Sacred Stones, Sacred Stories

St. Andrew (St. Andreas) immortalized in stained glass, appearing in our Clyde Adoration Chapel

Today is the Feast of St. Andrew, the brother of Peter and a fisherman who was a follower of John the Baptist and later became the first disciple of Christ.

We do not know much about the life and times of St. Andrew, but we do know of his devotion to Jesus and his work to share the word of God and of Jesus’s life with others. It is believed he died in Greece, tied to a cross (thus the representation in our stained glass window).

Prayer to St. Andrew:

O glorious St. Andrew, you were the first to recognize and follow the Lamb of God. With your friend, St. John, you remained with Jesus for that first day, for your entire life, and now throughout eternity. As you led your brother, St. Peter, to Christ and many others after him, draw us also to Him. Teach us to lead others to Christ solely out of love for Him and dedication in His service. Help us to learn the lesson of the Cross and to carry our daily crosses without complaint so that they may carry us to Jesus. Amen.

(courtesy of www.saintandrew.us)

Sister Denise (left) and Sister Deanna Maria took time after a meal to chat about many things.

We venture to guess that one of the topics was settling back in the main house after major renovations kept us away for over a year.

Yes, we are really here in our refectory. And it feels great!

(from left) Sisters Nancy Rose, Marietta and Maria Victoria donned work clothes to move furniture back into the main building as renovations are wrapping up. Our dog, Maggie, hopped on for the ride.

We are on the move, using tractors, wagons, carts, vans, cars and anything else that will carry items back to the main house from various buildings we spent the past year living in.

The community is moving back in.  YES!  Not all of us are moved back yet, but we did celebrate Thanksgiving dinner in our refectory.  It was a welcome feeling to be back in our space sharing the duties of the daily monastic calling – prayer, work and praise.

This will be an exciting week for Sisters at the Clyde monastery and will provide many things to be thankful for. We have begun moving back into the main building as renovations are almost complete!

Sisters are packing belongings and, with the help of work crews, moving furniture back into new and renovated spaces.

On Thursday, we will celebrate Thanksgiving in our refectory again! It’s been more than a year since we gathered for a meal in that beautiful space. And what a lovely occasion it will be – giving thanks for all we have and for all those who have helped us with this journey.

And on Saturday, we will be back in our Adoration Chapel on a permanent basis, praying the Liturgy and giving thanks to God!

As we approach Thanksgiving, it gives us a chance to show our gratitude to one of our favorite groups of people: our employees!

Each year we host an employee dinner to give thanks to our lay friends. As Prioress Sister Sean told the crowd, “You don’t work for us. You work with us.”

Sister Maria Victoria shares a table with Tabitha, a lay employee in the altar bread business office.

It is our honor to share our lives with these very special people, to hold them and their families in prayer each and every day. Many of them have worked with us for decades, some beginning while still in high school.

Our employees are part of our family, and we are very happy they share their time, talents and lives with us. These are some of the many, many things we thank our Lord for each day.

Statue of St. Gertrude in our Adoration Chapel

Today we honor St. Gertrude the Great. She was a Benedictine mystic and a prolific writer. As a child, she was cared for by St. Mechtilde and would later chronicle her life in a popular book.

St. Gertrude was renowned for her piety and devotion to the Sacred Heart. She is one of several Benedictine women saints represented by wood-carved statues in our Adoration Chapel. Her likeness includes a book and a heart, symbolic of her life devotions.

Today is the Solemnity of the Dedication of our Chapel, and it’s a very special one too!

On Nov. 15, 1911, our ancestors celebrated the solemn dedication of our completed Adoration Chapel in Clyde. This beautiful bricks-and-mortar centerpiece of our adoration took almost 11 years to complete, and we are so excited to begin celebrating its centennial year!

However, the public celebration will be delayed a bit while we wrap up renovations to other parts of the monastery.  So today we will gather after the Eucharist for a quiet celebration with Sisters and employees while Sisters at our monasteries in Tucson and Dayton hold their own ceremonies. Soon we’ll be able to throw a party worthy of the Adoration Chapel’s grand role in our lives.

Until then, you can take a virtual tour of our Adoration Chapel by clicking here. You can view the breath-taking interior of beautiful stained glass windows, mosaics, hand-carved choir stalls, Benedictine statues of saints and the main altar. The scenes and people represented by these works reflect the contemplative and prayerful life of the Benedictine Sisters.

When the roofing company came to repair damage from the storm in August…

…we learned that some of the black tar roofing would be replaced with white poly coating…

This stuff lasts twice as long as tar and costs much less. None of us got white hair over this decision.

The white coating is just for flat roofs.  The rest of the buildings are getting shingles, and these guys work like a well-oiled machine.  It is amazing to watch!

Almighty Lord, please protect those who protect us.

Please serve as their shield in a world that is not always kind.

Watch over their families. 

Be with them through the times away from home, during danger, when they witness tragic events that mark their souls.

Help them be brave, to face each day, each duty with honor and respect.

When they feel lonely or afraid, help them sense your Spirit. Let them know you are there.

For those who are struck down in battle, we ask that you wrap them in your loving presence.

For those who return with physical and emotional scars, we ask that you hold them up, surround them with a thankful community to help make them whole.

For those who have completed their service, bless them with a life surrounded by family and a grateful nation.

In this we ask in Your name. Amen.

If you know of a soldier who could use a little extra prayer, please consider a special gift: Sister Cathleen Marie’s handcrafted soap made with holy water and prayer. Sometimes, it’s the littlest things that say so much.

We often have customers who purchase the soap to send to soldiers in their lives. Soldiers have told us how much it has meant to know people are thinking of them, keeping them in prayer. You can order online at www.monasterycreations.com.

Work crews are going around the monastery making those finishing touches!

Here the company who put in our new front door is adding door sweeps and making sure the doors work properly. We are grateful for their attention to details.