Assumption Day

Holy Days of Obligation! Ah! Thankfully, in the monastery they can be celebrated as such! Sadly, for most Catholics, Holy Days mean catching an early morning Mass (monasteries are good for this!) or an evening Mass to fulfil the "obligation" part. However, the Church intends these days to be much more than that! They are days, like Sunday, which are supposed to be "places of freedom", to borrow an idea of our Holy Father.

Like Sunday, Holy Days for us have a semi-retreat quality. The monastery is rather quiet except for our noon meal in the community when we T-A-L-K! The regular work times are spent praying, studying, writing letters, doing a craft or hobby, our favorite one being THE NAP! (This is especially welcomed by the Sisters who take night adoration.)

Today also gives us the opportunity to catch up on blog postings.

Right before St. Dominic's Day we had the third in our marathon summer lecture series. Fr. Benedict Vivano, OP, who teaches scripture at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, gave us a whirlwind tour through St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans as part of the Ongoing Theological Formation Program of the Association of the Nuns of the Order of Preachers. Quote: "The others are letters, this one is an epistle!"

Because Father is from the Midwest and taught in seminaries there, including teaching Lutherans, he gave us insights into passages of Romans which are, "Lutheran heaven" and why. He alerted us to passages that are often overlooked or are so poetic or "mystical" that the import of key passages are often overlooked (or translated badly from the Greek!)

Sr. Maria Veneranda and Sr. Mary Catharine enjoy being fed with Truth!


Sr. Mary Ellen Timothy does, also, but sometimes it's hard to stay awake!
Happy Feast Day, dear Sister Mary Ellen Timothy of the Assumption

Father's lectures were professionally taped by the Society of St. Paul, Alba House publications as part of their observance of the Year of St. Paul. Bro. Damien was a quiet presence in the back of our community room, earphones atop his head and laptop computer before him. We were assured that our questions and comments would be edited out!

Carri is engrossed!

During these weeks Carri Prewitt, from Kansas (we're being invaded by the Midwest!) spent 3 weeks inside the enclosure discerning her vocation. A mistake in timing one day meant, "I don't have any clothes for Vespers! They're all in the dryer" lead to wearing a postulant jumper. She and we liked it so much that she wore it for the rest of her time with us--but made sure that her tee shirts were bright red, green, stripped! Happily, she is requesting to apply to enter as a postulant, her jumper all ready for her when she returns!

Meet Sr. Cuniculus, our newest "postulant"! A recent sewing day led to some "essential" sewing! Due to Sister's special needs her veil is made so that her ears can come through! Cuniculus is Latin for rabbit.