In the Shadow of His Wings

Sponsa Christi June 28th, 2010

 Many hands make light work!

     Here’s a special thanks to so many friends for sharing their garden produce with us. God bless and reward you a thousand times!

    Presently we are enjoying the delightful and holy presence of our Dominican friar and friend Fr. Tom McGonigle, OP. This year he is giving us conferences on the spirituality of our cloistered Carmelite sister Blessed Elizabeth of the Trinity. A true renewal in our contemplative life!  Thank you Fr. McGonigle!

P.S.  While we are giving thanks – a special thanks to Dame Agnes for so frequently linking to us on Phatmass. Yesterday we had 500 views!  Pretty good for a little cloistered monastery in the hills of Kentucky. 

Tags: Friends, Saints

• Monastic Life
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Sponsa Christi June 25th, 2010

 Recently we celebrated a Gaudeamus Day
in honor of Mother Catherine Marie. 

   In gratitude for her spiritual leadership of our Community there were some gifts given with her in mind. (And, yes, us Sisters benefit too!) This year she received some DVDs on lives of the saints, a warm blanket and a painting.

    This year’s AME “after meal entertainment” (a tradition Sr. John Mary brought to the monastery from her days working with NET Ministries!) brought us a monk and a scholar.

    After the noon meal Sr. Rose Marie and Ane Kirstine surprised Mother with a cute skit of a monk in the desert of Egypt learning how to use a book – a novel update from scrolls!  Ane Kirstine was the “Book Tech” from the University of Alexandria called on to explain just how to open and read a book.  It brought lots of laughs.

    The evening AME brought us a humorous song “How Do You Solve a Problem Like the Papacy” sung by St. Catherine of Siena (Ane Kirstine) and her companions (Sr. Rose Marie and Sr. John Mary) to the tune of “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria” from The Sound of Music. 

    There was great turmoil surrounding the pope’s residence in St. Catherine’s day. She sought to convince the reigning pontiff – the Bishop of Rome – to return to Rome despite the efforts of many in the Curia and many on the political scene who wanted to keep him in Avignon, France.  Catherine loved the papacy and knew this was Christ’s Vicar on earth. You might say she was a vocal force of encouragement to him!

If St. Catherine of Siena were a musical…

He says he’s old and has a cold,
the Alps are much too high.

To leave his home in Avignon
would surely make him sigh.

His French curia tells him
that Rome is a pigsty.
Besides, he doesn’t speak any Italian.

How do you solve a problem like the papacy?
How do you pin a flighty pontiff down?
How do you find a way to say “Get back here!”?
You’re bishop of Rome!
You’re needed at home!
Right now!
Oh, how do you solve a problem like the papacy?
How do you pin a flighty pontiff down?

When I’m with him I’m disturbed,
out of patience and perturbed,
and I want to throw the cardinals out the door.

Unpredictable as weather,
he says one thing, then another.
He’s discerning.
He lacks backbone!
He needs prayer.

He’d outpester any pest,
drive a hornet from its nest.
He could drive the saints and blessed to lose hope!

He is gentle, he is mild.
He’s our papa, we’re his child.
He’s a headache!
He’s a hero!
He’s the pope!

How do you solve a problem like the papacy?
How do you pin a flighty pontiff down?
How do you find a way to say “Get back here!”?
You’re bishop of Rome!
You’re needed at home!
Right now!
Oh, how do you solve a problem like the papacy?
How do you pin a flighty pontiff down?

 Most of the community members gather around Mother
on her special day. 

    During our recent elections Mother Catherine Marie was re-elected Reverend Superior for another three years. Dear Mother, may the Lord reward you for accepting, with humble generosity, this role of service.  May Mary our Mother obtain all the graces you need to lead our community to be Love in the Heart of the Church through a deeper penetration of the Paschal Mystery. You are such a devoted example to us of living our Passion Vow in the Church with great joy and fidelity. May God reward you Mother! And may Saint Catherine of Siena, your powerful patroness, intercede for all your temporal and spiritual needs!

Tags: Gaudeamus Days, Humor

• Passionist Life
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Sponsa Christi June 19th, 2010

 Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers both biological and spiritual!

    March 25th brought us a wonderful visit with our new Bishop William Medley. He is a big Kentucky basketball fan and had to hurry off after this photo to watch the game!

     We recently had a visit with our retired Bishop John McRaith who celebrated his 50th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood earlier this year. Thank you dear Bishop for your “yes” and your generous years of service to the diocese of Owensboro.

     Here Bishop McRaith shows us his pectoral cross.  Bishop grew up on the farm and has a great appreciation for God’s creation and being a good steward of that creation. He has several pockets of soil in his pectoral cross from various parts of the world.

     We finally had an opportunity for our brother in the Lord, Fr. Josh McCarty, to offer Mass for us. Fr. Josh made several retreats in our retreat house while he was in seminary and was ordained one year ago. Blessed be God!  We still await Fr. Daniel Dillard’s visit!

   Our diocese was fortunate to have 3 men ordained to the priesthood this year. Fr. Uwem Enoh (above) and Fr. Steve Hohman (below) were recently here to offer Mass for us. We look forward to Fr. Brandon Williams’ visit as well. What a blessing these young men are to our diocese and to the Church at large!

    On this Father’s Day let us remember our earthly fathers and our spiritual fathers, let’s encourage them and let them know how much they mean to us.  A new website is being launched on Father’s Day to aid us in showing our love and gratitude for our priests.  Thank you God our Father for the gift of the priesthood!

Tags: Friends, Owensboro Diocese

• Passionist Life
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Sponsa Christi June 17th, 2010

  Some people have just crazy ideas about nuns – hard to believe I know.  I was putting gasoline in the van the other day and a woman tentatively approached me asking if I talked.  Well, I reassured her that I could talk and would talk to her! 

   Other people have the impression that we are on our knees praying all day!  It is true that our vocation in the Church is prayer but there are a lot of other activities going on as well.  For one thing, we work hard!  Recently the younger Sisters were caught on camera during their time working on the Passion Sign on the hill. 

    We also play hard…taking care of one’s physical body is necessary to a well-rounded monastic life.

    Yes, nuns drive tractors and nuns ride bikes!

Distrusting their own strength and with humble confidence in the Word of God, they practice mortification, custody of the senses and of the heart. They use the natural means which foster physical and mental health and the development of a sound emotional life. They cultivate a healthy climate of sincere friendship which sustains in the community a strong affective life beneficial to the development of the human person.

Passionist Nuns Constitutions #21

  

Tags: Rule & Constitutions

• Monastic Life , Passionist Life
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Sponsa Christi June 9th, 2010

      Yes, that’s right. I am still making up for lost time from earlier this year when I went on a “blog fast”!  I thought you might still enjoy these photos.  

This snownun’s name was Sr. Frostina.

 Sr. Mary Andrea joined the novitiate members in creating our snownun.  Please God, next year there will be more novitiate members to make more snownuns!  Pray for Jaclyn and Elizabeth who are discerning a call to our Passionist life and who will be visiting our community this summer!  Hooray!

Are we glad warmer days are upon us!?

 St. Joseph, our might protector, watching over our monastery grounds.

Tags: Humor, Weather Flora & Fauna

• Passionist Life , Vocation Discernment
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Sponsa Christi June 5th, 2010

   Wow, it is incredible to fathom that this God of the universe thirsts for my love…for your love.  Incredible…awe inspiring…what a gift of love…what a God! Truly, there is no other god like our God!

Special thanks to friend Jill who touched up this holy picture

   Our Lord appeared to St. Margaret Mary and revealed to her his unfathomable love for the men and women whom he created with such tender thoughtfulness and mercy.

On one occasion, being before the Blessed Sacrament…He showed me His Divine Heart, saying: ‘Behold this Heart, which has so loved men that It has spared nothing, even to exhausting and consuming Itself, in order to give them proof of Its love, and in return I receive from the greater number of them nothing but ingratitude, by their irreverence and sacrileges, by the coldness and contempt they show me in this Sacrament of Love.’

What causes me the greatest sufferings are the words He told me once as He showed me His Divine Heart: ‘I thirst with so burning a thirst, to be loved by men in the Blessed Sacrament, that this thirst consumes me, and I find nobody who tries, according to my desire, to quench my thirst by making some return for my love.’

     Can we try to quench some of his divine thirst? Let us spend some time adoring and loving him in the most Blessed Sacrament.  For those of you who live nearby we have the perfect opportunity to do just this over the next several days.

Forty Hours of Eucharistic adoration in our monastery chapel

   As we begin this month of June dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus we are preparing for our annual outdoor Corpus Christi procession and Forty Hours of Eucharistic adoration Sunday, June 6 – Tuesday, June 8. We hope you will join us during these special days of prayer.

Sunday, June 6, 2010

• 7:15 a.m. – Morning Prayer
• 8 a.m. – Mass followed by Solemn Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day
• 12 noon – Midday prayer
• 6 p.m. – Evening Prayer
• 7 p.m. – Evening Holy Hour including outdoor Eucharistic procession and Solemn Benediction, presided by Fr. Ray Clark.

Monday, June 7 & Tuesday June 8

• 6:15 a.m. – Morning Prayer
• 7 a.m. – Mass followed by Solemn Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament all day
• 12 noon – Midday prayer
• 6 p.m. – Evening Prayer
• 7 p.m. – Evening Holy Hour and Solemn Benediction presided by Fr. Joe Mills (Monday) and Msgr Bernard Powers (Tuesday)

   What a wonderful way to end the Year for the Priest. Let us spend some time in adoration interceding for the spiritual and temporal needs of our beloved priests. What a gift they are to us!  Without the priest there would be no Eucharist and without the Eucharist, no priest.

Tags: Sacred Heart of Jesus

• Monastery traditions , Prayer , The Holy Eucharist
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