Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

A monastery’s common table is a symbol of the lack of personal ownership of anything, which includes food.  The refectory is the place the community gathers to pray and break bread together, sharing a common meal from a common kitchen symbolizing community life.

During the renovations, our refectory was closed. We covered the floors to protect it from all the other construction going on around it.

It was a Benedictine tradition from centuries past to excommunicate someone from the common table for serious faults.  This points to the importance we monastics give to the common table.

Once we move back in, our locally made tables will be fewer in number and the space has been shortened, but we will relish the communal dining hall.

For those who have joined us for a meal, you’ll notice the north wall seems closer.We reconfigured the space and walled off a portion of the north end of the refectory. We created a new room that will house Sister Services, which includes our mail boxes. Just goes to show all the different facets of this project: old, new and recycled too!

Here’s a view of the new entry, taken from the hallway:

Workers continue to prepare the new drive and parking areas and getting the softscape ready. Oh, it’s so nice to see!

I thought it would be interesting to show some before and after pictures of the renovation.

For instance, this used to be our courtyard area, which was formed by the four wings:

After we removed the southern wing and a portion of the west side, it opened up that area for us to create a new entrance:

We are amazed at how much has taken place in just a few months. In the next few days, we will try to capture a before picture and a current one of other aspects of the Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories project. Hopefully you can see the progress as well.

It was supposed to be a Zen-like garden but ended up too hot and dry to use. So earlier this year friends of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration began transforming the monastery’s private meditation garden and walking trail into a space they could actually use.

“The rocks and the cacti – while striking to look at – created a space that just wasn’t conducive to relaxation for prayer and meditation,” Prioress Sister Ramona Varela, OSB said. “Instead we desired a place that was shady and inviting, attracting birds and other wildlife.”

Recently, volunteers began planting more than 40 plants and trees donated from an area nursery.

See new photos and read more about our amazing volunteers and their work on our meditation garden and walking trail by clicking here.

The unseasonably warm weather in the Midwest has been confusing to us AND our trees.

Some are budding as if it’s spring. Some are staying green longer than usual. One is giving us a splash of fall color.

It is letting us know the seasons are changing and life is dynamic. It is a lovely sign of the nature of Mother Earth.

Saturday  was a Free Day for us at the monastery. It gives us a chance to exchange our habits for regular clothes, put aside our usual jobs and enjoy the company of each other.

Some of us took advantage of the sunny day to have a cookout with hotdogs, veggies and s’mores.

Even Maggie, our dog, got in on the fun.

What a way to relax, enjoy the sunshine and the company of Sisters. Life is good.

We enjoyed our official grand opening of Prayerfully Popped in Tucson, Ariz., last month with lots of visitors stopping by and meeting our new customers!

We continue to push ahead and have several community events approaching. If you live in or near the Tucson area, stop by, say “hello” and treat yourself to a wonderful snack. Or visit us online any time at www.PrayerfullyPopped.com.

38th Annual Tucson Meet Yourself Folklife Festival, Oct. 14-16 in Downtown park/plaza area

Free annual festival celebrating the authentic cultural foods and living traditional arts of Arizona-Sonora’s folk and ethnic communities. Be part of the excitement! Participants are invited to share their ethnic foods, folk arts, music and dance. Marketplace vendors are invited to sell their local, hand-made arts, crafts, foods and material items. The Local First Fair will feature locally owned businesses in a Traditions of Home theme.

Performances, folk artists, food and cultural heritage demonstrators will delight everyone. TMY Marketplace will feature handmade folk art demonstrations and the artists will offer their crafts for sale. Practitioners of Martial Arts, Healing Arts and Games/Sports will be part of the Traditions of Health & Wellness area. Special events include: Lowrider Car Show, Corrido Contest, Traditional Wear Fashion Show and Kitchen Stadium Iron Chef Contest. We’re the only popcorn vendor, and we look to sell a lot!

Foyer of former main entry

This is what the foyer of the former main entry used to look like. Remember?

With the new entrance now located at the south side of the building, the old entrance was given a new purpose – the office for the sub-prioress:

Revamped entry-turned-office

 It looks totally different! I already know some of us will get turned around and lost when we move in. Has anyone developed a monastery GPS yet?

Holy Family with St. Francis of Assisi, the Archangel Michael & St. John the Baptist by Tiarini Alessandro

Today, we honored St. Francis of Assisi with his words read aloud at our Day Hour:

Jesus placed his own will at the disposal of his Father’s will. And the Father’s will was that his blessed and glorious Son, whom he gave to us and who was born for us, should offer himself through his own blood as a sacrifice and victim on the altar of the cross, not for himself, through whom all things were made, but for our sins, leaving us an example, that we should follow in his footsteps. And he desires that we should be saved through him and receive him with a pure heart and a chaste body.

How happy and blessed are they who love the Lord and do as the Lord himself commends in the Gospel, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and your neighbor as yourself.” So let us love God and adore him with a pure heart and a pure mind, for he himself seeks this above all things, as he says, “The true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth.” And all who adore him should adore him in the spirit of truth. And let us pour forth our praise and prayer to him.

Natural light will be filling the new entrance by day, and by night we will have the lovely glow of these light fixtures:

The new entry says “welcome” in so many different ways. It is warm and inviting and beautiful.

Come see us when we are open (we will let you know!) and let me know if I am right.