Our beautiful Choir behind the grille.

Hello again! We finished our beautiful retreat this morning. At the end of Holy Mass, Fr. Peter gave us the Apostolic Blessing, blessing us with the large (nearly a foot) relic crucifix containing the True Cross. Later, we visited in the parlour. Father said he could only stay 15 minutes as he had to get on the road to drive back to Ohio but in fact, we visited for over an hour.
Each day, Fr. Peter gave a conference in the morning and with Vespers in the evening. Some days the conferences were nearly an hour! He guided us through the Song of Songs, sharing with us not only the interpretation of the Fathers of the Church but also his own which was, of course, a Dominican-Thomistic approach.
The heart of all the talks was that the place of the contemplative bride of Christ is to be gazing on the Face of her Beloved--Jesus in the Eucharist--adoring at the foot of the Cross at the Noon hour. Here we receive our special vocation of spiritual motherhood. Since Father is a good Dominican much emphasis was placed on the gifts of grace we receive every moment and our need to simply respond.
Refreshed from the retreat we are now getting ready for the next big event: the Thanksgiving Mass of our Brother Richard Mary Francis Jastrzebski, OP who will be ordained a priest of Jesus Christ on June 10th during the "Big Birthday Bash" celebrating the 200th anniversary of the Province of St. Joseph. Brother Rick is a Jersey native and our community is his "family" so we are looking forward to this wonderful occasion.