Journal

2014 Journal

THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT The third Sunday of Advent - the Sunday of joy. Rejoice, we hear. Let yourself BE glad tidings. It has been said, joy is the echo of God's life in us. In these days of opening out to our God who fills every atom of creation with his presence, these days of quiet openness to an all- embracing God, may it be our joy to respond with all the faith of our being, so that God's joy may echo from our heart and fill the world. As we light this third candle, may we enter on the way of joy, a way of trust and gentle abandon to the one who makes the stars shine for...

2014 Journal

SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT You might say that this week of Advent is a journey into knowing the way on which we walk. If we are on a journey, it is important to know where we wish to go and which path to take. Sunday's liturgy cries out in the first reading to prepare the way. Clear the obstacles, for the one who is coming is mightier than all and he IS the Way. As we light this second candle, may he who is our way, make straight the path of our lives. And like Mary, may it be our deepest desire to respond as she did, "Oh, let it be done to me as you say!" that our joy...

2014 Journal

FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT Come. In days to come... O come, Emmanuel. We will hear this cry of the human heart for God many times throughout the liturgy in these days of Advent. Why still the cry if the actual physical coming of God into our world in the person of Jesus is already accomplished? Perhaps because, among other reasons, Jesus' coming was to forge a path to the secret recesses of our own hearts, to open our eyes to the deifying light that fills all creation with it's spark of the divine. To show us the path on which to walk, the path of love. God is here, we breathe him, we shine with his presence, as does everything...

2014 Journal

Happy and blessed Thanksgiving to one and all! From our monastic family here we send out our warmest wishes for a day of family, friends and a celebration of all God's good gifts! We have just finished our Thanksgiving Feast provided by our dear friend and dentist Dr. Escobar. We hope all of you have had a wonderful day.Today also happens to be our Sister Clare's birthday and instead of a birthday cake, she had pumpkin pie. She is not complaining. Our brothers of the monastery of Erlac joined us for our festive meal as well as Sr. Denise of our monastery of Wrentham, MA. It has been a lovely, happy day. We are still in the afterglow of our...

2014 Journal

We are back!! And just in time to wish you a very Happy Halloween. Our jack-o-lanterns have all been carved by Cathy and Hannah and were lit after Vigils so that we could enjoy them while it is dark. Our friend, Leroy, each year gives us pumpkins in honor of the day. We hope that it will be a joyous and safe day for all. Autumn has been inching closer and closer these past two weeks. First it was the Goldfields that blanketed the surrounding hillsides and now the trees are showing off their yellows and golds. It has been a very long time since there was such a profusion of goldfields. To see them is to understand how they...

2014 Journal

The flowering pear  has gone by, but this is what it looks like in its glory. It has gone by because it began too early.  While the rest of the country was shivering and shoveling, we were already in our springtime flowers. Right now, as you saw last time, we are falling in love all over again with the iris.

2014 Journal

Dear Friends, We wish you a happy new year. We thought you would like to see one of Sr Esther's masterpieces. Since her work has been featured on the website, she has received a number of commissions, and we love this one. it is--guess whom? of course, St Francis. Sister does not produce her artwork  in bulk. The person who is ordering is means something to her art, and she needs to know what is important to that individual. In this case, the wife of a soon-to-be graduate of divinity school wanted to give her husband in image of his favorite saint. She specified that she was not Catholic--as if that mattered. Who does not love St Francis? And speaking...

2014 Journal

Well, please notice the new first slide of the home page. And we will try to dislodge St Francis as first on the journal--we are  afraid that as things stand, you will get confused since he seems not to move to give place to new contributions. Clear?      Please notice the bee on the iris. I think our iris do not bloom all at once, but we will keep you posted. Further signs of spring are, as we have mentioned, the lovely air (no pictures, folks) the birds, and the Lenten liturgy with its very special melodies. It is time to pull out the Holy Week booklets and schedules. It is also time to prepare the mind and heart...

2014 Journal

Dear Friends, As usual, we are apologizing for the weather--I mean OUR weather. The forsythia has been fooling around with buds. NO good to warn it that it is ahead of time and watch out; you may get nipped. The little plum tree is flowering outside the refectory, and the flowering pear in the garth is sending its glorious white blossoms up and over the roof. It's WARM, folks. We have about finished our House Report. We are most certainly "lovers of the place", as our primitive documents state it. The beautiful western landscape works its way into our hearts and into every second of our lives. It rests on and in our memories and our motives until we seem...

2014 Journal

We just had an adventure. Of course, adventures are not anything unusual for us. We had a golf cart that is a Godsend for our guest mistress when she has to take food and cleaning supplies to the retreat house. But unfortunately, it bit the dust. So today, a lovely family of friends brought a replacement, a reconditioned cart with a windshield and the kind of second seat that can fold back to carry loads. They also brought a baby to show us, the fourth generation of those who came. It's really beautiful so see such an extended family showing off the youngest member. (She was dressed for Valentine's Day.) We encouraged her to crawl around on our magnificent new chapel carpe...