aised be Jesus Christ! Grace and peace to ALL! ‘Lady thou art so great and powerful, that whoever desires grace yet does not turn to thee; would have his desire fly without wings.’ Those beautiful words come from the pen of Dante, and are a beautiful lead-in to the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary which is August 15th, but officially starts with First vespers, Tuesday evening August 14th(it is such a FANTASTIC feast it can’t all be contained in one day!!!). This feast has been celebrated in the Eastern church since the 6th century, and in the Roman church since the 7th century. In the year 1950, Pope Pius XII (of happy memory) declared the Assumption a Dogma and defined it as the belief whereby the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the end of her earthly pilgrimage was taken up body and soul into the glory of heaven. The Lord, Who preserved Mary from all sin and created her Immaculate at her conception would not let her body know the slightest bit of corruption. This feast instills in all of us, her children by faith, the great hope we have in her powerful and loving intercession as we seek our sanctification and that of others in the midst of our daily duties. It fills us with courage to keep on the path of virtue and holiness as we face life’s daily trials; for we have an everlasting home in Heaven.
Shhhh. This is a ‘sneak-peak’ of the upcoming, updated Dreams to Reality
page,which should be up and running sometime this month. The crucifix you see is one of the items that has been commissioned and hand-carved for our new monastery by our Italian wood-carver friend, Alexander. Our precious Lord will be hung in the main sanctuary on the public side. The corpus is life-sized, and VERY beautiful. The first time we gazed upon Him, it was through tear-filled eyes, for He is SO lovely. We know that it will be a source of grace and meditation for all who gaze upon Him.
We received a great question this past week, it was concerning why none of the sisters here at Our Lady of Solitude are addressed as Mother.
The reason being as we are still in what is officially called a period of foundation. Being still under the auspices of Our Lady of the Angels in Hanceville, Al., Rev Mother M Angelica is still considered our Abbess. Before we left on this foundation Mother Angelica appointed Sr Marie Andre to be the acting superior (house superior). So she fulfills, with tremendous love and wisdom I must add, all the practical duties an acting superior would perform…from keeping us in line to accepting new vocations, as well as the practical and daily needs that arise.Once we have established our new monastery, and are papally enclosed Sr Marie Andre(see her photo above with our new novice Sr Jeanette Marie)will be installed by the Bishop as Abbess and will assume the title of Mother, or Rev. Mother.
Thanks for tuning in again. Sr M Blogger apologizes for being so tardy this week. All the sisters send their love and prayers to those who have left such loving and heartfelt comments; and to those who are tuning in for the first time a hearty Franciscan WELCOME! Pax et Bonum!
In Jesus, mary and Joseph- Sr Mary Blogger
That crucifix gave me goosebumps… beautiful.
Dear Sisters,
I had the wonderful privelege of being at mass on the morning you blessed women were in Flagstaff. I also had the great honor of meeting and talking with Sr. Esther Marie in the gift shop. I was struggling with the heartache of losing my fiance a few weeks before this and just walking in to church and seeing all of you there made my heart fill with joy. As I spoke with Sr. Eshther Marie I could feel the Spirit so strong in her and was filled with hope when she said she’d remember us in her prayers. I have visited your website often and it still puts a smile on my face even when I don’t feel like smiling! I keep all of you in my prayers along with your goal of building your beautiful monestary. I pray that when it is complete I can come visit and pray in the desert with all of you. God bless you and thank you for your prayers.
Elizabeth Chavez
What happened to Sister Joanna? I have not seen any pictures or heard mention of her since christmas.
Yes, I have wondered as well. Why did she leave? She is back in Alabama I believe. Why no mention of her departure? I love all the Sisters. I love your site and the blog. Please keep me in your prayers. God Bless!
So delighted that you sisters have a blog!!
I am so entranced by what you ladies are doing. Just the thought of possibly becoming a sister in your monestary brings me joy and a giant smile to my face. I simply read your blogs and watch the progress of the new monestary and I am simply in aw. You ladies are my super heroes and my role models. I love everything about your convent. I only pray that I will be able to be right ext to you someday. I love the floor plan and everything for the new convent and I am deeply sorry for not helping out. I love the rosary bracelets that you are selling but I simply cant afford them. I would help the fund and dream but I am at a loss, I wish you all the best of luck and hope to visit sometime in the future, I dont know when yet. After all I am only 15 years old.
It always encourages me so much to read the updates and news of what is going on with the Sisters!
I love the website and the new blog, very interesting