Praying for Boston and West, TX

 

This has been a difficult week for us in many ways, especially as we have said our final (in this life) goodbyes to our Sr. Mary Agnes. But we have been keeping the situations in Boston and West, TX in our hearts and minds and prayers. We have family members and friends who live in Boston and friends and former students who live in West, TX. We keep all these in our special prayers as we pray constantly to God for peace for our troubled world and an end to violence of any kind.

World Day of Prayer for Vocations

 
This Sunday in the season of Easter is traditionally known as \”Good Shepherd Sunday\” because of the Gospel readings, but it also happens to be the World Day of Prayers for Vocations! You can see the connection! 
Now, if you are considering a religious vocation–we hope you might consider the Dominicans! Our Order is composed of nuns, friars, active sisters, and laity. If you\’re a young woman interested in the contemplative life we hope you will check out the nuns–hopefully our monastery! We are a vibrant community who pray the entire Liturgy of the Hours every day, have daily Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. We wear the habit and are joyfully faithful to the Church. And we have a good time doing all this! For more information about our community, we encourage you to check out our website. Or send us an email and we\’d be delighted to send you some information via snail mail, too. 
Now, if you\’re a man interested in religious life–or a young woman interested in active religious life–we still encourage you to check out the Dominicans! There are four provinces of Dominican friars in the United States and numerous congregations of active sisters who follow the Dominican charism. Maybe God is calling you to one of these!
Today is a great day to start discerning whether you might have a religious vocation and maybe begin actively looking into where God might be calling you. We have a group of young women from our diocese who are coming to our monastery to do just that today! Wherever God is calling you, know that you are in our prayers!

Remembering Sister Mary Agnes

Today is the feast of St. Agnes of Montepulciano–which was Sr. Mary Agnes\’ feast day–so it seems an appropriate day to remember her!

Sister Mary Agnes began her religious life in St. Catharine, Kentucky with the Dominican sisters there (now the Dominican Sisters of Peace). She entered in September 1943 and made her first profession on August 15, 1945. On June 17, 1955, Sister Mary Agnes transferred to our monastery.

Sister held many positions in our monastery, including bursar (treasurer), sub-prioress, and prioress. For many years she also worked in the Infant Jesus Guild office, answering mail and creating beautiful enrollments.

Sister loved writing letters to her family and friends–whether on a typewriter or (later) on the computer!

She came from Nebraska and always followed the Nebraska sports teams carefully.
 Sr. Mary Agnes was a true community person. Here we see her pulling a raffle ticket from our large dryer in April 2012.
She had a great sense of humor and a wonderful smile!
Sister Mary Agnes on her 90th birthday
Sister Mary Agnes spent countless hours at prayer, interceding for the world. She was a lot of fun to be around, too. We miss her, but we know she has gone to God and we live in the hope that one day we will see her again!

Rosary and Funeral Mass Times for Sister Mary Agnes

The Rosary for Sister Mary Agnes will be on Monday, April 15 at 7:00 PM in the Monastery chapel.

Sister Mary Agnes\’ funeral Mass will be on Tuesday, April 16 at 2:00 PM in the Monastery chapel, procession to the cemetery and burial following (weather permitting).

For more information on funerals at the Monastery, we encourage you to check out our Spring 2012 issue of \”Monastery Bells\”, here.

Dinner–and Nuns–in the News–UPDATED

The Friends of the Monastery, who have been helping us raise money for the generator, have teamed up with community members here in Lufkin for a fundraiser–a chicken spaghetti dinner, to be held at the First United Methodist Church fellowship hall on Thursday, April 11. The dinner is free, but donations are gratefully accepted to help with our generator project. There will also be a raffle and some really nice prizes have been donated. The dinner will served from 4:30 – 7 PM. If you\’re in the East Texas area on Thursday, please come and help support the monastery\’s generator project! We are so grateful to you for all your help! 

And if this wasn\’t enough…this spaghetti dinner and our monastery have been featured in the Lufkin Daily News (our local paper) and on KTRE, our local Lufkin/Nacogdoches ABC affiliate! Check out the video, etc. HERE!

We will be bringing you more generator news in the near future. Thanks so much for all the help and all the donations! We are infinitely grateful for everything!

UPDATE: 
Here are some of the pictures from the great news segment! Please check out the link on the sidebar and see the whole (short) video!

Annunciation, 2013

 
For this solemnity of the Annunciation, we are happy to bring you some selections from Sr. Bernadette Marie\’s sermon at Solemn Chapter yesterday morning. 
It can be said that our Blessed Mother\’s faith is the result of her complete and total trust in God\’s never failing love for her and for all humanity; thus her loving surrender to God\’s will in all circumstances. Consider Mary\’s faith at the moment of the Annunciation. She knew that because of God\’s love for man, He would send a redeemer, and when the Archangel Gabriel told her that she had been chosen to give birth to this redeemer, her loving response was a \”yes\”–not only to the joys of bringing light into a darkened world. Her \”yes\” was also a \”yes\” to the suffering which she knew would come, and which she would unite to that of her Son\’s. Consider her faith when she saw the suffering on St. Joseph\’s face once he noticed the as yet unexplained pregnancy. Consider her faith when she learned that she was going to have to travel a long and arduous journey to Bethlehem while pregnant with out Lord, and her humble submission to God\’s will once they got there, because our Lord would be born in a cold and dirty cave. On all these occasions, she never doubted God\’s love for her, therefore she was always serene, always at peace. She never doubted because she knew she was being guided by the powerful hands of a loving Father in all the events of her life…
Blessed John Paul II, speaking at a General Audience at the Vatican, said this of our Blessed Mother: \”Hers was a daring faith…[because] at the Annunciation, she believed in what was humanly impossible…Mary teaches Christians to live their faith as a demanding and engaging journey, which, in every age and situation of life, requires courage and constant perseverance.\” This daring and courage of which Blessed John Paul II speaks, requires a total surrender in faith on our part. We m ust always remember that we are loved by God, so there is nothing to fear. 
Like Mary, our Blessed Mother, may our faith in this love never waver. She knew in her heart what St. Paul wrote years later in his letter to the Romans: \”in everything God works for good with those who love Him.\”