WINTER 2016

Dear Family, Friends and Benefactors,

May this first newsletter of the New Year find the peace of Christ reigning in your hearts! The holy season of Lent is upon us, the season of penance. This word so often strikes an unpleasant chord in our ears, but as we have recently been reading, it is truly an opportunity to love the good God more. By penance, we return that love which is due him, according to the Servant of God Fr. John Hardon sj, and by reparation, we make up for all the times that we have offended Him by our shortcomings. Let us ardently turn to God during this season, and offer Him our prayers, sacrifices and suffer-ings with greater generosity and love.

These months at the Priory have been filled with the incessant sounds of our construction workers, as they la-bor diligently to finish the three additions to our Priory. In fact, by the time you read this, all should be complete! On December 17th, five years to the day that we moved into our Priory, the Sisters descended like a swarm of bees (and just as busy!) to the priest retreat house, hang-ing curtains, assembling beds, tables and furniture. We had things set up just in time to light a fire and set the table to host our first group of clerics from the nearby city of St. Joseph.

The chapel was finally finished this month, and so “the bees” flew in again on February 3rd . The whole commu-nity was cleaning, cooking, touching up statues, fram-ing and hanging pictures, arranging flowers, setting up the sacristy, and bringing over vestments and linens in preparation for the blessing of the retreat house by our new Bishop, James Vann Johnston. We are blessed beyond words to have him as our shepherd and father, succeeding our dear Bishop Finn, whom we continue to hold in grateful prayer.

Left: On the Third Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me: some snow to sled, as you can see– just enough to go down the new driveway and the excavation mounds!

Coming Soon!

F

Bishop Johnston meets Mother Cecilia for the first time the night before his installation as our new Ordinary.

Sr. Clara and Sr. Philomena, our two Sisters of Mexican heritage, serenaded Our Lady of Guadalupe on her feast

with “La Guadalupana.”

Right: The first walls of the Chapter room were raised in November.

Our supervisor pokes his head

into the existing wing for a consult

with Mother.

The Sisters atop the stairs of “the loft,” above the gift shop for aspirants and visiting families. Volunteers are preparing to finish this space to cut down on expenses.

Mother Cecilia ceremonially buries the “alleluia” after I Vespers of Sep-tuagesima Sunday, while a “schola”

chanted a Latin lullaby, promising to reawaken “Al” at Easter!

Each year on February 2nd,

the candles are blessed with a procession following into

Mass.

“A heavenly light more brilliant than all others sheds its

radiance everywhere, and He who was begotten before the morning star and all

the stars of heaven, Christ, mighty and immortal, shines upon all

creatures more brightly than the sun.”

–St. Hippolytus

Showing Bishop Johnston the inside

of the dairy.

Mother explains progress on the Chapter room. The Dairy processing addition is just to the right.

Sr. Wilhelmina’s Corner

Sr. Wilhelmina loves telling jokes at recreation. This is her latest: “A teacher said to her

students ‘What did Our Lord call the Pharisees?’ ‘Horses!’ said a little boy. ‘Horses?’ asked the teacher. ‘Yes,’ replied the boy, ‘when he said: WHOA to you Scribes and Pharisees!’”

Everyone loves Sr. Wilhelmina! She still writes poems, and a favorite subject is the priesthood.

The covenant established on the crossWas to help us escape eternal loss.We are supposed to pray, cooperate,Obey God’s law and not suffer hell’s fate.God’s priests alone offer this sacrifice.They stand for Christ Who will not see death twice.Priests must be pure, we must help them to be,And make our own confessions honestly.

Priests can forgive and wash away our sins.They ready us before the Mass begins.Pray for our priests, that they be pure and wiseAnd do the penance that they to us advise.Priests fight for God, saving poor souls from hell.We must help priests do their duty well.

In His Merciful Heart,

In joining us in prayer for priests, please pray also for our second shift of candidates this year. They did not begin in January as we had hoped due to a delay in immigration. Please pray that all pro-ceeds smoothly so that there may yet be more voices raised to glo-rify the Holy Trinity in the Divine Office. God willing, they will be here by the next time you receive a newsletter. We have already begun receiving applications for yet another set of candidates in the fall, so the construction could not have come at a better time!

All of this progress has been thanks to you. We remain so full of gratitude to you for your kind and faithful support. It is you, our dear benefactors, who turn our prayers most readily from those of petition to those of gratitude! They turn nonetheless back to petition as we devotedly offer all the petitions that you send to us written on the response envelope. Each morning at Chapter, I read your intentions aloud to the Sisters.

Truly, we could not dare to undertake such things for God without your charity. We have been just able to stay ahead of the bills so far (although it has sometimes been a test of faith!)We are hopeful that we can continue to count on your assistance in remaining debt-free. We have only $100,000 left to raise out of the $1.8 million we needed for the retreat house and additions! We are so hopeful in fact, that we have begun thinking about the next project: our monastic church! Plans had to be drawn up before the addition was begun for future planning, but we are now fine-tuning in preparation for making this house of God a reality.

Our hearts are full - full of grateful and devoted prayers to Him Who has given us this space, this place, and this time to love Him ardently, while anticipating loving Him eternally in the life that is to come. May God in His mercy unite us there,

End-of-year “thank yous” dominate our January recreations. Thanks to your generous support, we have kept ahead of

construction costs and have not yet had to take out a loan!

On Quinquagesima Sunday, Father Carney offered the first Mass in the

retreat house chapel and reposed the Blessed Sacrament there. At left, the

sanctuary lamp is lit.

Three of Sister’s lovely nieces visited recently.

WELCOMING CHRIST: THE COMPLETIONOF THE PRIESTS’ RETREAT HOUSE

Fr. Charles Ryan, fssp incenses the doorway before mark-ing it in honor of the Three Kings during our annual Epiphany blessing.

Sr. Emmanuel uncovers the Christ Child before Mid-night Mass, while “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is sung.

Above: Our three postulants form a trio (bass, cello and viola) for a Christmas concert.

Below: The Novices being…well, Novices!

Above: Around the tree or the fire, we always enjoy each other’s company especially during the Twelve Days.

Below: Sr. Mary Josefa assembles a beautiful Herrnhuter Stern, a gift from our German aspirant.

Let it snow! Thank-fully, “Goliath” left us unscathed, except for a lovely dusting.

Sr. Marie-Bernarde opens a package from her family Christmas night, with snowflakes made by her little sisters.

Right: Hosting a local prayer meeting at the Retreat House

for the first time.

Our first overnight retreatant was the Very Rev. Gerard Saguto, fssp, now District Superior, pictured

here with our chaplain, Fr. Lawrence Carney.

Below, our hospitality team prepares meals in the secluded kitchen, enabling them to keep

silence while they prepare the priests’ meals.

Bishop Johnston blesses the new chapel.

Mother Cecilia leads His Excellency down the upper halls, adorned with Gloria Thomas’ 21 panel work, 2000 Years of Christianity

The blessing of the great room.

Following the blessing, the Bishop

chats with our architect Bill Heyer in the dining room (left) and then with the Sisters. (below)

Mass of Christmas Day

The Novitiate’s skit

Left: The Little King’s Christmas shrine in our library.

Right: Under the gaze of our musical Infant Jesus, praying that He blesses all

our work, even the most hidden (like

mopping the stairs!)

Left: The twelve Apostles greet our modern day apostles under the prayerful watch of Our Lady at the top of the stairs.

Our desire to imitate Our Lady at Ephesus is by no means original! In the earliest centuries of Christianity, a women’s monastery was built right next to Our Lady’s

house. Implements for host making suggest the works of their hands were also con-secrated for the glory of

the altar, perhaps even continuing the sewing of

vestments, a work tra-ditionally attributed to Our Lady. Here, a vest-

ment is completed to be brought to Ephesus

(Turkey) for use at Mass in Our Lady’s house.Each day, a new ordination

card is placed at the foot of our refectory crucifix, and we ask Our Lady to take our prayers in a special way for that priest. Sisters often stop their work for a moment to see “who is on the crucifix.” Sr. Wilhelmina still faithfully records the priest of each day before posting the card.

One of our greatest joys is to receive the first blessings of new priests. Here, a longtime friend and benefactor, now newly-ordained Fr. Greg Bierbaum

came to bless the Sisters during Christmastide.

The Liturgy: our first and primary prayer for priests. Here we are

chanting Mass for the 1st Sunday after Epiphany.

Benedictines of Mary, Queen of apostlesPriory of Our Lady of EphesusP.O. Box 303Gower, MO 64454

Each day at Chapter, we chant the “De Profundis” for all our deceased family, friends and benefactors. Mother Cecilia then reads aloud all the intentions

that you send and confide to our prayers.