In the name of the Lord who loves us, peace.

That beautiful greeting is taken from a Letter attributed to St Barnabas from this morning’s Office of Readings. Indeed He loves us, and that love is the source of our peace. Not peace without struggle and warfare, but PEACE always and in all circumstances because of His Love. We pray this has been a blessed week for all of you and we are so grateful for the hundreds of people who have visited the blog, and given us their support and comments. We have received a lot of great questions and we will try to address one or two of them at the end of each blog. So make sure you persevere to the end!!!

The Solemnity of Our Holy Mother St Clare is almost upon us (August 11th), and we are now in the midst of her Novena. I hope you are all joining us for these 9-days of prayer asking for her intercession in the Church, our world and in our daily lives. (see our website https://desertnuns.com/ )

On to NUN NEWS : We have officially entered into the Monsoon season here in Arizona having a storm almost every night this week. Yes, it really does rain in the desert. For those who have never experienced one, you’re missing out. It’s similar to watching a thunderstorm over the ocean, except we watch them come over the mountains. The sky becomes very dark, and everything is still.Then come the winds, and boy do they blow. Sometimes you have all the fanfare, but no rain. However, that has not been the case this week. Our leaky roof can attest. (no worries, it’s the leak that won’t be fixed; we have successfully confounded many roofers.)

This past Monday, we had our first slithery visitor of the year. Besides being the largest snake we have ever seen on our property, it is also the first of the summer (although Sr. Fidelis thinks she may have heard another one when she was in the garden picking cantaloupes). We performed our usual routine, which we have down to an art. Someone is posted to stand guard and watch the reptile, while another sister calls our heroes at the Black Canyon Fire Dept. to come and relocate the critter. Everyone else not engaged in any of the duties listed above stands around saying ‘Ick” or ‘EWWWWW” until the snake is taken away, and we all breathe a sigh of relief. However, this week our sigh of relief did not last to long as Fatty, one of our big cats (he’s actually the skinniest) was bit by a rattlesnake sometime Monday night, or Tuesday day. He is in the clear, but is being quarantined with our two kittens (which might end up throwing him over the edge) and can’t go outside until he is finished with his medicine. We’re very grateful and happy he is on the mend. You can see his photo above.

Finally, on to some of your questions. *Someone asked if when a girl joins our community here in Arizona, will she spend some of her formation time in Hanceville, AL? The answer is no. The girls that join here, will stay here. Each community of the PCPA’S are what is called autonomous. Which means simply that although all our houses follow the same Rule, each house is independent of the others and has it’s own major superior and internal governance. We do not go from house to house. A nun will usually remain in the house she joins unless, like in our circumstance, a new foundation is started.

*We were asked what exactly happens when people email their prayer requests. We have a sister who handles all the prayer emails, and she reads them as she prints them out. After entrusting them to the sisters prayers, they are placed in a special drawer in the altar and are remembered at the sisters’ adoration hours and communal prayer times. They remain in the altar for at least six months. Because the heart of a contemplative is open to all the needs of the world, each intention is dear to us.

All the sisters are well. We’re still going full steam ahead on the building project. So much of building is waiting, which none of us really excel at, but with God’s grace we’re growing in patience. Everything has it’s time, and patience obtaineth ALL things.

I think it’s time to wrap it up for this week. As you keep up with us through these weekly blogs, please be assured of our accompanying each one of you through your week by our prayers and union in and with Christ’s Mystical Body.

In the Heart of Jesus and Mary,

Sr Mary Blogger