Happenings

Last Saturday was Mother Prioress’s feast day so we had a festive ( we call it public) tea in the work room with home made doughnuts from Sr Davina. Today – co-incidentally our blog birthday – we kept a recreation day for Mother’s feast too. This meant I spent the morning helping Sr D to prep a picnic lunch and popped in and out of the laundry to get washing done. It has been a glorious day so I got loads of sheets ( from guests staying) washed, ironed and dried in  super quick time and they smell lovely from all the fresh air.

     We had lunch and tea – with lemon cake from Sr Teresa Mary – in the court or sitting informally in the refectory. We can chat to each other freely today whilst we work and have more relaxation – it’s a sort of one day holiday so no noviceship classes either. Sr Teresa Mary goes into hospital tomorrow for a minor op so please keep her in your prayers. She won’t be back to work in the kitchen for at least a week after so…..we are taking it in turns to cook, it should be interesting, I am cooking Thursday, ha ha ha! I like to cook so am looking forward to it.

    A week or so ago our mad dog Chelsea ran down the cloister at such speed that she pulled a muscle in her left back leg – in which she already has arthritis. Her pityful cries could be heard all over the house and brought most of the community to her aid. As she couldn’t put any weight on it off to the vets she went for a steroid injection, it has helped but not fixed it. There is not much that can be done  really as she is already on meds and won’t rest. In her body she is 10years old – an old lady – but in her mind she is still a pup and she loves to run, chase sticks, bark at other dogs over the walls and get lots of fuss, she is an affection and lovely dog.

Over the weekend we had a small group of Secular Carmelites staying and two new people entered the order with a short ceremony in our chapel where they recieved the Carmelite scapular. It was nice to have them here and we hope they enjoyed it.

Now I have passed through my first year point everything is starting to be repeated. I can’t pretend to remember anything of the offices then so still can’t sing some of the more obscure saints antiphons, but I do remember the Secular Carmelites coming so I do have a sense of ‘the wheel turning’ if you know what i mean? The year has been full and challenging, good at times, bad at others, in otherwords  fairly normal i guess, but at times I have had to take one day at a time – especially when I can miss people so badly. One of my sisters gets married on the 16th August and I am the only one who won’t be there. I am the eldest of 6 children and my sister Danielle is the 4th, it’s already hard on that score, but hey, I came here knowing there would be big things to give up so I can’t complain can I? Ah yes, but often the theory  so much easier than the practice – I have to keep practising most things! It’s a strange paradox of this life that it is very routine, almost humdrum but at the same time challenging me to learn new ways of being, of moving  whilst standing still.

     All that probably sounds a bit crazy to some of you but hopefully some will understand too. It must be the sun making me reflective or something, so enough rattling on, please keep my family in your prayers at this exciting time especially Danielle and Chris, thanks and prayers, Sr M.T .

Our blog was born…

   today bloggers, we are one year old. Yes, a year ago today our aspirant Livi set everything up for us, typed in the first words and we were off. Now we have reached the greand total of 48,108 hits, which we think is good for a small community hidden in rural Staffordshire and almost unknown until we ventured into cyberspace.

    There were times when we got lost and often despaired -especially at the beginning, but with the help of noble bloggers and friends we have forged a way through and managed quite well. Thankyou for all your comments and questions which have been thought provoking, interesting and fun -please keep them coming. Thankyou too for all your support, prayers and interest in the way of life of a very simple and  small English community. 3 cheers for us all. Pax Sr Marie-Therese.

St James the Apostle – Feast.

    There is no doubt

that you are called

God calls you

according to the unique person

you are made to be.

 

In fact, God calls you

to the very best place

and way of life for you.

 

It may not be the easiest place

in the world to be

or the simplest thing to do.

 

But it is where you will be

most at home

most at rest within yourself

and best able to serve Jesus Christ,

This is taken from www.vocationquest.org – and also check out www.free2become.org/ – a beautiful video.

Loving God, may I take on the mind and heart of Christ, that I may hear your call for my life and embrace your world, through my prayer, my work and my life with Jesus Christ, Amen ( site as above).

I thought I would give you some food for thought on this Feast of St James who followed when Christ said ‘come follow me’. A blessed day to you all and special prayers for those who are discerning, Sr Marie-Therese.

One year today.

Hello again, today is the Feast of St Bridget of Sweden one of the co-patronesses of Europe – with St Teresa Benedicta of the Cross ( Edith Stein) and St Catherine of Siena. So Happy Feast Day to you all

 It is also the fourth anniversary of my reception into church and a year today since I entered here which is amazing really. On Friday it will be six months since my Clothing too. Time is flying so fast and the year has been very full, in some ways I feel like i have always been here and in others it seems like yesterday since i walked through the enclosure door, took part in our simple yet beautiful entrance ceremony and became a postulant. We don’t keep admission anniversaries but I had a nice surprise when it was mentioned in passing at choir practice as I thought no one would have noticed, how wrong I was and it was lovely. Today Abbot David came for his monthly visit from Buckfast – he comes to give us a talk and hear confessions – we have confession every week with our chaplain but it’s good to be able to go to Abbot David too and give Fr Edmund a week off. Please pray for me as I begin my second year in community, pax Sr Marie Therese.

Jaimie’s formation.

Jaimie is a postulant – nearly novice – with a community of 3rd order Franciscans in Peoria, USA. As she left a lovely  comment I was able to check out her community web site and blog which is definitely worth a visit. Find out lots more about this great community, follow Jaimie on her journey into a deeper relationship with Christ and keep her in your prayers especially now as she will soon be going into retreat before recieving the habit and becoming a novice – http://blog.franciscansisterspeoria.org – the link is also on the side. pax Sr Marie Therese.

St Mary Magdalene

Happy feast day of st mary magdalene – we all know who she was and what an inspiration she is. She reminds me that we are totally accepted and loved by Christ and that if we turn from the past – whatever it contains – we really can have new and vibrant life in Christ. I think she is awesome and would have chosen the name if I could have.

However, it is also Sr Mary Magdalen’s feast day, her first in community, and I would like to ask you all to join us in keeping her especially in your prayers today, and those who have also taken this name.

Today, Sr Mary Magdalen and I have been identifying a herb in our garden. Mother Anne said she thought it was St John’s Wort, but Sr Benedict thought not so out came Culpepper’s Herbal and a book on wildflowers and we identified it – it does help a lot that Sr is an artist so notices things that I don’t. It turns out that Sr Benedict was right – it is Loosestrife ( good for haemorrhage/bleeding in many forms ) not St John’s Wart. We had a nice time in recreation later looking at the Herbal and finding interesting uses for common things – did you know that you can stuff pieces of red beetroot up your nose to clear your head? Neither did we and it’s not something we are going to rush out and try, no it’s far nicer to eat instead. pax sr marie therese, St Mary Magdalene – pray for us.

Ora et Laboura.

This last week we have had some good things and some bad. It began badly when I checked a comment sent to this blog and found it was a hoax containing hundreds of virus’s and spyware – I was so shocked and mortified! I hadn’t approved the comment so it was never put on – don’t worry – but we had to call someone in to check it all and clear it – and we updated our protection again. I guess these things change so fast. I have always been very careful about clicking onto things so it is a first for me but I will now have to be even more careful – I imagine many people get caught out at sometime or other and thankfully we are now clear.

On a better note, we have managed to get a little fruit before the birds eat it so I have been picking josterberries – a hybrid of blackcurrants and gooseberries, they are large, black, sweet and very nice; gooseberries -though not many; raspberries and wonderfully, Sr Davina spied a redcurrant bush growing through a Laurel tree, so I did get some of those too. I have also discovered that we have lots of Chamomile growing all over the garden, so have been picking and drying it for teas and scented sachets. This means that for some of us recreations have been spent topping and tailing fruit and cutting the flower heads off chamomile. I now have some in an airing cupboard in bags and some in the old print room where I make jam – it smells great in there.

We had a nice – if challenging time on Wednesday when Abbot Cuthbert came from Oulton to help us with our office. It must be said in all honesty that we are not great musically. When I visited I noticed this but was impressed with the fact that the sisters were still singing, very obviously trying their best and giving it to God, which is the whole point, so rather than putting me off, it drew me in.

However, we do need help and Father Cuthbert – who is from the Solesme congregation and a very talented musician and liturgist – is going to come every week to ‘sort us out’ – think Whoopie Goldberg in ‘Sister Act’ – though I hope we are not quite that bad! But, maybe we are!!!. We were told some of our faults – firmly but gently, with humour and encouragement, and what we need to do to start correcting them – things like slowing down, emphasising words, keeping the rhythm and above all – Listen. Listen is the first word of out Rule and it seems we need to remember that and apply it in office too, after all, the only point of office is to turn our hearts, minds and souls – our holy being to God, and he does deserve our best. Perhaps it is my imagination but already we sound a little better though we do have a long way to go, hopefully it will be fun and pay off.

Please pray for us and Fr Cuthbert, to St Cecilia that we can begin to make beautiful music for our Lord. As always we keep you all in prayer too, pax, sr marie therese.

Happy St Benedict’s Day.

Today it is the Feast of St Benedict of Nursia our patron and patron of Europe. St Benedict actually has two feast days – the 21st March and today, because March is the pre-Vatican 11 date and today the post- Vatican 11 revised date although both have been used for some years. The March date falls in Lent so there is no festive tea. We actually keep the 21st March as our main celebration, so it is a Solemnity with two Vespers, today is a Feast, with one.

We are having tea with scones and jam at recreation and we are asking for St Benedict’s prayers, we also have Benediction in the evening.

Over the last few weeks our garden has continued to flourish and although I was initially a bit down at the pigeons eating all the currants ( that’s a novice gardener for you! ) I am laughing about it now. The first marrows are appearing and its amazing – at least for me as I grew them from seed so I am experiencing all the wonder of nature. I am working against the slugs though, a gardening magazine says they hate coffee grounds so I have been sprinkling them around the marrows and squash and saying a prayer. The aphids have been attacking some of the beans so I am making more nettle juice to stop it – it does work very well, but I keep forgetting to make it – probably has something to do with the fact that they are unpleasant to harvest and the juice smells awful – a guess that’s a small price to pay for getting some veggies though.

Sr Davina has been providing us with salad veg, strawberries and today for our Feast we had the first of the potatoes. In the court the birds have flown. Over two weeks we watched the newly hatched blackbirds grow steadily as they were very well fed by attentive parents. Sisters could often be found in the refectory looking out of the windows or in the cloister gazing into the nest and Chelsea was kept out of the court. I have never been a bird watcher but the experience of seeing this family has converted me! The most wonderful sight was 3 little heads popping up out of the nest, mouths gaping wide and calling for mom who arrived quickly and seemed to push her mouth down their throats to feed them asap. One was much bigger than the others and got out first, then I saw two sitting on a branch gazing through the window at me, no fear just interest, I guess they wanted a look into our home as we were theirs, I wondered who was watching who. All of the chicks now have homes in the trees nearby but the smallest keeps coming back to the nest and for a while mom came and fed him occasionally but now he too is fending for himself.

In the monastery life just potters on really. I am now refectorian as well as the other jobs and I am enjoying it. It doesn’t take long but it makes a difference,  I also now have a second habit which – and I know this sounds silly – feels like a treasure. I have noticed that since coming here my values are changing – I get real pleasure out of being given a new habit, it feels like an affirmation of my place here especially when I am so nervous about my forthcoming Chapter. Every 6 months we have to formally ask to continue with our novitiate. I spoke to Mother Abbess, she will call a council, they discuss me and vote, then I ask formally at Chapter in front of the whole community, I am told the result and Mother Abbess gives a talk. At Chapter I will kneel in the centre as I did on my Clothing day, and it is be powerfully reminiscent of it.

Yes, I enjoy small things much more now, a small kindness from a sister, a beautiful reading, watching the birds, seeing beauty in wildflowers ( or weeds), somehow more things touch me, perhaps because they speak of God in the  midst of us, they speak to me of our incarnate God who walked amongst us – Christ, who still does. Perhaps this is contemplation – looking beyond creation to the creator has always left me filled with awe..

      I wish  all joy and peace on this feast day, St Benedict – pray for us. Sr Marie Therese.