Blog Archives

Laetare-Rejoice!

3/31/2019

Rejoice, O Jerusalem, and meet together all you who love her; rejoice exceedingly, you who have been in sorrow, that you may leap for joy, and be satiated with comfort from her breasts. I rejoiced at the things that were said to me: we shall go into the house of the Lord. - Introit from Laetare Sunday

Pausing in the midst of the somberness of Lent to encourage us to run the race to the finish, Holy Mother Church turns our attentions to the coming joys of our Redemption. Joy is a fruit of suffering with Christ, and our dear Mother is our best guide to imitating Him, so we turn to her today asking her to obtain for us the grace to suffer well with Christ so as to rejoice in and with Him for eternity.

Mary, my Queen, my Mother dear!
Behold me at thy feet,
Oh deign thy servant's heart to cheer
And teach me what is meet
For me to do to honor thee,
And best to serve thy Son;
Obtain, sweet Lady, that in me
At least thy will be done.
From a poem to our Blessed Mother

Evangelization with Joy

3/28/2019

Evangelization with joy becomes beauty in the liturgy, as part of our daily concern to spread goodness. The Church evangelizes and is herself evangelized through the beauty of the liturgy, which is both a celebration of the task of evangelization and the source of her renewed self-giving. - Evangelii Gaudium, 24

Angelus Domini...

3/25/2019

Strengthen in our minds, we beseech Thee, O Lord, the mysteries of the true faith; that we who confess Him who was conceived of a Virgin to be true God and man, may deserve by the power of His saving resurrection to attain to eternal happiness.

Father of Western Monasticism

3/21/2019

Spring

3/20/2019

According to the calendar, today is officially the first day of spring. Be that as it may be, it has felt like spring in Santa Rosa for a while and we have treated it as such.

Hail, Holy Joseph, Hail!

3/19/2019

"Hail, holy Joseph, hail! Chaste spouse of Mary, hail!" begins a well-loved devotional hymn, one of the hymns we sing in honor of St. Joseph on his feasts and on Wednesdays throughout the year. Today is one of great conventual joy. The silence and austerity of Lenten disciplines give way to the celebration of the Solemnity. Even the bright flowers on the altar proclaim the Church's veneration of so great a saint.

Our Lady's Day

3/18/2019

Saturday, traditionally dedicated specially to the honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is a Marian day in the convent as well. Together we renew our total consecration to Jesus through Mary and honor her by our devotional practices. In imitation of her hidden life, we thoroughly clean the convent each Saturday, but the day is also marked by a wide variety of apostolic activities.

Lenten Wisdom

3/12/2019

The saints, friends of God and our friends, traveled this earthly journey before us and are ever ready to help us on our path to heaven.

Novena to St. Joseph

3/10/2019

St. Joseph, Spouse of the Mother of God and Foster Father of Jesus, is our father in a special way. To him we confide our temporal wants, to him we confide our vocations, to him do we go when in need spiritually or temporally. Each year, we pray a novena leading up to his feastday, thanking him for his care of our Community and entrusting to him our petitions.

"Memento Homo..."

3/6/2019

Meménto homo, + quia pulvis es, et in púlverim revertéris.
Remember, man, + that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.

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