Hidden Surprise

The greatest of gifts are often those we could never ask for, never dream of, or hardly expect. Or, if they are something we ask for, we often don’t comprehend what that something entails or really means until… it arrives! Christmas is here, and who could have planned such a celebration but God Himself?! A Messiah, a Just King, had been awaited for so long, but who could have imagined a humble, incarnate, God-made-man who had come to “[bear] our grief and [carry] our sorrows” (Isaiah 53:4)? As Pope Benedict said, “God is always faithful to His promises, but He often surprises us in the way He fulfills them.” Perhaps this is one of God’s greatest ‘joys’ – giving the unexpected, or fulfilling desires beyond His creatures imaginings! And what a cause for celebration for us, to know that our God loves us so much that He sent His only Son to save us, redeem us, justify us and bring us to that place that ‘no eye has seen or ear has heard!’ He surprised Joseph, astounded Our Lady, amazed the Magi, and caused the Shepherds to wonder at the mystery of His incarnation. Let it be so for us as we see before us the works of God! Merry Christmas to you from the Nuns!

We hope you enjoy the poem on our humble God. – To follow soon: news & picture of our New Postulant – Sr. Christy who entered this Advent! Pray for our Sister who has entered on a journey beyond imagining!

A Life Well Lived

Sr. Bernadette had an evangelization charism all her own. A true blooded Italian through and through, she enjoyed people immensely and unhesitatingly offered encouragement, counsel or a joke when it was needed. Initially, new sisters here often found it astounding when Sister Bernadette received hundreds of Christmas cards each year (no exaggeration!). But after witnessing her conversations with our own family members in the parlor, or a nurse in a doctor’s office, it is clear why she is so personally beloved by numerous friends. She often remarked that she “never met a person [she] didn’t like” – a testimony to her own geniality! Perhaps the underlying reason for such personable generosity was her untiring fidelity to Christ and her vocation. Even into her 80s, she would eagerly volunteer to fill in for an extra nocturnal adoration hour when needed. The adventures and challenges that filled her 60 years of religious life, as well as the 31 years before her entrance, became for her stories and lessons that she readily handed on to us. In a way, they are the inheritance that she has left us. Our only sister in her nineties, Sister spent the first several decades of her monastic life at Sancta Clara Monastery in Canton OH as an extern sister. Then she made her way south and lived here in the cloister, making garments for Infant of Prague statues and doing her best to keep up with the correspondence of the many friends she loved. She was, and still is, an incredible blessing to us and all who have come to know her over the years. Sister Bernadette passed peacefully to her eternal reward on the night of December 1^st, 2010. May God grant her eternal rest.