Eye and Ear Openers

St. Bernardino of Siena

A funny thing happened at the abbey, today.  I was attending daily Mass and looked over at the nuns' section, and they had no shepherdess.  The stall for the Abbess was empty.  Mass was being celebrated by three or four monks.  And it was a Mass for the Holy Spirit.

What was going on?

The Conventual Chapter was electing a new Abbess, today.  It was a special occasion.  Looking at their Facebook page, I see that Mother Maureen McCabe was reelected for a second six year term.  May God bless her work.

Driving to the abbey, I was listening to Father Mitch Pacwa, on EWTN radio.  Today is the feast of St. Bernardino of Siena.  Father Pacwa said St. Bernidiene added the name, "Jesus", to the Hail Mary Prayer.  For that I give him thanks.

Morning Blessing

St. Placid

This morning's blessing was being surrounded by Benedictines.  Some novice Benedictines are on retreat at St. Mary's Abbey.  I attended Mass with them.  Two Benedictine priests concelebrated Mass with Father Kevin, also.

The Cistercian nuns follow the Rule of St. Benedict, so there's some familiarity and connection between the Benedictines and Cistercians.  Father Kevin announced that today was the Benedictine Feast of St. Placid.  He told the story of St. Placid almost drowning in a pond, and St. Benedict swimming out to save him.  Father Kevin suggested that we don't start looking for ponds, to become saints.  But saving souls is something to emulate.

Turkeys can be a Blessing!

The Feast of St. Therese Lisieux blessed me today.  I attended Mass at Mt. St. Mary's Abbey this morning.  I was happy to see an old friend in the aisle across from me.  During the Kiss of Peace I made a little bit of a show waving to her, so she would see me.  She was with another lady, and when that lady turned around...I knew her also--in a completely different context.  I couldn't believe it.  How could these two be connected?  You never can predict the Holy Spirit.

After Mass, I went and got three prayer books for Terce, and went and sat with them.  It is also a blessing to pray with friends.

Afterwards we reconnected and caught up on each other's lives.  I know Carol because she is a cousin of a Lay Dominican friend.  The last time I saw her was when I was visiting my Spiritual Director at St. Joseph's Abbey.  She is a Lay Cistercian and often attends religious events, where we encounter each other, now and then; but not too often because we live on opposite sides of the state.  Carol was with Sister Mercedes.  I know Sister Mercedes because Sister ministered to the Hispanic community in MCI Norfolk.  Sister's schedule has changed this semester, and she doesn't come to the prison, anymore.

How do they happen to be together?  Both are going to Boston College this semester and living at the same dormitory.   They said they needed a break, so they came to Mt. St. Mary's Abbey for the weekend.  This is where I came in.  We had a happy reunion.

As we were leaving, we ran into a flock of turkeys.  Real ones, this time.

I just smiled.   Turkeys, again!  I took this pic with my iPhone.

St. Placid

St. Placidus

This morning at Mt. St. Mary's Abbey, it was a Mass for Sts. Maur and Placid. Father Kevin said St. Placid always made him feel uncomfortable because he was too perfect.

 But today's Gospel, Mark 2: 13-17, tells us that Jesus was most comfortable with sinners.  So that makes Fr. Kevin feel better.

He also said the nuns make him feel very comfortable.

Faith of Our Parents

I was very happy to see that the Mass celebrant this morning, at the Abbey, was Fr. Ted Kofitse.  He use to be assigned to my parish.  I miss him.  Boy, do I miss him!  A lot!

It's been a few years, so I didn't know if he remembered me.  So after Terce, I went over to him to see if he remembered me, he said, "Of course I remember you.  I'll never forget you."

er........

Father Ted Kofitse and Deacon Dick Delio

"Oh no, what gaffe did I do, now?"

Father Ted remember me because I went up to him once and told him that I was sick of singing "Faith of Our Fathers."  You see, there's no music at the 7:00 AM Mass.  It didn't matter.  Father Ted made us sing, anyway.  He has a good voice, but "fer cryin out loud" it was 7:00 AM.  And since more than a few times during the week, it's some saints feast or memorial, we sang "Faith of Our Fathers," and it didn't matter whether the saint was female or not; we sang "Faith of Our Fathers."  So I objected.  Naturally.  Who wouldn't?

Father Ted said, "If you can find a Faith of Our Mothers, we'll sing that for women saints."  

Well you know I can't resist a dare.

And I didn't.  And I did.

Faith of Our Mothers.

:-)

I don't object for being remembered for that.  At least he's not remembering me for "saving Paris from burning."  

Easter Vigil

Since Hubby is a Christmas/Easter Catholic, we go to celebrate Easter wherever he is the most comfortable. He always picks Mt. St. Mary's Abbey, in Wrentham, MA. I like it too. Good choice! However, I would like to celebrate the catechumens that are entering the church. My parish had seven. I love to hear and see the spontaneous applause that erupts in the church when they're baptized. But on the other hand, for a chance to have my husband praying beside me, I'll forgo my druthers for his.

The sisters' voices were heavenly, as usual. Fr. Gabriel's voice is always a pleasure, also. I particularly enjoyed the different sisters reading the Readings, and singing the Psalms. I wonder how they chose whom to do what. They were all good, right on cue, very practiced.

The ride home was romantic. The moon was hazy and there were stars. It was so quiet. We were the only ones on the road.

The two of us were just riding along and talking about all that we had just witnessed and while we were conversing, Jesus Himself also drew near and went along with us. I felt His presence and was greatly comforted, but the other's eyes were held, so that he did not recognize Him.

Fr. Frank Campo

This morning I was reading Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley's weekly blog and found that it was highlighting my new parish priest, Fr. Frank Campo.

What a pleasant surprise! Father Frank is a late vocation. He's newly ordained; St. Mary's is his first assignment; the pastor is younger than he is. Fr. Frank's homilies often mention his deceased wife, his past jobs, and other experiences that many can relate to.

Read Cardinal Sean's blog, yourself.

Spiritual Direction

Fr. Ted and I were talking about retreats and spiritual direction, in the sacristry, tonight. We both like Cistercian retreats. We like the contempletive atmosphere and the nuns and monks. We laughed because we're both going on retreat at the same time, but Fr. Ted is going to the nuns at Mt. St. Mary's Abby and I'm going to the monks at St. Joseph's Abby.

I told Fr. Ted about my Spiritual Director, Fr. Aquinas, who is now at St. Joseph's Abby. I hooked up with Fr. Aquinas via the nuns. I was looking for one of the sisters to be my spiritual director, and Fr. Aquinas offered his services. AQ said that he would make a better SD than any of the nuns because men complement women and vice versa. IOW, women should be spiritual directors to men, and men should be spiritual directors to women. God created us that way--to complement each other.

Fr. Ted agreed.

I, however, am not so sure. I just think that women are naturally better spiritual directors. As Margaret Guenther says in Holy Listening, the Art of Spiritual Direction, "spiritual direction is a ministry of compassionate presence." Women tend to be more compassionate and nurturing.

I've only had one woman spiritual director, and she was the best one I've ever had. All the others I've had are priests. And, except for my first bizarre experience, spiritual direction gradually succumbed to be a nice comfortable chat with Father.