Tag: Mother’s Day

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.

Honoring Our Mothers–Updated

Sunday was the solemnity of the Ascension here in Texas…and it was also Mother’s Day! We had festive meals and games in the evening to celebrate these two events. We started with Mass of the Ascension in the morning, had a delicious meal in the community room for lunch, enjoyed some free time during the afternoon, sang Solemn Vespers of the Ascension, and had yummy sandwiches and chips for dinner. After that, we went back to the community room to play games!

Sr. Mary Margaret, our “mother prioress”, and Sr. Mary Rose holding the card she designed for Sister. We each promised to offer three days of prayer for Sr. Mary Margaret’s intentions.

Sr. Mary Pauline, Sr. Mary Giuse, Sr. Mary Jeremiah, and Michelle seated at one of the decorated tables in the community room.

Sr. Mary Christine and Sr. Carmen Gloria

Sr. Mary Therese, Sr. Maria Cabrini, and Sr. Mary Thomas

Sr. Maria, Sr. Miriam, Sr. Mary Giuse, Sr. Mary Jeremiah, and Sr. Marie Augustine–ready to play games!

Sr. Maria Cabrini, Sr. Bernadette Marie, Sr. Mary Margaret, and Sr. Carmen Gloria–another team for games

Spending some free time working a puzz

Michelle and Sr. Mary Pauline with the novitiate turtles, Jerome and Anthony

At the end of the day, we had our May procession (inside, because of the rain), singing the Litany of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

One more picture! The novitiate honored their directress with a lovely card and two plants.

It was a beautiful day, filled with many thoughts of Our Lord’s ascension into Heaven, and many prayers for all out mothers (and those who have been like mothers to us), both living and deceased. We keep all of you in prayer as we continue our May devotions this month!

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!).