Around the Abbey

Back to the Ordinary It’s Ordinary Time again. But… is that OK, to be ordinary? Read more

Given as a light to the nations A star rises, and we don’t know how or why, but we follow it.  We know we need to follow it.  And when we get there, to the place where I needed to go, to where the star that I saw guided me, I find…you.  And you find… Read more

It’s Christmas We do begin rehearsing our carols several weeks early. And there are stacks of cards to send out. And cookies to bake. But no taste tests allowed. We don’t even lick the spoon! Because Advent at the Abbey is Advent. Pregnancy has its pace. Quite suddenly though, it’s Christmas Eve. How many nuns… Read more

Advent Companions IV At the Abbey, “Christmas” decorations and celebrations don’t arrive until December 25, giving the sisters the entire season of Advent to wait and pray. Each year, Advent’s liturgy provides us with strong and wise companions for the journey. Mary For Mary also, Advent was a time of waiting, but rather than waiting… Read more

Advent Companions III At the Abbey, “Christmas” decorations and celebrations don’t arrive until December 25, giving the sisters the entire season of Advent to wait and pray. Each year, Advent’s liturgy provides us with strong and wise companions for the journey. Zechariah Zechariah, Elizabeth’s husband, also makes this Advent journey with us.  His path is… Read more

Advent Companions II At the Abbey, “Christmas” decorations and celebrations don’t arrive until December 25, giving the sisters the entire season of Advent to wait and pray. Each year, Advent’s liturgy provides us with strong and wise companions for the journey. Elizabeth Easily seen as merely a foil for Mary, we encounter Elizabeth in the… Read more

Advent Companions I At the Abbey, “Christmas” decorations and celebrations don’t arrive until December 25, giving the sisters the entire season of Advent to wait and pray. Each year, Advent’s liturgy provides us with strong and wise companions for the journey. John the Baptist The message of the first few weeks of Advent is: Be… Read more

In the fullness of time November is a wondrous clash of fullness. It begins with the dying of gardens and green leaves, while All Saints & All Souls Days usher us into the Church’s month of prayer for the dead. This year, we not only note that the sun is setting earlier and earlier each… Read more

Potato Digging Every fall, we dedicate a morning with all hands on deck to harvest our potato patch. We usually harvest enough potatoes to take us until next year’s harvest. That seems to be the case this year. We grow, red, white and Yukon gold potatoes. It is actually fun to dig them up. It… Read more

Sr. Joan Garrity On October 2nd, the Feast of the Guardian Angels, our beloved Sr. Joan Garrity passed from this earthly life to eternal life. We celebrated her funeral two days later on a beautiful autumn morning. Sr. Joan entered monastic life at our Motherhouse in Wrentham, Massachusetts in 1961 at the age of 21.… Read more

Summer Classes This summer we have have been having a series of classes with Fr. Doug Wathier. Fr. Wathier, a former Loras College professor and currently pastor of St. Mary’s Church in Waverly, Iowa. Our classes have been on Christian anthropology. We’ve had classes on Irenaeus, Augustine, Hadewjich, Julian of Norwich and Karl Rahner. Our… Read more

Derecho Last week we experienced a derecho for the first time. It produced very strong winds, and the National weather service advised people to stay inside and away from windows. It didn’t last that long, maybe 30 minutes. The derecho winds did not do any damage to the abbey buildings, thank God, as we just… Read more

New Melleray’ Abbey’s 175th Anniversary On July 16th New Melleray celebrated their 175th anniversary of foundation. It is the 2nd oldest Cistercian abbey in the United States. Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky was founded a year earlier. We celebrated the day with Eucharist at 10:30 AM with archbishop Thomas Zinkula presiding. Mass was followed by a… Read more

New Roofs Last summer we had a severe hail storm that didn’t last long but did an enormous amount of damage to all of the abbey roofs. This summer we are having them all replaced which will take several weeks. Now, with this intense heat it is hard on the roofers, so they start early… Read more