Fortnight for Freedom, 2013

Today marks the beginning of the Fortnight for Freedom, a time dedicated to prayers for the protection of religious liberty and freedom.We invite you to join us in praying for this intention, which is so important right now! This suggested prayer comes from the United States bishops\’ conference, but any prayers would be good.

Prayer for the Protection of Religious Liberty

O God our Creator,
from your provident hand we have received
our right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
You have called us as your people and given us
the right and the duty to worship you, the only true God,
and your Son, Jesus Christ.
Through the power and working of your Holy Spirit,
you call us to live out our faith in the midst of the world,
bringing the light and the saving truth of the Gospel
to every corner of society.
We ask you to bless us
in our vigilance for the gift of religious liberty.
Give us the strength of mind and heart
to readily defend our freedoms when they are threatened;
give us courage in making our voices heard
on behalf of the rights of your Church
and the freedom of conscience of all people of faith.
Grant, we pray, O heavenly Father,
a clear and united voice to all your sons and daughters
gathered in your Church
in this decisive hour in the history of our nation,
so that, with every trial withstood
and every danger overcome—
for the sake of our children, our grandchildren,
and all who come after us—
this great land will always be \”one nation, under God,
indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.\”
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.

The Last Day of Spring

Things have been relatively quiet here at the monastery…so much so we\’ve had time to watch the grass grow…
and actually, it was getting so tall we cut it this morning! Flowers are blooming, too, despite the heat.

and of course, our friends the squirrels keep us entertained.

Despite the slowness of this pre-summer season, we are always kept busy with our prayers. We meet in chapel to pray the Liturgy of the Hours several times a day and each sister also keeps a time of adoration before the Blessed Sacrament. In addition to these, we have daily Mass and rosary in common. Not to mention meditation twice a day and time for lectio divina! 
If you happen to be in the Lufkin area this summer, we hope you\’ll stop by and pray with us! Our chapel is open from about 6 AM to 8 PM every day, and yes, it\’s air-conditioned! We have the Blessed Sacrament exposed from 8 AM to 8 PM too. Please check our schedule page for Mass and prayer times. And if you\’re discerning a vocation this summer, we welcome you to send us an email, give us a call, or mail a letter the old fashioned way.
One thing we\’ve learned is that these quiet times never last long. So we\’re enjoying it while we can! Keep checking back to learn more about the excitement that\’s coming later on!

Thanks to our Fathers

Today in the United States, we honor our fathers. Usually this refers to biological fathers, but we like to extend our thanks and praise to ALL fathers–fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, our holy father St. Dominic, the priest-fathers who have been so good to us, God the Father, and all the men who have been like fathers to us, in whatever way. May God bless you and keep you, and thank you for all your love, generosity, and providential care!
We have had an interesting summer regarding visiting friars, and we hope to bring you some pictures and tales soon. Our new chaplain doesn\’t arrive here until July 18, so we are having several of our brother friars visit to fill in the chaplain duties. We will be glad to get our regular chaplain installed, but meanwhile it is great to meet and reconnect with so many of our brothers! Thanks to all the friars who are coming this summer–we appreciate you!

Immaculate Heart of Mary

Today we celebrate the memorial of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, a companion to the celebration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (which we celebrated yesterday). This memorial has a lot to do with relationship to Mary. Because she was immaculately conceived–preserved from all taint of original sin–and her heart is completely pure, she retains a tremendous capacity both for joy and suffering. We tend to emphasize the sufferings and sorrows of Mary, but there is a chaplet devoted to the seven joys of Mary, too! This devotion can become very sentimental, but there is a strength here as well. We recall the promise of Our Lady at Fatima: \”In the end, my Immaculate Heart will triumph.\” This is a reminder that despite all the sound and fury of the devil, God will always win.

Mary promised the conversion of Russia and a time of peace at Fatima. May these two events come to pass in our lifetimes! 

Sacred Heart, 2013

\”The love of God is manifested no longer through actions alone but through a divine Person who, by the very act of his Incarnation in the nature of man, shows concretely the heights of this love. In Christ, God loves man infinitely and is loved by him…Through the revelation of his divine nature and through the acceptance of his supreme sacrifice, Christ opens man\’s eyes to the reality of God\’s infinite and pure love which to redeem us and return us to our former estate as his sons: \’did not spare his own Son, but offered him for all of us\’ (Romans 8:32). \’Christ…loved us and gave himself up in our place\’ (Ephesians 5:2)…Love is the most radiant novelty of the Gospel: it is pre-eminently the commandment which the Lord chose to call \’mine\’.\” –from \”The Heart of Christ: Center of the Christian Mystery and Key to the Universe\” by Pedro Arrupe, S.J.

Three Years! and, a Season for Change

Today is the third anniversary of this blog–wow–it\’s hard to believe! As always we are sincerely grateful to Sr. Anna Marie, OP of our Dominican monastery in Elmira, NY who helped us get started on this adventure. And we are grateful to all our readers! Thanks for checking in to see what Dominican life is like on Lotus Lane in Lufkin, TX! 
Also today, our chaplain of two wonderful years, Fr. Paul Philibert, OP, packed his many bags and boxes and took off in his U-Haul for a three-day road trip to Providence, RI, where he will be holding a chair in Catholic Culture at Providence College. We are sorry to see him leave, but confident he will continue to do great things in his future assignments. We look forward to our new chaplain, Fr. Art Kirwin, OP, who will arrive on July 18. In the meantime, we have several friars who will be filling in, and we are happy to have them come to our monastery. More details as future events warrant! 
The famous passage from Ecclesiastes reads, \”There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens\” (Ecc.3:1) May we all be inspired to live through the changes that come with grace!

Keeping the Lights On

Many thanks again to all who helped us with our generator project! We had a short power outage this morning. Normally this would have left us groping in the dark for our candles, flashlights and kerosene lamps, but today–almost before we could say, \”Oh, no!\” when the lights went out–suddenly there was a great roaring sound. The new generator had begun its work! Power was restored! And then, as soon as the regular power service was back on, the generator shut off, just as it is supposed to do! We are so grateful to everyone involved in this project! Thanks for helping keep the lights on!