Christmas at the Monastery

This year’s Christmas celebrations included old friends, community celebrations, and some very special presents for the nuns.

The refectory creche, decorated with a Dominican shield

As usual, we decorated our monastery so we would be in the Christmas spirit wherever we go.

The community room

Sr. Miriam and Sr. Maria Rosario with the creche in the infirmary

As is our tradition, on Christmas Eve our chaplain came in to the enclosure to bless the creches in the refectory and community room.

Sr. Mary Rose and Fr. Thomas blessing the creche in the community room

On Christmas morning, the Knights of Columbus came and grilled steaks for our Christmas dinner.

Afterwards, we visited with them in the parlor. This is a lovely Christmas tradition that we’ve enjoyed for over 40 years.

This Christmas brought another special guest: Fr. Brian Pierce, O.P. He got his Dominican vocation from the Lufkin nuns while he was a college student in Nacogdoches, and then served as promoter of the Dominican nuns for years.

Fr. Brian Pierce hugs his spiritual mother, Sr. Maria Guadalupe

We were honored to have him and Fr. Carmen Mele, O.P., celebrate Mass with us during their visit.

This Christmas, the nuns also received some special gifts.

Mike and Linda Beaver, great benefactors of the community for years, gave us a new car. We’re very grateful to them and to all of our benefactors who gave us gifts this year.

But it was our chaplain who gave us the most unusual gift: a hoverboard!

Sr. Mary Rose, our courageous prioress, was the first to ride it. She made sure to wear pads and a helmet!

On Epiphany, we had our usual community day of fun and games.

Sr. Mary Pauline and Sr. Maria Cabrini organized the games in the morning. Our two “wise men” made sure the morning was fun for all of us.

We separated into three teams to play Christmas-related games. First, we picked up cups, hoping to reveal a star.

Next, we put paper plates on our heads and tried to draw, blindly, a star with a smiley face. Sr. Maria Guadalupe was the judge and declared all of the pictures lovely.

What would Christmas be without candy canes? The next game was to use a candy cane at the end of a pole to try to fish other candy canes out of bowls.

Sr. Mary Margaret and Sr. Mary Therese race to be the first to fish out all of the candy canes. It was tricky!

Ornaments are also a big part of Christmas, so the next game was to stack cups while keeping an ornament balanced on the top.

Sr. Mary Giuse concentrates to keep the ornament in place.

Another fun game was guessing Christmas carol names. The teams picked cards with pictures on them that illustrated a Christmas carol.

This game was a lot of fun, but we had to think really hard. We not only had to figure out the pictures, but also remember a lot of song titles!

This Christmas season was full of fun, feasting, and community time, both with each other and with friends of the monastery. We love how the holidays bring us all together, and we’re so grateful to everyone who contributed to making this Christmas special.

A Come and See Retreat at the Monastery

In November, we held a discernment retreat for college-aged Catholic women. We were delighted to welcome five young women from our diocese. The day began with Midmorning Prayer followed by Mass. The participants were invited to join us for the Liturgy of the Hours, the recitation of the Rosary, Eucharistic Adoration, and a recreation period with the community in the parlor. Our Chaplain, Father Thomas Schaefgen, O.P., gave a conference on the Presence of God and was available for Confession.  One of the Sisters presented a talk on lectio divina.

The participants expressed their appreciation to spend a day of prayer with us and to learn about our Dominican Contemplative Life. This is the first of several come and see days we’re going to host. We love meeting women who are interested in our way of life, and we hope this will be a good way for them to meet us and experience a little bit of how we live.

We’re hosting three more such days in February, April, and June. These retreat days are particularly for young women interested in our way of life. If this describes you or someone you know, we’d love to meet you!

Behind the Scenes of the Monastery Photo Shoot

In anticipation of updating our website and brochure, we recently had professional photographers come and take pictures of the nuns, our monastery, and many of our activities. They were only here for a day, so we had to cram a lot in and make sure that the photographers went everywhere and got shots of everything we wanted. We’re very happy with the final pictures. They’re beautiful and show a lot of our monastic life. Even some parts that we hadn’t planned on showing…

We wanted a new group photo of our community, as well as updated individual portraits. The photographers thought natural lighting would be best, so we all went outside and dutifully posed for the pictures. It was a beautiful day, but also quite windy, so we had to help each other smooth down our veils and capes so the photographers could quickly snap good pictures of us.

It was a windy day for an outdoor shoot!

Then Sr. Mary Rose and Sr. Mary Therese showed the photographers around the monastery, both to take pictures of the building and also to get “action shots” of nuns at work. Sometimes there was no one else around, though, so they ended up having to pose in quite a few of the pictures.

Sr. Mary Therese and Sr. Mary Rose pose in the infirmary…even though neither of them has ever worked in this department.

Sr. Mary Rose in deep conversation with Sr. Miriam…who’s working on her word find puzzle.

Yes, nuns still listen to tapes. We’re old school.

Sr. Mary Rose pretending to ring the bell, while trying very hard not to actually ring it. Don’t want to confuse anyone!

“I haven’t put the flag up in years. How does this thing work?”

“I know the tray is only half full, but we need a picture of us using our huge dishwasher.”

Sometimes they were able to find someone else to pose.

Sr. Maria Cabrini in the library

Fr. Thomas exposing the Blessed Sacrament…which completely obscures his head

Our community room looks ginormous with the wide-angle lense.

In the afternoon, we gathered everyone in the community room for some posed group pictures. The community was very cooperative and we got some great pictures, although when we got the photos back we noticed some unintentional things.

Fr. Thomas came in so we could get pictures of him teaching philosophy class. Since it was just a pretend class for the photographers, instead of teaching, he told us jokes.

Philosophy is so funny!

Then we did had a fake recreation, quickly doing a bunch of different things for a variety of photos.

Putting a puzzle together…with Fr. Thomas and his chalk board in the background

Sr. Mary Rose tries to adjust her cape before the picture is taken.

“Let’s gather ’round the piano and pretend to have a sing-along!”

After the quick photo shoot in the community room, we went outside to get pictures of the grounds and action shots of the nuns at play. Unfortunately, the outdoor carpet guy was also working, so he got in some of the shots as well.

Playing basketball…with carpet equipment in the background

Rollerblading…with the carpet guy in the background

Riding a bike…with a photographer in the background

Driving the golf cart…with a photographer on board!

“Look up! A photographer is taking our picture!”

A classic monastic image: nuns solemnly walking away.

We had a really good time with the photographers. They were very nice and gave us good direction on how to pose for the best pictures. (We think they had a good time visiting the monastery too.) We look forward to sharing all of our new pictures with you!

Classes in the Monastery

One of the four pillars of Dominican life is study, and so we’re always looking for ways to continue our education. Recently, we’ve been having many interesting classes in our Monastery that have been fun and challenging.

Our chaplain, Fr. Thomas Schaefgen, is a philosophy professor, so we asked him to give us monthly classes.

He’s teaching us logic, particularly how to form a sound argument. We’ve had fun coming up with propositions and seeing if we can make a valid syllogism with them. In the new year, he’s going to teach us philosophy of the human person.

One of the most important things we do as nuns is sing, whether it’s singing hymns at Mass or chanting the Liturgy of the Hours. So we asked Dr. Deborah Dalton, a retired music professor, to give us voice lessons.

She works with us both as a group and individually, especially with correct breathing techniques, projection, and enunciation. We’re all working very hard on our singing and appreciate her expertise.

We’ve also started having art classes from Mrs. Faustina McPherson, a retired art teacher. She’s offered to teach us all kinds of creative art, such as pottery and painting.

First, she taught us how to make coil pottery, a special technique that uses rolled lengths of clay to make designs that come together to create a pot.

She gave us a special type of clay that doesn’t require a kiln. We just let it dry and admired our finish pots. We had fun learning something completely new and getting to work with our hands.

We are very grateful to everyone who is teaching us all these new things. We love having the chance to expand our minds and our talents.

A Day of Thanksgiving in the Monastery

This year Thanksgiving in the Monastery was a day of food, fun, and community celebrating.

At noon, we gathered in the community room, where our Thanksgiving feast was laid out.

We sang our traditional Thanksgiving grace, giving thanks to God for everything he’s given us.

Then we all sat down at our decorated tables to enjoy a wonderful meal.

In the afternoon, we gathered in the community room to watch The Boys in the Boat, an inspirational film about the U.S. rowing team at the 1936 Olympics.

After supper, we went outside to enjoy our traditional Thanksgiving fireworks.

The sisters had to bundle up on the cold Thanksgiving evening.

Sr. Mary Christine and Sr. Mary Pauline set off impressive fireworks.

Sr. Mary Rose and Sr. Mary Margaret enjoy hand-held sparklers.

Sr. Mary Pauline and Sr. Mary Jeremiah had fun with the firework lighters!

After the fireworks display, we went back inside to enjoy some of the annual dog show on TV.

As usual, this Thanksgiving was a day of community fun. We had good food, good laughs, and some great fireworks! We give thanks for God, our community, and for all of our benefactors who make our life here possible. Happy Thanksgiving!

A Visit from Fr. Fernando Fernandez, O.P., Promoter General of the Dominican Nuns

From November 3 to 5, we were honored to share an extended visit from Father Fernando Antonio García Fernández, O.P., Promoter General of the Dominican Nuns. Father gladly joined us for Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, meals, and a special evening recreation.

Fr. Fernando with our prioress Sr. Mary Rose

Fr. Fernando took several days to visit with us. He talked to us about the importance and meaning of contemplation, and listened to us talk about our cloistered lives. He also shared with us about his visits to other nuns throughout the world. We especially enjoyed his slideshow of all of the other monasteries he’s visited.

At the end of his visit, we put on a special program for him to thank him for his time with us.

Sr. Mary Pauline and Sr. Irma Marie sing De Colores

Fr. Fernando shared with us that he loves the Dallas Cowboys football team, so as a special gift and a remembrance of us we bought him a team t-shirt.

We had a wonderful visit with Fr. Fernando. We loved talking with him about our lives and hearing about the other nuns. This visit from the Promoter helped us feel connected to our sister nuns and also to the greater Dominican order.

The Monastery of the Infant Jesus Celebrates Our 80th Jubilee

On the Feast of the Dedication of the Basilica of St. John Lateran, we celebrated the 80th Jubilee of the Monastery of the Infant Jesus.

We began the day visiting with many friends of the monastery in the parlor. Several of them had come from out of town to help us celebrate our special day.

Sr. Mary Rose with Sr. Maria Christi, of the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist in Georgetown, TX. They were college roommates and are now both prioresses of their respective communities!

We were very honored that Bishop Gregory Kelly visited us and celebrated Mass for us on our jubilee.

Bishop Gregory Kelly celebrates Mass.

Many priest friends of the monastery concelebrated Mass with the bishop.

After Mass, we enjoyed a special visit with Bishop Kelly in our community room.

Sr. Mary Rose with Bishop Kelly.

It was a wonderful day that we were honored to share with our bishop and many friends. We are truly grateful and thankful to God and everyone who has made our lives here possible over the last 80 years.