Dominican Life on Lotus Lane

Sr. Mary Catherine's Rosary and Funeral Mass Times

2012-02-15T08:42:00.003-06:00

The Rosary for Sr. Mary Catherine will be Wednesday, February 15 at 7:00 PM in the Monastery Chapel.
Sr. Mary Catherine's funeral will be Thursday, February 16 at 10:00 AM in the Monastery Chapel, procession to the cemetery and burial following (weather permitting).

Rest in Peace, Sister Mary Catherine, OP

2012-02-14T08:38:00.000-06:00

Our dear Sister Mary Catherine entered eternal life Monday, February 13 at about 2:30 PM. We will post information about her rosary and funeral when we know it. Please remember our sister in your prayers.

St. Catherine de Ricci

2012-02-04T09:20:00.003-06:00

St. Catherine de Ricci was a Dominican sister, a reformer who also merited to bear the marks of the stigmata. She was well known in her own lifetime and beyond for her meditations on the Passion of Christ and her letters, which were written to famous men and women of her time as well as saints, including St. Philip Neri, St. Charles Borromeo, and St. Mary Magdalene de Pazzi. In one of her letters she wrote, "My dearest son, let us so strive that we may run and obtain that desired reward...We live in a time in which running and taking a stand is more than we are used to doing. Considering the height of the mystery of our redemption which is presented to us in these days, how much more should we stand firm and persevere!" Catherine was a true mystic, filled with the wonder of God's love for His people and yet intensely practical and down to earth. May St. Catherine de Ricci intercede for us all as we run the race and stand firm to persevere!

Presentation of the Lord

2012-02-02T08:49:00.002-06:00

The Presentation of the Lord in the temple is a beautiful feast. Christ appears to us as a shining light to the nations, the glory of His people Israel, as we process to the church with our lighted candles. However, as Blessed John Paul II reminds us, this feast is also about Christ as a sign of contradiction. In his spiritual exercises presented to Pope Paul VI (in 1977, when he was still known as Karol Wojtyla), the Pope wrote, "The times in which we are living provide particularly strong confirmation of the truth of what Simeon said: Jesus is both the light that shines for mankind and at the same time a sign of contradiction. If now...Jesus Christ is once again revealing himself to men as the light of the world, has he not also become at one and the same time that sign which, more than ever, men are resolved to oppose?" This message rings even more true for us today in a world in which consecrated men and women (and Christians in general) are increasingly seen as a sign of contradiction, even as a threat, to the status quo. Let us truly follow Christ, whatever the cost, and shine like lights in the world!

Our novice, Sr. Bernadette Marie, celebrates the anniversary of her clothing today! You can see our post about this event HERE. Please pray for more vocations to the religious life!

The Angelic Doctor

2012-01-28T08:52:00.002-06:00

And you thought we were just being metaphorical!

We published a post on St. Thomas Aquinas last year (see HERE) but what can we say, we love St. Thomas so we decided to share a few more images and reflections!

St. Thomas looks kind of serious in this painting--even dour--but his writings are shining radiantly.

When St. Thomas was a young friar, his mother and brothers kidnapped him and forced him to live away from his Dominican brothers while they tried to convince him to choose another vocation. When his brothers sent in a woman of questionable virtue to tempt him, Thomas drove her out, and then, according to legend, he was girded with a special cord by the angels. This helped him live a life of perfect chastity. He never mentioned this episode himself but he is still a good one to pray for if you have trouble with chastity! (And it makes a great scene for artists to depict...)

Another representation of the episode in which St. Thomas heard the voice of Christ coming from the crucifix, "You have written well of me, Thomas. What do you ask?" And Thomas replied, "Only Yourself, Lord."

To sum up: "The new law of Christ is nothing other than the Holy Spirit working in our hearts through faith in Christ." (St. Thomas Aquinas, ST I-II, q.106)

God's Bountiful Gifts

2012-01-24T14:36:00.002-06:00

Our monastery has a driveway around the side with a porch and a window where mail, deliveries, and large donations of food or other items can be made. We call it the dock area (it's kind of an updating of the monastic "turn"). When you receive a page calling you to the dock, you never know what might be waiting for you, and yesterday this proved true again as a dear friend brought us a large supply of fresh cauliflower, cabbage, and bread!

Sr. Mary Veronica with an extra-large head of cauliflower!

We are always so grateful for anything that comes to the dock. We can use almost anything and everything we receive--and the very few things we can't actually use ourselves, we can distribute to other people in need. Your generous help and support, material, financial or spiritual, helps us to live our life of prayer and sacrifice for the whole world. Thanks so much to all the many people who remember us in our times of need! You are in our prayers every day!

Tet 2012--The Year of the Dragon

2012-01-23T08:47:00.000-06:00

Today is the official beginning of Tet, the Lunar New Year, but we started a little early with a celebration last night in our community room!

We began our celebration with our traditional New Year dance. This year was rather challenging as we danced with lighted candles! Our music was a lovely Vietnamese-English version of the song "Christ Be Our Light". We would like to share a few highlights:

We also played several fun games, including this one where you had to roll or throw a "pearl" into the dragon! As you can see, some of our sisters were able to wear traditional Vietnamese dresses over their habits (donated by a friend of the community).

A wonderful time was had by all! Thanks so much to the kind and generous benefactors who helped make our Tet celebration possible with snacks, treats and lucky money! We are so grateful to you!

A Work in Progress

2012-01-17T15:52:00.000-06:00

Our new website is up! It's still being worked on and is not a finished product yet, but then again, is any website ever a completely finished product? You can find our new website HERE. Keep checking in for changes and revisions! If you would like, you can still see our old website HERE.

Many thanks to all who have helped us during this time of transition and we'll say more about that later, too!

Think about it...

2012-01-14T18:57:00.000-06:00

If you are a single woman, maybe God is calling you to be a cloistered Dominican nun! You may ask, "Me?" But consider the number of seemingly unlikely people down through the centuries who have heard the call of Christ and followed that call joyfully. We know many of them are saints. You could be one of them! Please check out our website for more information--just click HERE.

You can contact us by email, phone or snail mail if you have any questions! In the meantime, consider this prayer for vocations by Blessed John Paul II:

We turn to you, Mother of the Church. Through your "fiat" you have opened the door which makes Christ present to the world, in history and in individual lives. In humble silence and in total availability you welcomed the call of the Most High. May there be many men and women who come to know, in our day, the invitation of your Son, "Follow Me!" May they find the courage to leave family, work and earthly hopes, and follow Christ along the road that He trod. Stretch out your motherly hand over missionaries everywhere in the world, over the men and women religious who assist the aged, the sick, the disabled, the orphaned; over those engaged in teaching; over those who live lives of faith and love within the cloister, pleading for the salvation of the world. Amen. (1988)

Celebrating the Epiphany

2012-01-09T15:57:00.000-06:00

With the birth of Jesus a star has been lit up in the sky. It is a most luminous vocation. It inspires caravans of people to take to the road. New paths have been opened up for mankind, paths which lead to Christ. Christ has become the heart for a new system of circulation which will last forever. By merit of being our Redeemer, Christ has become indispensable to us...Christ wants to be announced to the world..."

Pope Paul VI (Homily, January 6, 1973)

We enjoyed a wonderful solemnity of the Epiphany of Our Lord yesterday--hope you did, too! We spent the day adoring the Lord who has appeared to us...

...and also in recreation. Both were great!

As is our tradition, the professed sisters entertained the community in the morning. We played several fun games!

It may look easy, but have you ever tried to unwrap a gift while wearing oven mitts?

In the evening, the novitiate sisters entertained us with a lovely musical program.

Sor Irma plays and sings a Christmas carol in Spanish with a little help from Sr. Bernadette Marie and Sr. Mary Jeremiah

Our Tanzanian sisters, Sr. Marie Augustine and Sr. Marie Tersidis, performed a beautiful dance and sang in Swahili.

Thuy, our postulant, played the cello!

Everyone was surprised and delighted to receive a gift of cookies! Delicious!

Happy 2012!

2012-01-01T08:48:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to all! Today is the solemnity of Mary, the Mother of God--a holy day of obligation in the United States! We are having our New Year ceremony in the chapter hall today, probably very similar to last year, so check it out HERE.

May the Lord bless you and keep you during this New Year and always! Thanks to all our very generous benefactors and friends and family who support us and make our life possible. We are praying for you always!

It's Still Christmas!

2011-12-29T08:41:00.002-06:00

While the world is packing away the Christmas decorations and looking forward to New Year's Day, the monastery is still celebrating the Christmas season with Christmas prayers, songs, carols, decorations, and cheer! We didn't start decorating until about the 21st of December so we want to enjoy our Nativity scenes for a while longer.

This outdoor Nativity scene is usually on display in the monastery front yard, but this year for a change we set it up inside the cloister so the sisters could enjoy it!

The Holy Family gets a little decoration, too!

Our Nativity scenes range from the small and simple, like this cornhusk version in the kitchen (we thought it was kind of appropriate!)...

...to the more elaborate scene in our community room (complete with Christmas tree).

We wish you a joyous Christmas season, and pray the Holy Infant, our patron, will bless you in the coming year!

Thanks for your help!

2011-12-23T08:32:00.003-06:00

We have run out of our 2012 calendars! Thanks so much to all who supported us--we really need your help and prayers! We are grateful and we are praying for you, too. Keep watching this blog for our next fundraiser, which should hopefully debut in 2012!

Matachines 2011

2011-12-18T11:26:00.002-06:00

Last night we were delighted to welcome the matachines from St. Andrew's parish here in Lufkin.

They wore exceptionally beautiful costumes, as you can see...

and danced in the traditional style. Note the very young matachine at the end of the line!

It was a privilege and a delight to see them honor Our Lady of Guadalupe and Our Lord in our chapel! Thank you so much!

You can see last year's visit from the matachines from St. Patrick's parish (with more information about matachines in general) HERE.

Christmas Novena

2011-12-16T08:26:00.000-06:00

It's time again for our Christmas novena, which starts today and runs through December 24. This includes all our prayers and sung Masses, as well as our special novena prayer. We will be remembering you all, the readers of this blog, in a special way this year! May God bless you all and give you a joyful and blessed Christmas!

St. Lucy

2011-12-13T08:29:00.000-06:00

There are many saints with the name Lucy--there's even a Dominican Lucy, Blessed Lucy of Narni (we're not making this up!), but the Lucy we remember today is a virgin martyr from the early days of Christianity. She is the patroness of people who are blind, because according to legend, her eyes were put out. Today we pray especially for all who are blind or having trouble with their vision--physical or spiritual. May St. Lucy enlighten these days of Advent for us all!

Welcome, Sor Irma!

2011-12-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

Sor Irma, O.P. comes to us from the Dominican monastery of Santa Catalina de Siena in Puebla, Mexico. She will be staying with us here in Lufkin for about six months, learning English among other things, and we are delighted to have her! She is already praying the rosary with us (in English, that is) and singing a little at Mass, and she only arrived on Monday. We are so happy to renew and strengthen our ties to our Dominican nuns in Mexico, and pray Sor Irma will have a pleasant and helpful time here at our monastery. Please keep her in your prayers as well!

A Lot to be Thankful For...

2011-11-25T08:24:00.000-06:00

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday and hope you did too!

Sr. Bernadette Marie and Sr. Mary Gabriel make a wish!

Sr. Mary Veronica and one of the turkeys she prepared...

We always eat in the community room on Thanksgiving...which gives us an opportunity to talk while we eat (a rare privilege!)

Sr. Maria Rosario and Sr. Mary Catherine enjoying the delicious meal

Many thanks to our friends who helped make our Thanksgiving dinner possible! We are so grateful to all of you! May God bless you abundantly!

Retreat with Fr. Gabriel O'Donnell, OP

2011-11-24T14:36:00.000-06:00

We should admit right now that this picture was NOT taken at our monastery...none of the pictures we took turned out, unfortunately. But we still want to show you Father Gabriel O'Donnell, OP (if you don't know him already). He gave us a marvelous retreat on the theological virtues (faith, hope and charity) and the cardinal virtues (prudence, fortitude, justice and temperance), relating them to the monastic life--and he added a talk on humility as well, which was most welcome! Fr. Gabriel is the academic dean at the Dominican House of Studies in Washington, DC and we are so grateful he was able to take some time out of his busy schedule to come and give us this retreat. We hope you will be able to return to see us again one day soon, Father!

Presentation of Mary / Pro Orantibus Day

2011-11-21T08:32:00.000-06:00

Today we celebrate the memorial of the Presentation of Mary in the temple, an event not mentioned in the Gospels, but significant because it symbolizes Mary's complete dedication to God. Blessed Pope John Paul II said, "Mary appears to us today as the temple in which God has placed his salvation and as the handmaid who was totally consecrated to the Lord." And Yves Congar, OP writes, "As the type of all faithful souls and of the Church herself, Mary expressed spiritually and supremely in her life that 'presentation' which, for each one of us, is to begin by the service of faith and to be consummated in heaven."

Today is also Pro Orantibus Day, a day "for those who pray", meaning for cloistered religious. We hope you will join us in praying for more vocations to the cloistered religious life and especially to our monastery!

Christ the King

2011-11-19T17:44:00.000-06:00

"And now, Lord Jesus, come and remove the stumbling-blocks within the kingdom which is my soul, so that you who ought to may reign in it. Greed comes along and claims its throne in me; arrogance would dominate me; pride would be my king. Comfort and pleasure say: We shall reign! Ambition, detraction, envy, anger fight within me for supremacy, and seem to have me entirely in their power. But I resist insofar as I can; I struggle against them insofar as I receive your help. I protest that Jesus is my Lord. I keep myself for him since I acknowledge his rights over me. To me he is God; to me he is the Lord; and I declare: I will have no king but the Lord Jesus! Come then, Lord, rout them by your power and you will reign in me, for you are my king and my God, who grant victories to Jacob."

--St. Bernard of Clairvaux

Annual Retreat Time

2011-11-15T14:34:00.000-06:00

Tonight we begin our annual retreat. Our retreat master this year will be Fr. Gabriel O'Donnell, OP, and we are really looking forward to his conferences. We will finish our retreat on November 24. Please keep us in prayer and we will be praying for you in a special way during this graced time!

Friends and Family

2011-11-10T16:39:00.001-06:00

People often ask us, "Do you ever get to visit your family and friends?" Well, we don't leave the enclosure to visit them, but they can come to us! We have several parlors--that is, rooms where nuns can visit with people who come to see them.

Sr. Mary Lucy and family

Sr. Mary Thomas and family

Sr. Miriam and family

We do have a fixed counter or other separation to maintain enclosure, but this is simply a reminder that we are cloistered nuns, separated from the world. It doesn't prevent us from enjoying time with our families! Usually, a family is allowed to visit for a few hours each month. If a nun's family does not live close enough for a monthly visit, she may be allowed to spend longer periods with her family over a couple of days--especially if they don't come very often. We encourage our family and friends to come join us in the chapel (on the extern side, of course) when we pray together or have daily Mass, and many of them do this.

But our visitors aren't limited to family! Sometimes we get some surprises, like a recent visit from our dear friend Fr. Ron Foshage, MS. He came up from Jasper, TX to hear our confessions and brought along a marvelous Protestant family of talented musicians who played for us. It was a wonderful ecumenical encounter. And to our delight, Fr. Ron joined in and played the violin!

There were three violins, a viola, and a cello. Everyone played beautifully!

In addition, some of the younger girls sang for us! Their harmony was simple but lovely.

We thank God for all His many gifts, which He brings to us without us ever having to leave the enclosure!

Dominican All Souls Day

2011-11-08T08:26:00.000-06:00

That's right! Just as we have a Dominican All Saints day to remember in a special way all our Dominican saints, we also have a Dominican All Souls day to remember all our deceased brothers and sisters of the Order. It's sometimes said that it's good to live as a _____(fill in the blank with a religious order you choose!) but die as a Dominican. Why? Probably because of all the prayers, Masses and general suffrages for the dead that we have as an Order. We have no less than three special days for praying for our dead (our parents, our friends and benefactors, and today's remembrance). Mechthild of Magdeburg once had a vision of a deceased Dominican friar suffering in Purgatory. He explained that because of the dignity of the Dominican Order, he did not go to hell, but he would be in Purgatory for some time! He asked her for some help (prayers and Masses offered for his soul). It's impossible to know the validity of such a vision, but it does make you think! Incidentally, if you would like us to remember your beloved dead in prayer this month (and always) just send their names to us HERE and we will do it!

Dominican All Saints Day

2011-11-07T08:30:00.002-06:00

Today we celebrate all the Dominican saints--and there's a lot of them. In addition to the many Dominicans who lived holy lives and died more or less peacefully, there are over 100 Vietnamese martyrs in the Dominican family, and quite a few newly beatified Dominicans from the Spanish Civil War, as well as all the Dominicans who were martyred in China and Japan and other places. And we'd like to remember some of the Dominican saints who are patrons of sisters here at the Monastery:

Blessed Sybillina

St. Catherine de Ricci
St. Agnes of Montepulciano

St. Margaret of Hungary

St. Dominic

St. Thomas Aquinas

St. Rose of Lima

Of course, we should also mention some "honorary" Dominicans who have namesakes in our community as well--St. Mary Magdalene (Apostle to the Apostles and the first preacher of Christ's resurrection!) and St. Augustine, who wrote the Rule that Dominican friars and nuns still follow today. May all the holy Dominican men and women intercede for us today and every day!