The Blessing of a New Statue

A beautiful statue of Our Lady was recently donated to us, so when newly ordained Fr. Damian Day, OP came on the Solemnity of the Assumption to offer a First Mass for us, we asked him if he would bless our statue, which was just installed in its new home. It is a lovely and graceful image of Our Lady, and now stands at the top of a terraced garden built into the bank along the side of the enclosure.

Of course, we didn’t put Fr. Damian to work until after we visited with him in the parlor and got to hear about his first few months of priestly ministry. Fr. Damian was ordained in May along with several other friars who have been here over the past few months. Another classmate, Fr. Maximilian Jaskowak, OP, came and said Mass for us in July in the middle of our monastery COVID epidemic when most of us were sick, so we were very disappointed not to be able to visit with him afterwards. Oh well, next time!