News: Blog
November 3, 2011
We are working very hard at our candy production, getting ready for the Christmas rush. The majority of our sales for the year are just before Christmas. Everybody is on board to help.
Sisters Myra and Grace cooking candy
We have had a very mild and beautiful autumn. To date there has been no killing frost so flowers in the gardens are still blooming and it is very pleaseant to be out planting fall bulbs and digging up dahlia tubers. The trees still have some leaves on them and the color is still vibrant.
Sr. Martha planting bulbs
October 20, 2011
Mother Nettie and Sr. Martha attended our General Chapter in Assisi Italy in September. The abbots and abbesses from all of our houses all over the world attended along with a monk and nun delegate from each region. Sr. Martha was elected for the U.S.A. region. It turned out to be a historic meeting. We were officially recognized by the Holy See as being one order, having one Chapter and one Constitution. Previously we had parallel structures and a Mixed General Meeting. We are now one!
Mother Nettie at the Chapter
Dom Brendan and Sr. Martha at the Chapter
August 21, 2011
Yesterday, on the feast of St. Bernard our postulant Janet O'Meara received the habit of a Cistercian novice. Janet chose to change her name to Sr. Anna Mary; a most appropriate name as her patroness is Anna the prophetess who after being widowed lived a life of prayer and fasting in the Temple in Jerusalem. Sr. Anna was widowed several years ago and after retiring as a professor of theology became a very frequent visitor and volunteer at the Abbey. Since she was her all the time she finally asked to enter; believing that the Lord was calling her to the fullness of Cistercian life. We are very happy to receive Sr. Anna Mary into the community!
Sr. Anna Mary
Our Sr. Ciaran had the opportunity to visit our sisters in Norway for a few weeks this summer. She was able to see many of the sites of central Norway and was there to help celebrate St. Olaf's feast day, July 29th ; a very big day in Norway. She is pictured her visiting the Cistercian ruins at Monkeby where several monks are refounding the monastery.
August 2, 2011
It is nearly 2 years since the passing of our dear Mother Columba. The annversary date is September 2nd. Mother Columba had a wish that we would have a Mary statue in front of the Church. She often talked about it the last year of her life. Her wish is now in process of becoming a reality. We have engaged a sculpture, Philip Howie to create a bronze of Our Lady of the Mississippi. He is in the final stages of the design. We received many memorial gifts from M. Columba's family and friends. One we have a final date for the casting of the sculpture we will have a blessing of the bronze; inviting her family and friends. From the models we have seen it will be a beautiful memorial for her and a wonderful addition to our Abbey.
Philip Howie creating the pedestal for the bronze of Our Lady of the Mississippi.
June 15, 2011
At the end of May a meeting of the International Cistercian Associates gathered at Clark College. There were associates from Spain, France, Africa, New Zealand, South America and other places. Our Iowa Cistercian Lay Associates hosted the meeting. On May 26th the group stopped by to visit us on their way to a river boat ride and lunch.
Mother Nettie and Sr. Martha attended the regional Meeting at our monastery of Holy Cross in Berryville, VA. The meeting focused on preparations for the General Chapter in September which will be held in Assisi, Italy. Both will attend that meeting.
Today we had a group visit who were on a NUN RUN. The group was from the DesMoines diocese. During several days the young women visit several monasteries and convents in three states. We were very impressed as they arrived at 10:00PM last night and were present at Vigils at 3:45AM today.
May 31 ,2011 Feast of the Visitation
Today our novice "J" received the habit of a Cistercian novice. She also chose the new name Rachel Marie as her new name. Rachel was born in northern Iowa and has lived the last several years in Cedar Rapids, Iowa working as a financial adviser for a national investment firm. We are so happy to have another native Iowan in our community.
During the clothing ceremony the community sang the Servant song at Rachel's request.
May 14, 2001
During the weekend of May 1st we had several out of town friends and benefactors visiting for the weekend. These included our dear friends Al McDonald and his wife Suzie who hosted a brunch on Sunday Morning after Mass.
Spring has really sprung here at Mississippi Abbey. After lots of cool and rainy weather we had some warm days which allowed our spring flowers to bloom.
What has been most exciting are all the variety of birds we are seeing this spring. For several years now a pair of orioles have stopped by for a day or two in the spring but would never stay. At the first sight of them this year I ran out and put out a feast of oranges and grape jelly and nectar for them. They stayed! and there are three pair of them, sometimes all six are at the feeder at once. Their color is so intense and beautiful. It is such a treat to see them around all the time. We also regularly see hummingbirds, indigo buntings, goldfinch and bluebirds to name a few.
April 14, 2011
We had the great pleasure of having Fr. Michael Casey from our abbey of Tarawarra in Australia here last week to give us classes. Fr. Michael has written several books on Cistercian life and the spiritual life. He has two new books coming out soon. The classes were on religious life yesterday, today and the challenges for tomorrow.
March 30, 2011
At the beginning of the month Srs. Gail and Martha attended the first regional formation meeting at our monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers Georgia. Sr. Gail went as vocation director and Sr. Martha acted as the meetings facilitator. All the U.S. houses participated. The focus of the meeting was to learn about the Millennials and to collaborate on vocation promotion. The monks served their biscotti which is made by the monks and which they sell. This was the best biscotti anyone ever tasted. It was softer than most biscotti and very flavorful .http://www.holyspiritmonasterygifts.com/Biscotti/products/34/
March 4, 2011
Winter is finally waning in Iowa. Most of the snow is gone - for now. I imagine there will be a few more good storms before spring finally comes. We've had a lot of wildlife come right up to the abbey. The other night one deer came across the front lawn as we were praying Vespers, and then another and another; 6 in all. I saw 2 a few days ago cleaning up birdseed at the bird feeders right next to the house. Our Sr. Regina is an avid birder. She keeps her back door spread with birdseed. She has a possum who visits regularly. She says "who needs TV when you have all this to watch!"
February 8, 2011
Today is our chaplain's Fr. Xavier, from New Melleray Abbey birthday. He is a big football fan and so is our Sr. Charlene. She is also a great cook and baker and cake decorator. She made this birthday cake for Fr. Xavier. You can't see it too well but all the football players on the cake have Fr. Xavier's face. He said this morning that he didn't think he could tackle a marshmallow.
February 2, 2011
Feast of the Presentation
We woke up to a very snowy and cold day today. We got 13 inches overnight which I believe is a record for us! Our dear chaplain Fr. Scott Bullock drove in from town early this morning for Mass and got his car stuck out on route 52, about 2 miles from the abbey. He hiked in the rest of the way through snowdrifts a couple of feet deep. We are grateful for his dedication.
outside the Church door
interior garth
January 22, 2011
We had the most incredible Christmas tree for Christmas. One or two of the sisters volunteer to decorate the tree. This year Sr. Grace volunteered. She is very creative and a good artist. The theme she decided on was Noah's Arch. She made the ornaments out of salt, flour and water. She made bows of various colors to represent the rainbow. One Sunday in Advent she got several of the sisters to help her paint the ornaments. We cut the tree down three days before Christmas and decorated the day before Christmas Eve. The tree didn't go down until the day after the feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. We follow the liturgical seasons rather than the secular for celebrations.
The tree included Noah and his wife and their three sons and daughters-in-law; not to mention the animals that went into he arch two by two!
In November we welcomed our new novice Janet Wegner into the novitiate. Janet is a native Iowan. She grew up in northern Iowa and has spent the last several years living in Cedar Rapids, working as a financial analyst.
Janet Wegner Sr. Rebecca Stramoski, our novice director
January 12, 2011
Please check the link on our home page for a special retreat that is being offer this year around the country based on our DVD!
December 2, 2010
Apologies for not updating for some time but I will try to catch you up to date on this blog. We welcomed home our Sr. Kathleen on August 14th. She was in Rome working as secretary at our Generalate. Two weeks later she took on the job of production manager for our candy season for the first time and is doing a marvelous job. We will start winding down production as we increase shipping. These next two weeks are very busy for us.
Sr. Regina, Sr. Mary Ann, Sr. Kathleen
In October our friend BJ Weber was honored by University of Dubuque for the great ministry he has in NYC. We had him for supper the day before the event. BJ had a serious stroke this summer but has recovered very nicely from it.
On October 30th we were treated by a visit from 3 trick or treaters and their parents Carrie and Tom Pins. We needed an education as to what a ninja was and if they were good or bad and were awed at the good witches dress that had a skirt that lit up. Of course they went away with lots of Trappistine Creamy Caramels.
M. Gail, Rev. BJ Weber, M. Nettie
Megan, Mitchell, Joseph
On the feast of All Saints, November 1st we had the great joy of welcoming our Sr. Charlene more fully into community. Charlene made her simple profession after Lauds in the Chapter Room. Charlene is from Canada and is a wonderful community person who spreads cheer wherever she goes. See the new gallery for more pictures.
The Saturday after Thanksgiving we had a shower for our friend Sr. Janet Ryan who is starting a L'Arche in St. Louis, MO. She brought with her two core members from the Clinton, IA L'Arche community. We got a full update from Sr. Janet on the progress of the L'Arche. They are hoping to move in at the beginning of 2011. Becky and Janice, the core members from Clinton had a lot of fun open the shower gifts. We are very proud of what Sr. Janet has accomplished. Sr. Janet was a long term guest with us several years ago when she was discerning vocation.
Becky, Sr. Rebecca, Sr. Janet Ryan
M. Gail, Becky, Sr. Janet Ryan, Janice, Sr. Martha, Sr. Grace
August 5, 2010
Our Sr. Mary Ann Sullivan celebrated her Golden Jubilee on July 31st. We celebrated a Mass of Consecration at 10:30 AM followed by a festive dinner in our refectory. Sr. Mary Ann's sister Rita attended from California along with her brother John from Chicago. Many nieces and nephews, grandnieces and nephews, cousins and dear friends were also there. Dom Brendan presided at the Mass and several monks came from New Melleray for the celebration. It was a lovely day. We particularly marveled at how much the grandnieces and nephews had grown. Mary Ann's grandnephews Thomas and Noah read the Mass readings and grandnieces Brianna and Nikki played a duet for the post Communion. It really was a marvelous day and a lot of fun visiting with her family and friends.
M. Nettie & Sr. Mary Ann
Sr. Mary Ann renewing her vows.
June 28, 2010
This past weekend the five women who were with us for forty days and are in our DVD accepted our invitation to come back for a visit with us. They were very excited about coming and all was planned. Thursday we received an email from Sheila's daughter saying that her mother had suffered a broken leg while caring for their horses. So that was a great disappointment. She is doing okay but of course could not travel.
So only three women finally arrived Friday night. But the rest of the weekend was one marvelous reunion Laura, Liz and Sarah shared with us their life journey since their time with us.
The following are some points they mentioned as they spoke with us together and individually.
Laura, a Spanish and French teacher has taken multiple physical education courses for that she can also teach physical education. She loves her long reflective hikes in the Arizona desert.
It was wonderful seeing them. We hope to see them again!
We would like to share with you the Chapter talk given for the feast by our M. Gail Fitzpatrick.
Feast of the Sacred Heart - June 11, 2010
One of the most beautiful images of the Sacred Heart, and one that expresses the significance of this feast for me, is Saint Bernard’s image in Sermon 61 on the Song of Songs. He likens the pierced heart of Christ and the wounds in his hand and feet to the clefts in a rock. “The secrets of his heart are laid open through his wounds.” (61:4)
The clefts in the rock. First of all they are an opening. You can look into these openings. They reveal the inner being/ life of the Rock – Christ.
The clefts – the wounds of Christ, especially the wound in his heart, are like a cave or cavern – an opening that may be mysterious and dark, but that invites us to explore the depths within. What meets us as we slowly move through this opening is a vista of incredible beauty. God is beautiful. We may not think about his beauty a lot, but any ray of beauty in our world is a simple reflection of that absolute beauty that is God. When we catch a glimpse of real love in another person we are touched by the beauty.
The beauty of God is love - the total gift of love of the Son for the Father and of the Father and the Son for each one of us – and for all people of all times.
Thru this sacred gap, you might call it, God’s radiant beauty streams through – like sunlight thru a chasm.
The wound in the heart of Christ opens up for us the vision of love beyond anything we can imagine – but it is real. It is there in the humanity of Jesus. Nothing could reveal God more fully than Christ’s open heart.
Recently I have been reading a book on Judaism and the author translates a verse of Psalm 23 like this: Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
God is beautiful and we can see that beauty, and what’s more wonderful, we can actually bear that beauty in our own heart.
A second aspect of our contemplating the wounds of Christ in the clefts of the rock is that these openings can be understood as a breaking open of the very flesh of God. Hearts can be broken open in many ways. Once Jesus said to one of his friends:If you knew how much I love you it would break your heart. So there’s a breaking of a heart in sheer joy, and there’s a breaking …in sheer sorrow. But the breaking open of the heart isn’t the end. It’s only the beginning of an expansion in love, in compassion.
I’d like to share with you a poem of Mary Oliver in which she describes this very reality.
by Mary Oliver in New and Selected Poems Vol. 2.
Here is a story
To break your heart,
Are you willing?
This winter
The loons came to our harbor
And died, one by one,
Of nothing we could see.
A friend told me
Of one on the shore
That lifted its head and opened
The elegant beak and cried out
In the long, sweet savoring of its life
Which, if you have not heard it,
You had better hurry to where
They still sing.
And, believe me, tell no one
Just where that is.
The next morning
This loon, speckled
And iridescent and with a plan
To fly home
To some hidden lake,
Was dead on the shore.
I tell you this to break your heart,
By which I mean only
That it break open and never close again
To the rest of the world.
Mary Oliver is describing a tragic event that is all too timely today…we see it happening in our Gulf Coast. But to return to our topic…
Christ’s heart was pierced on the cross, but that wasn’t the first time it had been broken open.
We can remember the moment on the Mt of Olives when he looked toward Jerusalem and wept. I think those tears were real. Or when he looked with sadness on the young man who was too rich to let go…to follow Christ. Mark tells us so many times that Jesus was saddened and amazed at their unbelief. Many left him. ((There he was – offering himself to them, offering the Word of life, the water that would quench their thirst, the bread of life that would ultimately become his own flesh, they would not believe).
So by Calvary, Jesus’ Heart had been broken open many times.
You and I know something, even if only an inkling, of that sort of wound in our own hearts…both the surprise of joy that can feel like our hearts are breaking, and the sorrow of some loss or misunderstanding or disappointment. This breaking open of our hearts really unites us very deeply with Christ. Everything Christ lived and suffered is ours – we are his wounded body as Father James reminded us. Our suffering, too, is meant to open, expand our hearts to embrace all. This can happen because it is Christ’s love moving through us.
Bernard speaks of the eloquently. Why should I not gaze through the clefts in the rock?The secret of his heart is laid open thru the clefts of his body; the mighty mystery of loving is laid open, laid open too, the tender mysteries of our God, in which the morning sun from on high has risen upon us.
Surely his heart is laid open through his wounds. 61:4
6/7/10
Our community retreat was preached this year by Fr. James Palmigiano a monk of our monastery of St. Joseph in Spencer, MA. The conferences were uplifting and life-giving; some of the best we ever had.
On May 29th we celebrated the silver jubillee of our Sr. Ciaran and Sr. Emily Ann from All Saints Convent outside of Baltimore where Sr. Ciaran began her religious life and made vows 25 years ago with Sr. Emily Ann. They got the nickname "twins". Sr. Ciaran left All Saints to become a Catholic and subsequently entered Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey. All Saints was an Anglican community but last year entered the Catholic Church. Many New Melleray monks came over to help us celebrate. It was a beautiful day for all.
4/15/10
This past Sunday we had our annual Volunteer/Employee Eucharist and party to express our appreciation to our wonderful employees and volunteers. In the past we held the party on the Sunday after New Year's and almost always we had bad weather and few people attended because of it. So that more people could attend we moved it to April. It worked and we had a full house!
We wish all of our friends a very blessed Easter season!
3/24/10
We had the blessing of our senior wing this past Sunday. Our architect consultant, David Richen and his wife, Mary Sue were here from Oregon. Dave gave words of friendship and reminded us that we had begun the process of planning this building three years ago, almost to the day. Ken Johnson, our architect played the guitar and sang a song he wrote "Welcome home sister". Dom Brendan spoke about how our interior forms our place and our exterior place helps to form our interior. We all then processed around the building stopping to pray and bless with holy water. Our special guest was Archbishop Kucera. After the blessing we gave tours to explain the different rooms and spaces and served refreshments in our refectory. It was a very special day.
3/18/10
Mother Nettie and Sr. Martha attended the Regional meeting at the monastery of the Holy Spirit Abbey in Georgia. Sr. Martha was the delegate from our house. Each community elected a delegate. From those delegates a monk and a nun was elected to represent the region at the General Chapter, where all the Cistercian Abbeys meet from all over the world. Sr. Martha was elected. The meeting will be held in September of 2011 in Assisi, Italy. To say the least she is very excited about it. The main topic of the regional meeting and the general chapter is formation; both initial and ongoing.
Our Sr. Kathleen who is currently at the Generalate in Rome is home for a visit this week. She arrived in time for our St. Patrick's Day party. Being her last name is O'Neill she was happy to be there. This is the first time Sr. Kathleen has seen our new building. She left for Rome last year the day construction began. She will be going back to Rome on Monday and returning to OLM for good in August.
M.Nettie, Sr. Kathleen, Sr. Ciaran
2/20/10
We just finished a wonderful week with Sr. Lyn Osiek a scripture scholar from St. Louis, MO. The topic for study was women in early Christianity. We learned about Jewish and pagan culture during this time. We studied the original texts of many early Christain writers including the Marytrdom of Perpetua and Felicity. Sr. Lyn has traveled and studied extensively in the Middle East and showed us many slides that made our topic really come alive.
2/2/10
Today we celebrated the beautiful feast of the Presentation. We consider it the end of the Christmas season. It is a feast we celebrate with lots of candles, symbolizing Christ our Light entering the Temple. This year we had our procession from the chapter room to the church. We had our new ramp to process down with enough room to walk two by two. Doing this for the first time made it very special.
January 30, 2010
We have had a very busy couple of weeks. Moving into our new spaces was a lot more fun than moving out last April. We are pretty much settled in and using all the new spaces. We are waiting for the new library shelves to arrive. They should be here soon. We can then get the books out of the dorm and out of boxes so we can find the books we want to read. I will post pictures when the rooms are completely ready.
On January 26th, the feast of our founders, 22 monks came to tour our new spaces, pray Midday prayer with us and share a festive Italian dinner.
I know many have heard that our Sr. Sherry was diagnosed with breast cancer a few days after Christmas. She had a lumpectomy and will start radiation treatment soon. She has a very good prognosis as the cancer was very small and not the aggressive type. Please keep her in prayer as she starts her radiation treatments.
