feast day – 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 Margaret’s Feast Day, 2022

Wow–how time flies! It’s been a while now since we celebrated Sister’s feast day, but we’ve just been super busy. We had a nice, laid-back kind of day, with gifts in the morning, an ice cream treat in the afternoon, and a little entertainment in the evening. The entertainment included a short play pondering what might have happened if St. Margaret of Hungary (Sr. Mary Margaret’s patron) had gone on a talk show. To give you a hint, the play was entitled, “I’m Your Mother, and I Don’t Want You To Be a Nun!” Don’t worry–it has a happy, monastic ending!

We would like to share some pictures from the gift opening in the morning. All the gifts you will see here were made by the sisters. Sr. Mary Margaret uses these lovely handmade items as gifts for benefactors and prizes in our popular summer raffle.

Everyone gathered around the feast day table to see the gifts…and Sister’s reactions!

A darling hat and scarf set.

The ever popular sock animals!

A nice warm poncho.

It fits–can I keep it??

Possibly a future raffle prize?

The next day, Sunday, we enjoyed a movie together as a community to conclude our celebration. Sr. Mary Margaret had a great time and so did we all!

Prioral Feast Day

We’ve been meaning to post this for a while…things have been a little busy! It all happened back in September, on the feast of the Holy Cross, to be exact. Sr. Mary Margaret’s actual feast day (for St. Margaret of Hungary) falls on January 18, which is too close to Christmas and Epiphany for a big day, so we celebrate it on her “mystery” day — she is Sr. Mary Margaret of the Cross. We had a fun-filled two days of games, refreshments, and a movie! Our theme for the feast was “Monastic Olympics”–but instead of doing the usual kinds of Olympic feats, our sisters competed in various monastic fields such as sweeping floors, bowing in choir, and other events.