Tag: community

Behind the Scenes of the Monastery Photo Shoot

In anticipation of updating our website and brochure, we recently had professional photographers come and take pictures of the nuns, our monastery, and many of our activities. They were only here for a day, so we had to cram a lot in and make sure that the photographers went everywhere and got shots of everything we wanted. We’re very happy with the final pictures. They’re beautiful and show a lot of our monastic life. Even some parts that we hadn’t planned on showing…

We wanted a new group photo of our community, as well as updated individual portraits. The photographers thought natural lighting would be best, so we all went outside and dutifully posed for the pictures. It was a beautiful day, but also quite windy, so we had to help each other smooth down our veils and capes so the photographers could quickly snap good pictures of us.

It was a windy day for an outdoor shoot!

Then Sr. Mary Rose and Sr. Mary Therese showed the photographers around the monastery, both to take pictures of the building and also to get “action shots” of nuns at work. Sometimes there was no one else around, though, so they ended up having to pose in quite a few of the pictures.

Sr. Mary Therese and Sr. Mary Rose pose in the infirmary…even though neither of them has ever worked in this department.

Sr. Mary Rose in deep conversation with Sr. Miriam…who’s working on her word find puzzle.

Yes, nuns still listen to tapes. We’re old school.

Sr. Mary Rose pretending to ring the bell, while trying very hard not to actually ring it. Don’t want to confuse anyone!

“I haven’t put the flag up in years. How does this thing work?”

“I know the tray is only half full, but we need a picture of us using our huge dishwasher.”

Sometimes they were able to find someone else to pose.

Sr. Maria Cabrini in the library

Fr. Thomas exposing the Blessed Sacrament…which completely obscures his head

Our community room looks ginormous with the wide-angle lense.

In the afternoon, we gathered everyone in the community room for some posed group pictures. The community was very cooperative and we got some great pictures, although when we got the photos back we noticed some unintentional things.

Fr. Thomas came in so we could get pictures of him teaching philosophy class. Since it was just a pretend class for the photographers, instead of teaching, he told us jokes.

Philosophy is so funny!

Then we did had a fake recreation, quickly doing a bunch of different things for a variety of photos.

Putting a puzzle together…with Fr. Thomas and his chalk board in the background

Sr. Mary Rose tries to adjust her cape before the picture is taken.

“Let’s gather ’round the piano and pretend to have a sing-along!”

After the quick photo shoot in the community room, we went outside to get pictures of the grounds and action shots of the nuns at play. Unfortunately, the outdoor carpet guy was also working, so he got in some of the shots as well.

Playing basketball…with carpet equipment in the background

Rollerblading…with the carpet guy in the background

Riding a bike…with a photographer in the background

Driving the golf cart…with a photographer on board!

“Look up! A photographer is taking our picture!”

A classic monastic image: nuns solemnly walking away.

We had a really good time with the photographers. They were very nice and gave us good direction on how to pose for the best pictures. (We think they had a good time visiting the monastery too.) We look forward to sharing all of our new pictures with you!

A Day of Thanksgiving in the Monastery

This year Thanksgiving in the Monastery was a day of food, fun, and community celebrating.

At noon, we gathered in the community room, where our Thanksgiving feast was laid out.

We sang our traditional Thanksgiving grace, giving thanks to God for everything he’s given us.

Then we all sat down at our decorated tables to enjoy a wonderful meal.

In the afternoon, we gathered in the community room to watch The Boys in the Boat, an inspirational film about the U.S. rowing team at the 1936 Olympics.

After supper, we went outside to enjoy our traditional Thanksgiving fireworks.

The sisters had to bundle up on the cold Thanksgiving evening.

Sr. Mary Christine and Sr. Mary Pauline set off impressive fireworks.

Sr. Mary Rose and Sr. Mary Margaret enjoy hand-held sparklers.

Sr. Mary Pauline and Sr. Mary Jeremiah had fun with the firework lighters!

After the fireworks display, we went back inside to enjoy some of the annual dog show on TV.

As usual, this Thanksgiving was a day of community fun. We had good food, good laughs, and some great fireworks! We give thanks for God, our community, and for all of our benefactors who make our life here possible. Happy Thanksgiving!

A Visit from Fr. Fernando Fernandez, O.P., Promoter General of the Dominican Nuns

From November 3 to 5, we were honored to share an extended visit from Father Fernando Antonio García Fernández, O.P., Promoter General of the Dominican Nuns. Father gladly joined us for Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, meals, and a special evening recreation.

Fr. Fernando with our prioress Sr. Mary Rose

Fr. Fernando took several days to visit with us. He talked to us about the importance and meaning of contemplation, and listened to us talk about our cloistered lives. He also shared with us about his visits to other nuns throughout the world. We especially enjoyed his slideshow of all of the other monasteries he’s visited.

At the end of his visit, we put on a special program for him to thank him for his time with us.

Sr. Mary Pauline and Sr. Irma Marie sing De Colores

Fr. Fernando shared with us that he loves the Dallas Cowboys football team, so as a special gift and a remembrance of us we bought him a team t-shirt.

We had a wonderful visit with Fr. Fernando. We loved talking with him about our lives and hearing about the other nuns. This visit from the Promoter helped us feel connected to our sister nuns and also to the greater Dominican order.

The Monastery of the Infant Jesus Celebrates Our 80th Jubilee

On the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, we celebrated the 80th Jubilee of the Monastery of the Infant Jesus.

We began the day visiting with many friends of the monastery in the parlor. Several of them had come from out of town to help us celebrate our special day.

Sr. Mary Rose with Sr. Maria Christi, of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Georgetown, TX. They were college roommates and are now both prioresses of their respective communities!

We were very honored that Bishop Gregory Kelly visited us and celebrated Mass for us on our jubilee.

Bishop Gregory Kelly celebrates Mass.

Many priest friends of the monastery concelebrated Mass with the bishop.

After Mass, we enjoyed a special visit with Bishop Kelly in our community room.

Sr. Mary Rose with Bishop Kelly.

It was a wonderful day that we were honored to share with our bishop and many friends. We are truly grateful and thankful to God and everyone who has made our lives here possible over the last 80 years.

A Festive Columbus Day

Every year we celebrate Columbus Day with a big picnic day, full of games, food, and community fun.

We began the day gathered around the flagpole to pledge allegiance and sing patriotic songs.

Some of us wore patriotic hats and leis to begin the celebration.

Sr. Mary Veronica and Sr. Marie Augustine pose with some pumpkins a benefactor kindly donated to us.

We put some of the pumpkins outside to decorate the monastery.

Since the weather was so nice, some of us decided to explore our grounds (which encompass 80 acres, only some of which are actually within our enclosure). We’re putting up a new fence around our perimeter, so it was fun to see the progress the workers are making.

We encountered some workers putting up the new fence.

Sr. Mary Margaret drove around to inspect the part of the fence that had already been put up. It looks great!

Afterwards, we gathered in the community room to play games. We have our regular favorites, and this year some of the sisters tried their luck at Jenga.

Sr. Mary Magdalene considers her next move while Sr. Mary Rose watches.

Sr. Mary Margaret very carefully makes her next move.

Sr. Mary Margaret very carefully tries to remove a piece.

As usual, we had a lot of fun (and ate a lot of great food!) as we celebrated our country and our community, for both of which we’re very thankful.

Mother’s Day in the Monastery

This was Sr. Mary Margaret’s last Mother’s Day as prioress, so we wanted to make it a special day for her.

Sr. Mary Margaret enjoys some Mother’s Day gifts.

We love watching movies together, so we saw Saving Mr. Banks, a moving story about the making of the film Mary Poppins. (The community’s response: “Now we want to see Mary Poppins!”)

Sr. Marie Augustine cooks a special Mother’s Day dinner.

At noon, we gathered in the community room to eat a delicious dinner. We enjoyed talking and laughing together.

In the evening, we had games: The Mother’s Day Olympics! We divided into two teams–the Immas (Aramaic for “mother”, as we’ve learned from the TV show The Chosen) and the Miteras (Greek for “mother”)–and played a variety of “sports”.

Sr. Carmen Gloria and Sr. Mary Gabriel invented the games.

First, the team members bounced ping pong balls on a table to try to get them to land in an egg carton.

Sr. Mary Therese explains the chicken game to the teams. How many eggs can they get the chicken to lay?

Then the teams competed to see who could do best at the bean bag toss.

Sr. Maria Rosario tosses the bean bags into the “corn hole”.

Next, we played a version of miniature golf, in which the teams swept ping pong balls into a box with tiny doors. (Mothers do a lot of sweeping, don’t they?)

Sr. Mary Pauline sweeps a ball into the box. The sisters did very well with this game!

Next was the blind toss. One sister would sit in a chair and throw ping pong balls behind her without looking, while a teammate would try to catch it with a hat. Luckily, our nuns are spry and caught almost every ball!

We brought out some fun music for our final games. First, in a version of musical chairs, three nuns from each team stood around a table with five little duckies on it. When the music (“Baby Elephant Walk”) stopped, they each had to grab a duck. The one left without a toy was out, and we kept reducing the ducks until there was only one winner. Play nice, sisters!

Sr. Mary Gabriel, Sr. Mary Margaret, and Sr. Carmen Gloria pose with the rubber duckies.

Finally, we played “hot duckie” (like “hot potato”) with the sisters sitting in a circle passing around the duckie. When the “Pink Panther Theme” stopped, the one with the duckie was out until there was only one winner.

In the end, Sr. Mary Margaret’s team, the Immas, won, but at the Mother’s Day Olympics everyone is a winner and we all got prizes. We all had fun and enjoyed spending the day together.

Sr. Mary Rose and Sr. Mary Margaret enjoyed our Mother’s Day celebration.

Christmas at the Monastery

Christmas at the monastery was fun, festive, and very busy. Our celebrations lasted for days and we had many special events and visitors.

We always enjoy decorating our monastery to get ourselves in the festive mood, and keep the decorations up as long as possible.

Our sacristan, Sr. Carmen Gloria, is particularly creative with the decorations in the chapel. The creche gets special attention to call everyone over to adore the baby Jesus.

Every year, the magi start at one corner of the chapel, but eventually make their way over to the Holy Family in time for Epiphany.

Christmas wreaths make the chapel particularly festive.

Right before Christmas, we had a visit from jolly old St. Nicholas and one of his elves (the Healys, good friends of the monastery), who brought along some friends

Dr. Price and Dr. Fidone with Bella

They brought along their new puppy Bella, a beautiful chocolate Newfoundland dog, who was given special permission to come over to the nuns’ side of the parlor and quickly made friends with everyone.

Bella takes a nap.

On Christmas Eve, we had our usual midnight mass, then sang Christmas carols on our way to the refectory for our traditional midnight breakfast.

The refectory looked so beautiful with all of the foliage and Christmas lights. The novitiate did a wonderful job decorating!

Sr. Mary Pauline, Sr. Mary Christine, and Sr. Marie Augustine with the beautiful refectory Christmas creche.

On Christmas day, we spent all afternoon opening presents from our generous benefactors. There were group gifts to the whole community, and we also each got many gift bags full of treats for ourselves.

On New Year’s morning, we had our usual Big Chapter, in which we each get a card with a saint patron and a special cause to pray for during the upcoming year.

Then we give each other the kiss of peace to welcome in another year at the monastery.

In the evening, we go around the monastery Christmas caroling, which gives us a chance to see all of the Christmas decorations in the various departments throughout the monastery.

Sr. Mary Pauline and Sr. Mary Christine with their beautifully decorated novitiate Christmas tree

Christmas caroling in the outside lobby

We love going outside and seeing all the beautiful Christmas lights our workmen have put up for Christmas.

We made sure to go over and sing to our patron, the Infant Jesus!

On Epiphany, we have our big Christmas feast day, where we play games and recreate together all day.

This year, the novitiate was in charge of the evening’s activities, and divided us up into three teams and had us play star-related games.

In the end, everyone was a winner and we all got gift bags, including some special “star bread” baked by the novitiate.

Christmas is a special time for us, when we reflect on the closing year and look forward to the next. It’s a time not just for our community to come together, but also for us to visit with our special friends and benefactors who are so generous and make our lives here possible. Thanks be to the Infant Jesus!