Tag: gratitude

St. Martha–and a Visit from the Polkers

The feast of St. Martha (which is now the feast of Martha, Mary and Lazarus) is a traditional day in our monastery to honor the sisters who do the cooking. In times past, the novitiate would take over the kitchen and give the cooks a day off. But, as our cook Sr. Marie Augustine reminded us, “Martha never took a day off!” So the novitiate came and helped Sister get ready for a delicious meal.

Diana, our kitchen assistant, and Sr. Marie Augustine, adorned in chef’s hats for this special day.

Sr. Marie Augustine prepares to slice a pineapple, but don’t worry. She’s wearing an apron–it’s white and blends in with her habit!

The other thing that happened on July 29 was that our good friends the Polkers came up from La Porte, TX–quite a drive, especially in the heat. The Polkers come about three times a year, bringing loads of food. This includes things we need, like flour, meat, sugar, juice and cereal, and things that are just treats, such as mini cream puffs and ice cream! Because there is a lot of food and most of it needs to be refrigerated or frozen–and all of it needs to be put away somewhere–it’s all hands on desk when they come.

Sr. Mary Christine and Michelle looking for places to put things!

Working together to get the job done.

Sr. Mary Giuse pushes a cart holding margarine and ice cream into the kitchen.

The Polkers always bring a lot of fresh fruit! The novitiate sisters–Sr. Mary Pauline, Sr. Mary Christine, and Michelle–carefully washed and dried everything so it would be ready to be eaten.

Did we mention the meals were delicious? Sr. Marie Augustine is a wonderful cook! We appreciate her very much. And we are so grateful to the Polkers and all their friends, who keep us supplied with groceries! Thank you both!

St. Martha, patroness of hard-working people, pray for us!

The (New) Rugged Cross

                                                                                                                                                                        Like most nuns in monasteries all over the world, we have a lot of crucifixes around the place. For us, this is a beautiful remembrance of the love Jesus has for each one of us, even to His surrender to death on a cross for our sake. Although we put up these signs of Christ’s death, they are at the same time a reminder of His resurrection and His glory.
For many years, we had this plain wooden crucifix in our refectory. It was large enough that it could be seen easily by everyone in our big refectory, and it was poignant without being too gory. But this year, a little before Easter, we received a surprise gift:
A kind benefactor gave us this lovely new crucifix! The cross is handmade and hand-carved, and the person who made the cross bought an appropriate corpus to make the cross into a crucifix. This one is slightly larger than the old one, and definitely more eye-catching and colorful.
While it may seem strange at first to have a cross carved so beautifully, even this small attention to detail reminds us of the inherent beauty and majesty of Christ’s self-offering on the Cross. We are very thankful to have this in our refectory, where we can meditate on our Lord\’s Passion while we eat our meals. (Nuns do things like this!)
Ave Crux, Spes Unica!
Hail, Cross, the Hope of All!