Spring / Summer 2019

SINGING IN THE RAIN

Not long ago we sorrowed over losing our garden’s one and only Persian lilac tree. We refrained from having it all ground up into wood chips and saved some limbs, for what? We did not know. The limbs were put in front of some windows in our cloister area, standing upright. We never imagined what a surprise God had in store for us. On the dead limbs of this tree, the birds come and give us a very close, bird’s eye view of them, especially when it is raining. And they sing and chirp for us! It was especially heartwarming when we had that overwhelming number of grey, rainy days this early spring. Their singing in the rain was a cheering experience and seeing them up close makes us chuckle and thank God for this unexpected joy.Talking about birds, Mr. and Mrs. Red Hawk seem to have chosen our garden for their home. We will be on the lookout for their children!

MAINTENANCE ISSUES

We all have them: big ones, small ones. We have had several since our last newsletter. Having them is the bad news, overcoming them is the good news.It is from this point of view we share our latest maintenance issues. a) One winter issue was a human one: every one of us got a cold. Many good friends came with remedies and we healed! b) A few leaks: 2 roof leaks, small like a dripping faucet rather than Niagara Falls, but if missed they could easily have done more serious damage. Thanks to our roofers, we were able to avoid their increasing in size.c) Just before Mass one day water was dripping from the second floor to the first. The culprit? A radiator valve.Replacing the valve ended that problem.d) Leak number three involved our dishwasher which caused some flooding in our cellar–once again! This took quite a bit of time to solve with hits and misses, but it too ended happily and it is back on deck doing our dishes!e) Two of our heating boilers have reached the end of their life during the winter of course! But because of the planning wisdom from our good friend and helper, Lee Mc Kenney, there were back ups, so we survived the cold winter days very well.Our heating experts have been contacted to fix this problem for us before winter comes again.

KOREAN RETREAT DAY

The Korean community is very kind to us so when they asked to have a retreat day in our chapel during Lent, we were happy to accommodate them. Our Sister Agnes, gave them talks on our Carmelite spirituality and the day ended with our joining them for Eucharist celebrated in Korean by their Father Xavier. Their singing was beautiful and their faith inspiring. We were amazed to learn that twelve Koreans were going to be baptized at their Easter Vigil! In our joy, we “adopted” them in prayer as they prepared for this sacred occasion in their lives.

PASCHAL CANDLES

Every February 2nd, the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the temple, we have our yearly supply of candles blessed. Each Sister is then given a blessed candle which she will use at the Easter Vigil.Whether one has great talent or little, each decorates her own “Paschal Candle”to hold when we renew our baptismal vows at the Vigil. (An idea you may like to try!)For our large Paschal candle, we have done different things. We have purchased already