community life – Dominican Life on Lotus Lane

Sr. Mary Margaret’s Golden Jubilee

This year we celebrated our prioress Sr. Mary Margaret’s Golden Jubilee of profession. We had several days of celebrations in which our monastery, the Lufkin community, and her family came together to celebrate Sr. Mary Margaret’s monastic life and all that she’s done for us.

First, the nuns celebrated her jubilee with a community feast day full of gifts, treats, and special performances.

We began the day by gathering in our decorated community room to sing a special jubilee song to Sr. Mary Margaret.

Then we all gave her a special greeting.

The morning’s program was a funny skit about Sr. Mary Margaret’s life before she entered the convent, with the nuns playing her and members of her family.

Sr. Mary Margaret enjoyed the “This Is Your Life” skit!

Then we gathered around to enjoy Sr. Mary Margaret opening her gifts. Most of them were handmade by us, and we couldn’t wait to show her what we had done.

Sr. Mary Margaret opening a gift from the nuns.

Sr. Mary Christine enjoys a hat and scarf set made for the Jubilee.

Sr. Mary Margaret received a special Papal Blessing for her Golden Jubilee.

After gifts, we all ate a special meal in the community room. In the afternoon, we watched a montage of pictures of Sr. Mary Margaret’s life, especially her life in the monastery.

In the evening, we gathered back in the community room for another special program, this one about her life in the monastery and all that she’s done for the community. She’s had a very busy fifty years!

A few weeks later, we held another celebration for her family and friends of the Monastery with her Jubilee Mass. She happily renewed her vows. There is a video of the Mass here.

Fr. R.B. Williams, O.P., Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Nevares of Phoenix, and Fr. Ron Foshage, M.S., concelebrated the Jubilee Mass.

Our local Knights of Columbus served at the Mass.

Sr. Mary Margaret had so many visitors that we had to open up our side of the chapel to let everyone have a seat.

The special meal was provided by our friend Doug Russell and his friends, who also generously set up an eating area in the front of the Monastery so that there was room for all of our visitors.

We had a delicious meal, straight from the grill.

After the meal, we all met in the parlor to greet all of the guests. Sr. Mary Margaret has made many friends during her over fifty years in Lufkin.

What made the day particularly special was that it was the first time her whole family was able to be together in decades.

Sr. Mary Margaret with her siblings Jim, Sherry, and Mike.

We all had a wonderful time and it was a perfect way to celebrate Sr. Mary Margaret’s monastic life and our appreciation for all she’s done for us.

Sr. Mary Christine’s Novice Mistress Feast Day

On the Solemnity of Christ the King, the novitiate celebrated the feast day of our novice mistress, Sr. Mary Christine. The novices prepared a day of fun, games, and surprises for our hard-working sister.

The novitiate can’t wait to show the novice mistress what they’ve planned for her.

First, the novitiate sang a special song and put on a musical performance (which they later showed to the entire community so we could all enjoy it). Then the group played games the novices had made up.

The party had both meals in the novitiate courtyard, with lights strung up overhead to add to the festive mood.

Sr. Mary Christine also opened up her many gifts, from the novices as well as from the community. She loves to garden and do crafts, so we gave her lots of gifts to help her with her hobbies.

Sr. Mary Christine is happy with her beautiful new peacock fountain.

In the afternoon, the party watched the movie Enchanted, a funny live-action Disney spoof of traditional fairy tale movies. They liked it so much that they showed it again later in the week so the entire community could enjoy it.

Sr. Mary Christine works very hard to show our new sisters what to do and to help them integrate into our community and the monastic way of life. It’s important for us to give her a special day to show her how much we appreciate her, and we’re happy she enjoyed her special day.

Bingo!

Recently, we played Bingo during evening recreation. There were prizes to add to the fun and each winner got to take a turn calling the Bingo numbers.