Why Are The Sacraments of Initiation in the Wrong Order?

BENEDICTA: Marian Chant from Norcia by The Monks of Norcia

Earth Day Video April 22, 2018

Friday April 20, 2018 Continuing Gaudete Et Exsultate (Rejoice and Exsult ) by Pope Francis

Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth

These are strong words for where we constantly pigeonhole others on the basis of their ideas, their customs and even their way of speaking or dressing.  Ultimately, it is the reign of pride and vanity, where each person thinks he or she has the right to dominate others. --If we are constantly upset and impatient with others, we will end up drained and weary.  Saint Therese of Lisieux tells us that "perfect charity consists in putting up with others' mistakes and not being scandalized by their faults.

Tuesday April 17 2018 Gaudete et Exsultate: What You Need to Know

april 17 Tuesday 2018 My Most Ambitious Project Yet!

April 14 th Celebrations

Sister Mary Frances Flynn entered the Monastery 60 years ago on March 18, 1958. We celebrated with a Mass presided by Father Peter Cebulka of the ORATORIANS. A festive meal followed with a few gifts.
Notice the three sisters, See no wrong, speak no wrong and hear no wrong. LOL They are Sisters Pat, Fran and Miriam. (I think it is cute)

Also on April 14th The Knights of Columbus 

The Knights of Columbus of St. Gregory the Great Parish in Hamilton, NJ visited us to day and gave us a very generous donation. Father Jay Borden ,the Knights Chaplain ,also came as well as our friend Andrew Usmiani. The Grand Knight Larry Sargent presented the check to our Abbess, Sister Etta Patton OSC. We are grateful to the Knights for their ministry in the Church and their kindness to us and to so many others, The Knights are a quiet force in the Church but they are the light that keeps the Church alive in these chaotic times. May God bless them and may they flourish with new members.

Saturday 14, 2018 Continuing the Pope's Exhortation short quotes

Friday 13, 2018 More of the Pope's Exhortation

The Saints Next Door
We are never completely ourselves unless we belong to a people
That is why no one is saved alone.
Rather God draws us to himself, taking into account the fabric of interpersonal relationships present in a human community.
God wanted to enter into the life and history of a people.

I like to contemplate the holiness present in the patience of God's people:
A) in those parents who raise their children with immense love, B) in those men and women who work hard to support their families
C) in the sick, in elderly religious who never lose their smile.
Very often in is a holiness found in our next-door neighbors, those who, living in our midst, reflect God's presence.
We might call them "the middle class of holiness.

Pope Francis' Apostolic Exhortation Gaudete Et Exsultate (Rejoice and Be Glad)

On Facebook Father James Martin SJ has a good video on the major points 

that the Holy Father brings out in this Document. Go to Florence Jane Vales for

the video

Excerpts from Gaudete et Exsultate.

The Pope says

" My modest goal is to repropose the call to holiness in a practical way for our time, with all its risks challenges and opportunities. For the lord has chosen each one of us "to be holy and blameless before him in love"(Eph 1:1

It invites us to realize that "a great cloud of witnesses"(the saints)include our own mothers, grandmothers or other loved ones.  their lives may not always have been perfect, yet even amid their faults and failings they kept moving forward and proved pleasing to the Lord.

Explanation of the Easter Days to Easter -The Greatest Show On Earth

Easter Friday April 6, 2018

Father Jos Deichert, a colonel in the United States Air force and stationed as chaplain at the Joint base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New Jersey, celebrated Mass and joined us for dinner. Father Joe is from North Dakota and was raised on a dairy farm.  He gave us a beautiful homily : the subject was how after Jesus died the apostles relapsed into their own way of life and resumed their jobs of fishing. Jesus found them and called them back.

Our life is the same: A call, a fall and a recall.

Friday in Easter April 6, 2018

THE DISCIPLES CAUGHT 153 FISH

06 Apr

Today’s Gospel Reading: John 21:1-14 – EASTER FRIDAY: 6 April 2018

One effect of the Resurrection was the eventual split of the Christian Church away from Judaism. Judaism was conservative because it was built around the Torah Law. That Torah Law could be applied, interpreted and adapted but the psychological posture was that of preserving and keeping the Law. By contrast, Christianity thrust outward from the start. Unlike Judaism, it was intensely missionary. The disciples were sent to all nations (the probable reference of the 153 fish).

The early Church had no hesitation in creating new offices, new rules, rearranging the Jewish liturgy to suit it own purposes and to speak in God’s name. The reason for such energy and creativity was that at its center was not the Torah Law but the Holy Spirit of the Risen Lord Himself.  The Christian Church has a dynamic center. At the center of our spiritual life is not an empty tomb or Torah Law but the Risen Lord Himself. His Spirit is present in our hearts urging us toward deeper faith and wider love.

The spiritual vigor at the center of the Church derives not from a thing, but from a Person — the Risen Lord.

Jakarta, 6 April 2018

A Christian Pilgrim 

Wednesday Easter Octave April 4, 2018

EMMAUS by achristianpilgrim

Today's Gospel Reading: Luke 24:13-35 - EASTER WEDNESDAY: 4 April 2018

Today's reading brings us closer to the purpose of the Resurrection appearances of Christ. With the Resurrection, Jesus became the universal Christ. He is everywhere slowly urging and moving our world toward a point of convergence with the Father.

There are points where this Risen and Transformed Christ is crystallized and focused - where He is present with unusual power. They are sacramental moments: Scripture reading, the breaking of bread, baptism, reconciliation, anointing, gathering in prayer. Jesus appears not in victorious display but as an enabling sign to say, as He did to the two disciples at Emmaus, "This is where I will be from now on".

We meet the Risen and Transformed Christ in special liturgical moments and in special personal moments as well. He is a presence that is always with us, but at certain times we are able to experience not only the presence but the glory.

One reason we experience the glory is so that we can say to others: "I have seen the Lord". 

Jakarta, 4 April 2018

A Christian Pilgrim

achristianpilgrim | April 4, 2018 at 12:05 am | Tags: EASTER WEDNESDAY, EMMAUS, HOLY EUCHARIST, SCRIPTURE, TWO DISCIPLES | Categories: LENT AND EASTERTIDE, TOD

Easter Sunday April 1, 2018

Friar Tom Hartle OFM , of the Holy Name Province and our Religious Assistant presided over the Holy Week Services for our Monastery. Here is the Easter Vigil and the blessing of the fire. A Wonderful Holy Week Services and more Graces abound. Easter Shalom to all.