Orantibus means “for the pray-ers” or “for those who pray”. This special day was inaugurated by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1997 to encourage everyone to take at least one day to pray for the contemplative men and women throughout the world who dedicate their lives to praying for YOU.

It is a special day to thank those in the cloistered and monastic life for serving as “a leaven of renewal and of the presence of the spirit of Christ in the world.” It is also intended to remind others of the need to provide spiritual and material support “for those who pray.”
The Nuns Secretariat in the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, organized again this year a celebration in the Pontifical Angelicum University in Rome. The day opened with the celebration of the Eucharist led by the Prefect, Card. João Braz de Aviz..That was followed by an address by the Secretary, Archbishop José Rodriguez Carballo and Fr. Ciro Bova, OP, on the relevance today of the contemplative life. Archbishop Carballo highlighted two “temptations” and ten challenges. The Dominican Nuns, Sr. Sr. Maria Pia Fragni, OP, of the monastery of Pratovecchio, and Sr. Maria Felicita Amigoni, OP, of the monastery of Bergamo, offered two personal accounts regarding the importance of uniting contemplation and visibility, even through an apostolate exercised in silence.
Prayer in Support of the Cloistered Life

Eternal Father,
We praise and thank you for those sisters and brothers who have embraced the gift of the cloistered and monastic life. Their prayerful presence is indispensable to the Church’s life and mission, and is the foundation of the New Evangelization.
As we celebrate World Day of Cloistered Life, let us honor the holiness and glory of the Blessed Virgin. May she, who was presented in the Temple, intercede so that many young people might dedicate themselves entirely to Your divine service by hidden lives of contemplative prayer and selfless sacrifice.
May all of us be mindful of the spiritual and material needs of those who commit their lives to
seeking God by fixing their gaze on those things which are eternal.
We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.

Oración en Apoyo a la Vida de Clausura

Padre Eterno,
Te alabamos y te agradecemos por las hermanas y los hermanos que han abrazado el don de la vida
claustral y monástica. Su presencia en oración es indispensable para la vida y misión de la Iglesia, y
es el fundación de la Nueva Evangelización.
Al celebrar el Día Mundial de la vida de clausura, honremos la santidad y la gloria de la Santísima Virgen. Que ella, quien fue presentada en el templo, interceda para que muchos jóvenes puedan dedicarse enteramente a Tu servicio divino con vidas ocultas de oración contemplativa y sacrificio desinteresado.
Que todos nosotros estemos atentos a las necesidades espirituales y materiales de los que comprometen su vida a la búsqueda de Dios, fijando la mirada en las cosas eternas.
Te lo pedimos por Nuestro Señor Jesucristo, Tu Hijo, que vive y reina contigo y el Espíritu Santo, un solo Dios, por los siglos de los siglos. Amén.