Sr. Margaret Mary Bean, OSB

Sr. Margaret Mary passed away yesterday morning, December 10, 2009. May she rest in peace. Read her obituary at this site:

http://www.norfolkdailynews.com/main.asp?SectionID=21&SubSectionID=192&ArticleID=20403&TM=57179.55

Advent -- New Church Year

With Vespers this evening, we will begin the New Church Year, with the First Sunday of Advent, Cycle C -- the year of the Gospel of Luke. We here at the monastery will have our youngest member light the first Advent candle on the wreath in our sanctuary. Sr. Kevin will read the prayers and the community will sing a verse of "O come, O come Immanuel". For further reading, you may want to go to this link: http://www.churchyear.net/adventwreath.html The explanation of the symbolism of the candles is very nice.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. May you spend your day with friends and loved ones with a loving and grateful heart. Peace and joy as you begin the Advent Season.

Liturgy of the Hours

After a wonderful supper of "whatever we wanted" from the Wayne State Cafeteria, we went to a lovely concert at the Arts Center, which was commemorating 100 years since the founding of the college. We left the concert so that we could go back over to the Newman Center for a talk on the Liturgy of the Hours. Brother Damian had Vespers folders that we used, and Sr. Cynthia had left some compline books for us. Sr. Celine gave a very nice talk on the origin and practice of the Liturgy of the Hours by the church, in a monastic setting as well as in the laity. With those two prayers, the 15 young persons there, were able to experience something of the "Opus Dei" with the Missionary Benedictine Sisters and Monks. Blessings to all of them who were participants, and a special thanks to Father Mark for being there too.

An Evening at Wayne State College

Sr. Celine and I set up our vocation display next to that of Bro. Damian from Schuyler. We visited with many young people as they went into the cafeteria for their supper. Some just curious, and some were interested in the St. Benedict's medal.