On Friday, December 8, our chapel was transformed into a winter wonderland of blue and white as we celebrated the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception and the first profession of vows of another member of St. Joseph Monastery. We'd like to share the wonderful homily preached for the occasion by our chaplain, Fr. Lou Caporiccio, CPM!
Read MoreEntering Advent, we find ourselves before a banquet of spiritual riches. In the liturgy and practices of the season, the Church seeks to help up prepare ourselves to encounter Christ anew. It is a time to recall His coming as an Infant in Bethlehem, to look forward to that final glorious coming upon the clouds, and to receive Him as He desires to be present in the small, daily moments of our lives.
Read MoreWhile our chaplain, Fr. Lou Caporiccio, CPM was spending a few days visiting his confreres at the Fathers of Mercy Generalate, we were blessed by the presence of Fr. Arthur Carrillo, CP. Hailing from the community of Passionist Fathers in Chicago, Fr. Arthur came to offer Mass and take a few days of solitude in our Guest House.
Read MoreAfter four graced days of retreat (Nov. 17-20), the nuns of our community renewed their vows during the Holy Mass commemorating the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. As we renew our self-offering to God on this feast each year, we ask her intercession help us persevere in faithfulness as handmaids of the Lord and His work of redemption.
Read MoreOne misty November Sunday, we were astonished to see a pair of vandals in our cloister courtyard. Armed with a pack of Crayola chalk, aprons, and jackets, they braved the bitter chill and waning light just to leave their mark on our patio concrete. Perhaps such hooligans are commonplace on busy New York City streets, but in the Western Kentucky wilderness, it was a shock.
Read MoreIn September, St. Joseph Monastery was blessed to host an international Assembly for English-speaking Passionist Nuns. This was a graced and fruitful time for the superiors and delegates from each monastery to gain a better understanding of the new juridical structure of communion we will soon be establishing.
Read MoreOur Holy Founder was a saint, not because he did extraordinary things (which he did indeed do!), but because he was radically in love with God and because he surrendered his life to God with great faith and generosity. He was a man of action BECAUSE he was a man of prayer.
Read MoreJesu, I have come into the Garden / Where You are lying silent and apart— / To place beside Your Sacrifice, Beloved, / The Promises of my believing heart. / And now, with life behind me, it is certain— / As certain as the dawn of Easter Day— / It had to be the sharing of Your Passion. / There never could have been another way.
Read MoreThe ‘Passion Sign’ was given to us by our Holy Founder, St. Paul of the Cross, who described how in a vision he saw Mary, the Mother of Jesus, dressed in black with a badge over her heart. He understood that he was to found a Religious Family that would be clothed in the same manner and wear that special badge. That badge developed into the ‘Passion Sign’ as we know it today.
Read More
