Dear Friends, Praised be Jesus and Mary!

Being few in number has its perks… especially around our birthday’s. Being smaller we’re able to ‘personalize’ our birthday’s more than we can in a larger community. As you can see from the photos, it has been birthday central around Our Lady of Solitude lately! To the right, we have Sr Marie St Paul (Pirate Paul) whose birthday was Nov 19th. And flanking the left we have Princess Augustine(long story) whose birthday was Nov 25th. Pirate Paul is pictured with her birthday ship(named ‘The Pearl of Great Price’), a delicious ship-cake made special by our cake diva Sr Mary Fidelis. We laugh because all our birthdays are together…Sept., Nov., Sr Fidelis‘ is Dec. 23rd and Sr M Andre’s Jan. 16th. Thank you Jesus for the gift of life and for the beautiful reflection of You we see in each other!!!

Speaking of Birthdays…Come little Lord Jesus, come and make no delay!!! Holy Church puts those words on her children’s lips and in their hearts this Sunday as we begin the Advent journey; going forward with contrite and loving hearts to greet the All-Powerful Babe in Bethlehem. Let us go together, accompanying one another with our prayer and devotion, that at the end of this 4- week preparation we can be more and more like Our Holy Mother and the virgin-father St Joseph, they welcomed Jesus and His Kingdom with their whole lives and being. We must welcome Christ not only in our sentiments on Christmas night when it is so easy to be caught up in the beauty of the moment, but ALWAYS; in the nitty-gritty of our daily lives. Christ came to share, sanctify and redeem EVERY aspect of our lives, even the messy parts. So let us go to meet Him, carrying with us all our love, our hopes, disappointments, our pain-but most especially our GRATITUDE, that we can gaze upon the lovely face of God, and that we can KNOW His faithfulness in Jesus, the tiny Redeemer of the World.

The Christmas edition of the Stella Clarae Newsletter has just been sent to the printers…I’m not going to spoil the surprise and tell you what it is about. All I can say is that we hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed putting it together…we’ll just say it was a family affair! Be looking for it in the next couple weeks.

Although Thanksgiving has passed, we thought we could share with you this ‘Kitchen Clip’ of Sr Marie Andre with our prize turkey. She is all afright because for the first time in her monastery kitchen career(and she’s had a long one) she was going to grill the bird to free up the oven. But due to complications (not the grill, it was us) it went from being swathed in honey, then to the grill, back in the house, then to the oven for it’s final roasting. Though its beginnings were shaky, it ended up being absolutely delicious! We hope everyone’s Thanksgiving was equally as peaceful and delicious!!!

The title of this blog is taken from a old chant for Advent called ‘Rorate Caeli Desuper’. It is based on the book of Isaiah and is an exceptionally poignant hymn. It asks God to ‘rain down the Just One, the Lamb, the Ruler of the Earth’. This season for some is a lonely and isolating time, for those who have lost loved ones or who experiencing great trials- pain is felt more keenly during this time of year. I so much want to remind everyone that you are a part of a heavenly family, that you are eternally loved and awaited by Jesus…never lose hope and do not fear-the Lord is coming. For all who are unaware, Pope Benedict just released on Nov. 30th a new encyclical called ‘Spe Salvi’, which means ‘in hope we were saved’. I encourage everyone to read it, it is written to you from a Father who loves you and wants to share with you the grace and wisdom of God. You can download the letter from http://www.ewtn.com/

Time to wrap it up! Our love to you and your families! We remain united in anticipation of the Birth of the Lord

Sr Mary Blogger