Fireflies

Greetings,

It is nearing the end of retreat week here at the monastery.  The monastery brings in a director for 'conference' retreats twice a year to guide us in our quiet and reflection.  It was in the midst of this that I was sitting last night in a little alcove on first floor.  Caught up in my own reading and reflection, I wasn't paying too much attention.  Until one of the sisters (not on retreat by the by) stopped and with a smile pointed out the windows said, "Fireflies."

All over the south lawn, just outside the windows, were twinkling lights.  Up close to the windows they lit up the flower beds of lilies and roses with their luminescent yellow, then drifted off into the grass.  Farther away, the fireflies danced among the bushes along the edge of the lawn and up into the leaves of the linden trees.  They were all over the south lawn, their little lights creating a playful music for the eyes.  It was dark enough that you couldn't follow their bodies and it was a delightful suprise to see where they would light up again. 

An amazing little part of God's creation celebrating the night at the Monastery.

Blessings,

The Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Happy Feast Day!

A watercolor of the Sacred Heart by our Sister Kathleen.  Sister was an active artist within our community.  She shared her gifts of painting and calligraphy with not only her Benedictine family but also the greater community. 

"Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest."  Lauds Antiphon

 This mosaic of the Sacred Heart of Jesus is displayed in our Chapter room at the monastery.  It is a powerful (and quite large) reminder for us during not only our official Chapter meetings but also the celebrations of jubilee and profession receptions that are held there.  Our Sister Leonarda designed the mosaic and then each sister of the monastery placed a piece or two into the mosaic...it was the work of the whole community at that time.

"Where charity and love abide, God is ever there.  The love of Christ has gathered us, the many into one."  Vespers Antiphon

 The oldest Sacred Heart of Jesus statue is found outdoors on the south side of our front lawn of the monastery.  The statue was here from our very beginnings and has survived several moves throughout the years.  His most recent challenge was a young college volunteer accidentally breaking off the left hand while scraping away old paint.  The hand was repaired and she later entered the monastery!  However, sisters have long memories and occasionally the story continues to be told ; )

"Come to me, all you who thirst: come, and life shall be yours.  Seek, and you will find, knock and the door shall be opened." Vespers Responsorial

 This detail of stained glass is from a window above an entrance to the original monastery.  After the renovation, the window was preserved and is now in the front entrance of the new monastery.  The motto is still our life's work.

"Let us love one another with fervent love, endure one another's infirmities; patiently serve and obey one another, and prefer nothing whatever to Christ." Vespers Responsorial

Above the entrance of our original convent building, a carved lintel piece was set above the main doorway..."Convent of the Sacred Heart".  We saved the lintel during our renovations and it still stands near the entrance of the monastery's new entrance.  Notice the carved detailing in the middle matches the stained glass detail above.

"And Jesus said: "Learn of me, for I am gentle and lowly of heart."" Magnificat Antiphon

At the conclusion of Vespers, the sisters share in an Act of Dedication to the Sacred Heart.

God of all creation, and God of our hearts, on this feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, we remember the love with which you first loved us. We remember the gift of your Son, Jesus Christ who brings us to birth and feeds us with the blood and water flowing from his side, pierced on the cross.

Inspired by the Spirit of love, we desire to give our hearts to you, and to make the heart of Jesus our own. Through his most Sacred Heart, we consecrate to your our monastery, the life and work of each sister of this community, and our beloved sick. We ask you to receive this offering, which we make through Christ, in the power of the Holy Spirit, one with you forever and ever. Amen.

Blessings,

Eve of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart

Greetings,

On this eve of the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, our community begins the celebration with Statio (procession of the sisters into Chapel) and chanted first Vespers of the Solemnity.  During these days, we are also much more aware of the presence of the Sacred Heart throughout the monastery.

This Sacred Heart of Jesus blesses all those coming and going on the first floor of the monastery.  He stands between the sewing room, the computer room, and the doorway leading to our inner courtyard.  In the midst of our ordinary lives, the Sacred Heart calls us back to the divine that dwells in each of us.

There are several rough hewn Sacred Hearts that one of our Sister Artists has created.  This one graces a hallways between refectory and retreatants rooms on the way to the Chapel.  They are simple yet beautiful.

The guests who come to Bishop Martin Marty Chapel are greeted on the ground floor by this bronze Sacred Heart of Jesus.  He was designed and cast by a local artist and friend of the monastery.  The bronze used to hang in the entrance of the old monastery, but it was transferred to the entrance of the Chapel after our renovations.

 Above the entrance of our original convent building, a carved lintel piece was set above the main doorway..."The Convent of the Sacred Heart".  In the middle of the lintel was this detail drawing that is also mirrored in a stained glass piece.  We saved the lintel during our renovations and it still stands near the entrance of the monastery's new entrance.

Sacred Heart Hospital, an institution we still sponsor and pray for, commissioned an interactive Sacred Heart bronze statue several years ago.  They have a life size version in the hospital gardens...it is a delight to watch people sit on the bench next to Jesus and children crawl up onto the open knee.  We have a small scale model of the statue near a main stairwell and close to our book of remembrance (honoring the stories of our sisters who have died)...fitting don't you think?

Blessings,

Monastery Mystery Revealed TWO

Greetings,

There were some interesting guesses during this second mystery item, and one person was quite close.  The crazy contraption held together by a paper clip is a stapler.  Yup, a monster stapling machine.  This was given to us at a time when we ran our own print shop and there was no such thing as copier machines that stapled for you.

We use this for compiling our special booklets for Feast Day Liturgy of the Hours (ie. our chanted Psalms for the upcoming Feast of the Sacred Heart) and for special Eucharistic celebrations at our Monastic Professions and Jubilees, as well as liturgy aids for guests who join us for Eucharist on Sundays.  Using this stapler we can print all the materials in the monastery using heavier paper for covers and lighter for the inside pages which we couldn't do using our copy machines.
 

You simply slide whatever you're stapling on the the 'V' plate and step down on the pedal at the base of the machine.  Some sisters can sit on a stool while doing this, but I have better luck simply standing and switching my stapling foot from right to left periodically. 

If you look closely at the metal plate...It's actually an "Acme" product.  The first time I used the stapler I nearly lost my one-footed balance (remember the other foot is stapling) thinking of Wile E. Coyote trying to use the machine!  Then realizing the Road Runner would be much faster at it than I was ; )

Blessings!

Preparing for the Sacred Heart

Greetings,

A statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
that 'blesses' us as we walk down the
Peace Chapel aisles for prayer.

Friday, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the feastday of our monastery.  We will commemorate the day with Liturgy of the Hours, Eucharist, and festive meal (I'm hoping for fresh pie).  In our Benedictine tradition, we look to Saint Gertrude the Great  who wrote of her visions and mystic experiences of the Sacred Heart during the last part of the 1200's.  Throughout all her writing, she kept returning to the theme of Jesus' love which he shares with us through the Sacred Heart.  She also penned several prayers to the Christ of the Sacred Heart.  Tomorrow and Friday, we'll share some of the many images of the Sacred Heart within the monastery.  Please pray for us as we prepare for this great Solemnity.



Saint Gertrude the Great, a late 13th century
Benedictine mystic, depicted in stained glass
mid-vision of Christ's Sacred Heart
in Bishop Martin Marty Chapel



Prayer to the Sacred Heart
Hail! O Sacred Heart of Jesus,
living and quickening source of eternal life,
infinite treasure of the Divinity,
and burning furnace of divine love.
You are my refuge and my sanctuary.
O my amiable Savior,
consume my heart with that burning fire
with which Yours is ever inflamed.
Pour down on my soul those graces
which flow from Your love,
and let my heart be so united with You,
that our wills may be one,
and mine in all things, be conformed to You.
May Your divine will be equally the standard
and rule of all my desires and of all my actions.
~ Amen

Blessigns,

Monastery Mystery Two

Greetings,

As we continue through Ordinary Time, here is yet another every day item from the monastery.  This item was old when brought to us in the 1970's to begin a second life here and is curiously shaped with bobbles and bits, but what is it?  Next week we'll post the answer, but offer any guesses as to this monastery mystery item in our comments below...hmmm...how could something that looks so strange be so integral to our simple life?

Blessings on Guessings,

Remembering

Greetings,

The act of remembering is important within the monastery.  We celebrate the history and ancestors of our community in remembering.  Each year during the June Chapter, we remember and celebrate the sisters who died during the year.  It is incorporated into our evening prayer of Vespers by lighting a candle in each sister's name, reading a reflection of her life, and showing a few pictures of her life throughout the years.  After each sister's reflection we sing the Suscipe, a chant that is sung at our Professions, Jubilees, and Funerals offering our whole life up to God and seeking his faithful support.

After commemorating each sister, we process out to the cemetery following the Prioress and sisters bearing baskets of flower petals.  The Prioress closes Vespers in the midst of our cemetery, blessing the graves of our sisters with holy water and leading us in honoring our beloved dead with flower petals.  It is a communal time of praying with our sisters who have been with the community since 1880; and also a time for sisters as individuals to go to the graves of dear friends, sisters, and even family members, to shower their grave with petals and offer a few prayers.  The silence of this solemn time is often interrupted by whispered stories, a few tears, and laughter too.
Blessings,


A springtime view of our Monastery Cemetery.  The graves in this portion are some
of the oldest and date back to the late 1890's. 
Those closest to the crucifix are our Mothers, superiors of the monastery.

Monastery Mystery Revealed!

Greetings,

A few guesses were registered via Facebook.  Most kept it general with "something to do with the bakery"...


Mary and Sister Marcine and the loafer that has been in use
for many decades at the monastery bakery.

The Monastery Mystery Item is what we call our "loafer".  Sister Baker and all her helpers have relied on this machine for so long that we aren't quite sure when it was even purchased!  We do appreciate all the lumps of dough it has kneaded, flattened, and rolled into a loaf over the decades.  We also know that when its familiar rattle is heard in the bakery; we will soon be enjoying a fresh baked treat!

Blessings,

Morning Praise

Greetings,

Last Friday and Saturday the whole Monastic Community gathered at the monastery for a few days of meetings...Chapter.  Each morning begins with our morning Lauds before moving from Chapel to Chapter room.  The first morning of prayer there was a little quiet whispering as sisters who worked away from home greeted friends in the pews.  But soon enough, we were all sitting in a reflective quiet until Sister Organist began to intone the call to prayer and opening song...but we weren't alone. 

All through out the sung portions of our prayer a little bird joined us with all her heart!  She must have been perched just outside one of the windows, but it sounded like she was seated right in the midst of choir among us.  She had a lovely voice that pipped up only as we began to sing the Psalms and verses.  There has been some debate as to what kind of bird she was; however, consensus seems to hold that she was a Baltimore Oriole because she had such a lovely call. 

If you too would like to join us for our Morning Praise of Lauds, prayer begins in the Peace Chapel at 7:00 AM Monday through Friday, 8:30 AM on Saturdays.  Sundays we move to the Bishop Marty Chapel at 8:30 AM for Lauds.  Even if you don't sing like an Oriole we'd be glad to see you there!

 Blessings,