St. John the Baptist still has importance for us today. He can teach/show us the Way to True Greatness. In speaking of Jesus, he said:
We would like to share a few spiritual nuggets from our Chaplain\’s homily this morning.
**Every time Mary is mentioned in Scripture she is concerned about someone else. Can we say the same of ourselves? Are we thinking of others, serving others, concerned for the welfare of others?
Today is a good day to begin trying to follow Mary’s example in 2018.
**At Cana, when Mary told Jesus that there was no wine, He replied that His hour had not yet come. Perhaps as His Mother, she was thinking, “Oh, yes it has. Yes. It has!” We can look to her to guide us in our service of God and neighbor.
Advent was very short this year with only one day of the Fourth Week. The Sisters did not have much time to change from the Advent purples to the Christmas reds and greens, especially in our Chapel and our Refectory (dining room). So, simplicity was the key element to decorating, but the results were just as stunning.
We would like to share some photos of the ingenuity of our Sisters.
First, is our Chapel which is usually decorated from floor to ceiling with greenery, ornaments and lights, etc. This year there is a simple single strand of white lights on the tree. Of course, the beautiful poinsettias make anything look elegant and lavish.
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| The Sanctuary is prepared for Benediction on Christmas night. We use an elaborate monstrance for Exposition on special days such as Holy Days. |
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| Our Chapel will look like this until January 8. |
Second, is our Refectory which the Sisters in the Novitiate decorate. They had a clever idea this year to use simple bows to dress-up the walls. Instead of the multiple piece large Manger Scene, they displayed a simple, but tastefully, made banner.
In our Monastery, we like to keep the Season of Advent as much as possible. We begin to decorate for Christmas only a few days before Christmas. This year was unusual because the Fourth Sunday of Advent was also Christmas Eve.
Christmas Eve is the threshold into the great Season of Christmas. We begin the day with an ancient monastic custom of Solemn Chapter after Morning Prayer. The Christmas Proclamation from the Roman martyrology* is sung by one of the nuns and a sermon given by another nun on the Mystery of the Incarnation.
*In olden days, this was a reading of all the saints to be celebrated the following day.
Our Sister-Preacher this morning gave a beautiful talk in poetic form which we would like to share with you. To read it,just go to the next picture and it is below it.
Also, on Christmas Eve after Vespers, our Chaplain usually comes inside the enclosure and blesses the Nativity Scenes in our Community Room and Refectory.
After Fr. Ian arrived from driving to Lufkin from the Dallas area we had a very enjoyable visit in the parlor to catch up on what he – and we – have been doing during the past few years.
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| Fr. Ian is congratulating Sr. Mary Therese who will be making her First Profession at the end of January. |
During the Holy Hour we had meditations of the five decades of the Joyful mysteries, a homily, then Compline (Night Prayer) concluding with Benediction with the Most Blessed Sacrament.
Different Sisters, as well as the President of our local Dominican Laity read Scriptures and the meditations, while Fr. Ian led the prayers for the Rosary.
Father David Caron, OP, of our Southern Dominican Province, was here for a whirl-wind visit of less than 24 hours. However, he was able to give us three lectures that will stimulate our thoughts and prayers for many months to come.
Father is originally from Massachusetts where he was ordained a diocesan priest. By a \”God-incidence\”, he was an altar-boy for our friends the Dominican Nuns at Monastery of the Mother of God in West Springfield MA. He first came to our monastery when he was just a novice for our Province back in 2001. We have already invited him back for another whirl-wind of lectures!
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| Sister holds a turtle made by one of the nuns |
We have been celebrating the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe for the past four days!! Besides being the feast of Our Lady of the Americas (north, central and south), it is also the Feast Day of our prioress, Sister Maria Guadalupe.
We began on Saturday with our joyful greetings and a song, then snacks and games, \”talking\” meals in the Community Room, and concluding with the Nutcracker Suite in the evening.
On Sunday she opened her many beautiful gifts, which the prioress uses in the name of the Community – usually going to the Gift Shop, our annual Raffle, or benefactors and friends. Each Sister is very talented in a unique area. We concluded the day with a movie in Spanish from Peru about a Dominican Nun!! This excellent film was about Blessed Ana of the Angels who lived in Arequipa, Peru in the 17th century.
On Tuesday, the actual liturgical Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, we had the joy of watching some Matachine dancers from our parish, St. Patrick. The Matachines dance for religious purposes – to worship God, Christ, or to honor the Virgin Mary or a saint. The custom originated with the encounter of the native Indians and the Spanish conquistadors. The practice now reaches from northern Mexico to as far south as Peru. Their costumes and fancy foot work were amazing.
