Mother’s Day at the Monastery

The rains are over and gone, and it\’s time to report on our beautiful Mother\’s Day celebration! It all began with a special Mass in honor of all our mothers, living and deceased, as well as all the women who have been like mothers to us.

Before Vatican II, many congregations and monasteries called their superior or prioress “Mother”. Although we don\’t do that any more, we still honor Sr. Mary Margaret on this day, with a gift and a card bearing a “spiritual bouquet”–a gift of three days of prayers for her intentions from each sister in the monastery.

Then it was time for the special event–a lovely picnic under our carport! (We had it under the carport because we feared it would rain!)

Several sisters helped cook and prepare the delicious food.

Finally, we were able to sit down and eat and enjoy each other\’s company.

Hooray for our cooks!

In the afternoon, some sisters enjoyed the cool weather outside.

By evening, however, rain was falling! It actually flooded parts of the monastery, and knocked out the power for a brief time. We got seven inches in an hour!

We planned to have our May Crowning that evening, but it was so wet we moved it inside. Sr. Mary Therese crowned Our Lady this year.

We ended this great day with a circle recreation–an opportunity for all the sisters to be together and share what\’s been going on. Many thanks to Sr. Mary Margaret, our spiritual mother, and all our mothers, living and deceased, who so lovingly cared for us (and still do!).

Snow, Y’all!

 

 

While we do occasionally get snow in Texas, it\’s rare in Lufkin–and this was (for us) quite a snow! We got a couple of inches in most parts–enough to completely cover the grass and even enough to make a snowman (or snow nun). We realize those of you in northern climes are probably smiling at this, but most of us come from warmer regions of the world and we were delighted! Also we didn\’t have to drive in it–native Texans tend to be very bad at driving in snow. We actually got even more snow after these pictures were taken!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our sister from Africa especially enjoyed the snow!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The snow fell Sunday afternoon and evening, and here on Tuesday it is still covering a lot of ground, thanks to some freezing weather. Another amazing event! However, the sun has been shining and gradually melting everything, so by tomorrow our extraordinary snow will be most likely be a fond memory. This is probably our last chance for snow this year–but who knows? One year it snowed on Easter–and Easter was at the beginning of April! Let it snow!

 
 
 
 
 

We Need A Little Christmas

 This song is so appropriate this year! It made its debut in Jerry Herman\’s Broadway musical Mame in 1966, when Mame sang it to cheer up her nephew and servants after losing everything in the 1929 stock market crash. We\’ve heard stories that many people are buying real Christmas trees and putting up extra lights and decorations as a way of cheering themselves up during this crazy year. And although we don\’t usually decorate until about right now, our workmen felt we needed a little Christmas and put up some lights both inside and outside the monastery this year! 

Front of monastery
Infirmary yard with Infant Jesus

Our Lady of Fatima

The hedge by the carport

Our bell tower

We also have some decorating going on right now, as you can see…

My, what big poinsettias you have!

Our Lady with Jesus and their decorator, Sr. Mary Giuse

 

We\’re still decorating, and we plan to bring you more pictures when we\’re finished! These may come after the actual date of Christmas (that is, December 25) but remember, the Christmas season lasts until the feast of the Baptism of the Lord, which is on January 10th this year. So during this year when we \”need a little Christmas\” in a particular way, remember you can celebrate for much longer than the secular world would have you believe! (In the old days, the Christmas season lasted until February 2, but even we think that\’s a little long.)

Christmas is always a special time for us here at the Monastery, since it is also \”our\” feast day. We are, after all, the Monastery of the Infant Jesus. We hope you will have a happy and blessed Christmas, and know that we are praying for all of you!