A Beautiful St. Dominic's Day

Our Mass celebrating the feast of St. Dominic and commemorating the 800th anniversary of his birth to eternal life was a beautiful occasion. Archbishop Gabriele Giordano Caccia, the Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations in New York, celebrated the Mass and gave a beautiful homily tying together the life of our holy Father St. Dominic with our own lives as nuns of the Order of Preachers, and what this should mean to all of us today - both religious and lay. He compared the nuns to morning sentinels on the mountains - we are isolated, away from the people, but we are nonetheless there for the people, to announce that the Lord is coming, reminding all of us that there is something more which we are living for than this life alone. After the homily, Sr. Maria Johanna renewed her temporary vows for another year.

After the Mass, the extern sisters greeted our guests and welcomed them to partake of the refreshments we had baked in advance - scones and muffins and other such goodies, while the nuns greeted guests in the parlor. It was wonderful to see and chat with sisters from the Sisters of Life and the Community of St. John as well as many friends and relatives of the community and members of the Dominican Lay Fraternity. Afterwards, we headed to our gardens, where the Archbishop blessed our three new statues inside the enclosure, including our beautiful new statue of St. Dominic.

We give thanks to God for the gift of St. Dominic to the church, and to us his daughters, as we celebrate the 800th anniversary of his birth to eternal life. St. Dominic, pray for us!