Vaccinations

The community completed the second round of Covid 19 vaccinations this Friday, the 12th.  Because the vaccinations were in short supply, the nurses came out to the monastery three separate days to administer them.  But the procedure went smoothly and only one monk seems to have had a strong reaction to the vaccine  On Thursday, about eight monks gathered in the refectory for book signings.  Ninety-eight students from Notre Dame School in Burlington, Iowa, had requested personal copies of the Bible.  They also asked that the monks address each copy to one of the students.  Each monk had a list of names for whom they wrote a personal inscription on one of the front pages.  We hope that the Word of God will guide and encourage them on the long journey of life before them.

Last year, a community retreat had been planned for the week of March 7th.  Dom Innocent Ugyeh, the superior of our monastery of Calvaire in Canada had agreed to lead us in this retreat.  However, the pandemic has made this trip impossible.  We hope that Dom Innocent will be able to come south next year.  Tentative plans now are that we will make a silent retreat during the week of March 21st.  The restrictions of the pandemic have already simplified our activities.  We will try to focus our efforts during the closing weeks of Lent with more silence and more time for prayer and lectio.