In the Shadow of His Wings

Sponsa Christi May 7th, 2012

“Where is everyone?” That was my thought Saturday morning when I came into chapel and saw that we had no guests for Mass, which is unusual. As I sat there praying and preparing to enter into the “Holy of holies” a number of people came in to chapel all at once.

During the announcements after the noon meal Sr. Mary Agnes explained to us what had happened. She had gotten a call before Mass stating that the gates were not open and there was a line of cars waiting to get through!

She drove down and discovered that the gate hinges had actually broken!  You can see here that the gate is being held to the post by a chain.  Our faithful grounds-keeper came over and with the tractor managed to move the gate so that our guests could come on in.

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On my walk down to take the photo of the gate I came upon the goose nest and it was empty…that could only mean one thing…the goslings were hatched and sure enough I snapped a photo of them here with mom and dad.

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Last week Anne and Chuck Hagan graciously delivered and spread some good “barn yard dirt” in the garden. God bless you!

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And Dave and Carol Niehaus (Sr. Mary Andrea’s parents) spent a day cutting down trees to provide more sunlight on the veggie garden. May God reward you for your labor!  Here a couple Sisters load up some of the cut wood.

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Today we had the great excitement of a shipment of compost arrive!  Good and rich compost – a whole dump truck full! Thank you Lord! and Jane & Tim Wynn! (Sr. Cecilia Maria’s parents)

Wow…who is going to spread all that?

Who said monastery life was dull? Everyone has monotonous days but each moment of monotony is filled with graces that will not be given again.  May each of us respond to the Lord’s love and grace each moment of our days!

Tags: Family, Nature & Weather

• Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Monastic Life
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Sponsa Christi March 12th, 2012

Well, greetings!  Did you think I forgot you? Yes, I guess I took a short vacation from blogging.

We are in the midst of a novena to St. Joseph. Since our monastery is dedicated to this great Guardian of the Redeemer we have a solemn novena to him each year.

Today was our community solitude afternoon and I spent it with Blessed Pope John Paul II’s Redemptoris Custos. What a beautiful reflection on the life and virtues of St. Joseph!

Each Sister is reveling in the spring weather. Every day we can see more buds opening and the grass is just beginning to green – although, we seem to have more wild onions than grass and the wild onions are the first to pop up!

These beauties are in bloom…

I think I have “writer’s block”.

I would be interested in hearing what YOU are interested in seeing more of on this blog.  Any ideas?

Tags: Nature & Weather, Pope John Paul II, Saints

• Catholic Vocations for Women , Monastery traditions
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Sponsa Christi November 16th, 2011

Our community begins our 4 day retreat tomorrow to prepare for our annual devotional renewal of vows to take place during Mass on the Feast of the Presentation of Mary in the Temple on November 21st. This is also Pro Orantibus Day!

Please do keep us in your prayers and be assured of ours during these sacred days.

I thought you would enjoy seeing some fall photos from around the monastery.

An animated chat during noon recreation

Sr. Mary Therese with her 2 brothers, cousin and nephew were here to install beautiful shrines they crafted for each Stations of the Cross. Now her brother Lawrence is refurbishing each station!  God reward you!

The pine trail on Calvary Heights

Enjoying an autumn walk

First hard freeze – left side of courtyard

Right side of courtyard

Calvary Heights – don’t miss the moon in the upper left

Sr. Ann Miriam’s birthday

St. Gemma’s trail

Sr. Mary Andrea’s family here to prune trees and bushes

Love crucified

Love thirsting to be loved…

Tags: Nature & Weather

• Catholic Vocations for Women , Cloistered Life , Monastic Life , Passionist Vocations for Women , Pro Orantibus Day
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Sponsa Christi October 9th, 2011

This week brought us some excursions “over the creek and through the woods…”

GAUDEAMUS DAY OUTING!

Wednesday brought us a gaudeamus day in honor of our 65th foundation anniversary. With a large chunk of time on our hands and the sound of crispy leaves under our feet we set out…

All enjoy the smell of the Virginia Mountain Mint plant…By the way, why does this Virginia plant grow in Western Kentucky?

Ever seen an eerie form walking in the woods? Well, we have groves of these “Devil’s Walking Sticks”… Sr. Mary Magdalen is keeping watch…

“The Dinosaur Tree”

Ahh civilization again…

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ON THE ROAD AGAIN
(er…off the road again…second outing this week…)

FEASTDAY OF THE QUEEN OF THE HOLY ROSARY

First we have to introduce Anne. She briefly made an appearance at the corn party. (Please keep up those prayers for St. Joseph’s intercession so she can sell her home and seriously discern Passionist life!)

As you can see she came back so we promptly took her into the deep woods and she actually seems happy about it. She even made it through the briar patch with only one thorn in her hand!

Sr. Rose Marie got a little giddy looking down; she wasn’t feeling so well…get it…”well”…ahhhh…

Years back, when we first relocated to this rural setting in 1995 we hiked all over the property “reconnoitering the land”. We came upon this old well (or is it a cistern?). It is said that there are a number of wells like this in these parts.

It would be so interesting to know WHO did it, WHEN they did it and HOW they did it. Incredible work of art.

Ummm…Sister I think those rocks are moving under you…

We stopped for a rest in the creek bed on the way back to the monastery…

Ahh…we finally found the monastery! and we made it in time for Sr. John Mary to get changed and make oatmeal before Vespers.

Tags: Gaudeamus Days, Humor, Nature & Weather

• Life as a Passionist
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Sponsa Christi October 7th, 2011

Can you identify this photo???

This picture was taken today at the monastery…

The first person who provides the correct answer will receive a spiritual bouquet!

 UPDATE #1

OK – we have received some great responses AND we have received the correct response. But it is so fun reading your responses we don’t want to bring the contest to an end just yet.

Jane (a.k.a. “NunMother” and mother of Sr. Cecilia Maria) sent us the most interesting guesses. Thought you’d like to read them too!

OK,
I have tried to figure this out.

1) Strange bird nest
2) Dangerous animal hole
3) Well gone dry
4) Fungus growth on cedar tree
5) Petrified bee hive
6) Knot on a tree
7) Crushed thyme

I will go for number 6!

Jane

UPDATE #2

Well…the answer is…it is a well!  We thought it looked like a close-up photo of a lizard’s eye but know one else thought that.

Ruth Ann sent us an interesting answer – a close up eye of a blind elephant – apologies – we have no wild elephants in Western Kentucky.

Certainly “NunMother” had the most interesting answers but Susan Kaness was the first to respond with the correct answer. Yay Susan! Spiritual Bouquet coming your way.

P.S. Jane – God reward you for the thyme – it arrived safe and sound and was planted the same day!

Tags: Humor, Nature & Weather

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Sponsa Christi August 9th, 2011

Are you looking for some artwork depicting the beauty and tranquility of God’s creation?

I hope you’ll consider obtaining an original painting by our Sister Mary Therese.

Tags: Nature & Weather

• Monastic Life
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Sponsa Christi June 11th, 2011

   Perhaps you are wondering why you haven’t heard from us in a while…or you might be getting used to my infrequent blogging.  

Things were a little crazy (again!) without them.  The air conditioning broke down in the kitchen – please God it will be fixed this coming week. The beater in the very large mixer broke and I melted the timer while cooking the pasta! 

    A group of men was here several days ago working in the courtyard and cemetery area pulling out the half dead shrubbery. We are re-doing our landscaping – easier to manage and please God, prettier. The front of the monastery looks great but the courtyard is quite neglected. 

    Oh, and I made some new friends during my glorious 8-day retreat – about 30 chiggers!

    Some of you might not be familiar with chiggers… here is an interesting picture of one. They can actually barely be seen without a microscope. Since this is a monastic blog and not a science blog I’ll let you find more information about them yourself.

     Sorry, I don’t have time to post more…there is a bad electrical storm and I need to sign off! 

Tags: Nature & Weather

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Sponsa Christi May 26th, 2011

Greetings to each of you!  Wow. Where to begin. So much has been going these past couple of months. Perhaps I can use the photos to tell the story…

The story begins at Holy Week…

Sisters prepare Hot Cross buns

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Even the holy water channel is prepared for the great Paschal celebration!

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Two of Sr. Mary Andrea’s brothers (Mike and Rob) come to build a new closet for us in the Eucharistic chapel

Rob shows off the “blueprint” on a paper plate!

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Preparing Easter Eggs

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Friends Chuck, Ethan and Mark build us pantry shelves on Holy Saturday!

All in a day’s work!

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Beautiful Spring

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Easter visiting our Sisters

Last known photo taken of Sr. Margaret Mary on Easter 2 weeks and 2 days before her death on May10th. Dear Sister, faithful Daughter of the Passion and Bride of Christ, rest in the eternal embrace of your God.

Our dear Bishop William Medley made time in his busy schedule to offer the Funeral Mass for Sr. Margaret Mary of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

May her soul, and the souls of all our dearly departed, rest in God’s eternal Love

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In the midst of all this the walk-in refrigerator broke down – a perfect opportunity to do some much needed spring cleaning!

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Last week brought us some of the Fathers of Mercy on a mission of mercy.

Fr. Tony, CPM points out a tree that will come down

Working hard in the woods…

Back at the generalate and all cleaned up. God bless and reward you our dear brothers in Christ!

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This week brought us the “Goretti Girls” on a vocation retreat.

    This group was formed out of the heart’s of mothers desiring further Catholic teaching and fellowship for their daughters after the reception of the Sacrament of Confirmation. We had 10 14-18 year old gals here from the Toledo, OH area. “The Goretti Girls” take their name from St. Maria Goretti. They seem to have had a wonderful time here. And they loved learning about our charism and our saints. Yesterday we had a grand 4 innings of baseball (without gloves!). It has been a long time since I ran bases or fielded balls. I am sore today but it was so much fun! Last night they had a thrilling adventure of joining all the nuns in the basement, along with our chaplain, because of tornado warnings. They never thought they would get to come into the cloister…much less with all the nuns.

Deadly spring tornadoes – this picture was taken on the other side of our county. Let us be united in praying for the victims of these natural disasters.

May the Lord show us His mercy!

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    I hope you have enjoyed this update. As I put this together half of us Sisters have begun our annual 8-day solitude retreat. We are referred to as the “Marys”. The other half of the Sisters are keeping the monastery up and running. They are the ”Marthas”. We would certainly appreciate your prayers for us! We have been so busy and need time to slow down and hear the voice of the Beloved on a deeper level.

   Please know that your needs and intentions and those of our entire world are remembered in our daily prayers, works, joys and sufferings. And please pray for us.

   May the Passion of Christ and the Sorrows of Mary be ever in our hearts!

Tags: Friends, Nature & Weather, Rest in Peace

• Life as a Passionist , Vocation Discernment
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Sponsa Christi March 15th, 2011

    We continue to be united with so many of you in praying for our dear brothers and sisters of Japan at this time. We recently heard from our nuns in Japan that they did not suffer directly from the earthquake nor tsunami. We thank God for that. Special thanks also to Lisa Graas who kindly posted this on her blog just today. Now we must pray against all harm from the damaged nuclear power plants.

Jesus Mercy!

    Another prayer need…yesterday we learned that one of our Passionist priests at St. Ann’s Basilica in Scranton, PA was attacked on Ash Wednesday. He had 12 stab wounds, lacerations and some bruises.  We thank God that he is resting, healing and hoping to be back in full swing soon.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners!

Tags: Nature & Weather, Passionist News

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Sponsa Christi February 21st, 2011

     Ahhh…Winter…

    Our lake has frozen and thawed numerous times this winter. Once, we found a number of turtles along the perimeter of our lake, some baby turtles on the backs of the larger turtles, perhaps they are getting some sun through the ice??? This furry friend was quite interesting – he/she is covered in moss and a bit large! 

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Nuns sled too!

Sr. Mary Andrea, who is in temporary vows for almost 3 1/2 years now, is about to get a nice push down the hill by Sr. Mary Veronica – her former novice directress!

Our aspirant Liz hails from southern Texas. She has adjusted quite well to our cooler weather and loves the snow!  And our Lord has given her plenty of it since she arrived January 5th.

Ane Kirstine here – perhaps she is so happy as she knew she would soon be receiving the holy habit!? This photo was taken in her postulant days.

Let it snow!

Just lovely…and with an equal loveliness is Spring…
which is just around the corner!

Tags: Nature & Weather

• Life as a Passionist , Novitiate news
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