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JANUARY 2014
 WEDNESDAY 1 January
2014 - Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God.
Eight days after the Nativity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, we
celebrate his Mother, she who gave him his human being, body and soul, by the Holy Spirit, who came upon her to establish
her place in the divine realm. It was the Coucil of Ephesus in 431 that proclaimed her Theotokos, Mother of God, because her
Son is God without prejudice to the difference between Mary, human creature, and Jesus, Son of the Eternal God.
After
Lauds, chapter for the exchange of New Year wishes and the distribution of calendars and diaries that had accumulated.
THURSDAY 2 - Saints Basil the Great and Gregory of Nazianzus. Two great inspirers
of the monastic a spiritual life.
FRIDAY 3 - The Abbot in chapter, commenting
on the 24th tool of good works in the Rule of Saint Benedict, said that living in the truth is the foundation of all our relationships
with other people.
SUNDAY 5 - Solemnity of the Epiphany. A feast of great
light. We went for a turkey dinner with Mother Alfreda and the sisters at their monastery of Assomption. Father Maurice and
Brother Henry joined us.
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| Brother Henry back home for a few hours |
MONDAY 6 -
Robert Beaulieu is currently with us, doing a monastic experience.
TUESDAY 7
- The Abbot and Brother Stephan went to Moncton to buy some beds, and took the opportunity to call in on Brother Henry and
Father Maurice.
WEDNESDAY 8 - The Abbot was born on this day in 1943.
God continues to give him good health, so he a six mile bikeride. The was a delicious black forest gateau made with fresh
cream at supper.
THURSDAY 9 - The postulant and the observer started having
classes.
FRIDAY 10 - We had a short visit from our Father Immediate, Dom
Clement of Mistassini, who stayed with us until after Mass on Sunday.
SATURDAY
11 - Brother Gilles withdrew for a time of reflection.
SUNDAY 12
- Feast of the Baptism of Our Lord. The Abbot presided the Mass and we had the blessing and sprinkling of water.
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| Brother Henry with Father Graham |
MONDAY
13. The Abbot announced, in chapter, some re-arrangements to fill the gaps left by Brother Gilles. Father Roger will
lead the singing at Vigils, and Father Graham will be sub-prior and member of the Abbot's Council. Father Innocent will
add his voice to the schola.
TUESDAY 14. Father Graham went away for eight
days to renew himself spiritually by a retreat at Villa Madonna, near Saint John, New Brunswick. Our observer, Robert, drove
the Abbot to visit Brother Henry and Father Maurice in Moncton.
WEDNESDAY 15.
Robert is busy brightening up the lower flights of the stairs with a nice cream paint. Both he and Glic are supremely good
at housework and Glic milks the cows in the afternoons. The Abbot and Brother Stephen ran a few errands in Miramichi.
THURSDAY 16. The Abbot gave his regular class to those in formation and informed
them that Father Innocent would be his assistant with regard to those in formation.
FRIDAY
17. The Chicken Farmers of New Brunswick representative came to audit our chicken operation.
SATURDAY 18. Br. Leo's 87th birthday. He had part of his family to lunch and was showered with cakes by
both them and our own cooks. He will have the rest of his family to lunch tomorrow and the next day, at least.
SUNDAY 19. Father Roger presided the Mass. His final word on the Lamb of God echoed
perfectly what the Pope said at the Angelus. The second part of his homily in English was devoted to Christian Unity, since
yesterday began the week of prayer for this intention. Our divisions are a wound in the one Body of Christ.
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| Back out into the winter wonderland |
MONDAY
20 - The Abbot went with Robert to take a keyboard to Father Maurice. His keyboard had filed and he has gone totally
deaf. So it is important he is able to communicate via the computer. We are looking for voice recognition programmes that
will recognize a variety of voices.
TUESDAY 21 - The temperature plummeted
to minus 20ºC with a windchill of minus 27º. Robert, the observer, was seen on skis on the frozen lake. He came
back saying he had seen a pair of bald eagles for the second time.
WEDNESDAY
22 - Father Graham re-appeared. Fr. Innocent started classes with those in formation. It snowed most of the day, but
without leaving too much behind.
TUESDAY 23 - Father Graham took Fr. Adrien
to have as second root canal filled to stop him getting repeated infections in his gums.
FRIDAY 24 - the heating broke down in the early morning when the temperature was minus 20ºC. This involved
Brother Stephan working most of the day on it - in between looking after sick cows. The heating in the Guest House failed
to come back on properly. Father Graham went to the funeral of his 14 year old cousin.
SATURDAY 25 - Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. It snowed all day, making it difficult to imagine Paul
on the dusty road to Damascus. A man came to see about the cooling system in the dairy. Another man came to see about a cow
with a twisted uterus and another to solve the problems with the heating system. Quite a lot for a Saturday.
SUNDAY 26 - Solemnity of our Three Founders, Saints Robert, Alberic and Stephen Harding. There was decidedly
more snow than forecast and this did not facilitate getting our brothers here from Moncton. But they and the sisters from
Assumption came for lunch. There was a howling wind and a nasty wind-chill so that the Abbot resisted the temptation to go
out on his bike.
Monday 27
- Good news for Father Maurice: the sisters of the Résidence Notre-Dame du Sacré-Coeur have found him an apparatus
that enables him to hear a certain amount. He also has undertaken to produce a French translation of our anonymous chronicler's
eccentric efforts. Father Graham took Father Adrien to see his doctor in Moncton. He was very satisfied to see that he is
functioning so well, now that his medication has been stabilized. They called in to see Father Maurice and Brother Henry and
delivered some exercise equipment to Father Maurice.
Tuesday 28 - The
abbot was running around letting air out of radiators, because it was causing pressure in the boiler, to the point of blowing
a valve.
Wednesday 29 - Father Graham took Father Adrien to Richibuctou
to have his root canal finished and to see his sister in the care home in Saint Louis-de-Kent.
Thursday 30 - The abbot attended the funeral in Rogersville of Madame Flora Thibodeau, who died at the age
of 112 years and 10 months. A prayerful, calm and smiling presence always glad to have visitors, she could talk about the
sinking of the Titanic and the arrival of the first motor car in Rogersville. When she died she was the oldest resident in
New Brunswick and the oldest living person born in Canada. The honourable Graydon Nicholas, Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick,
Pierrette Robichaud, mayor of Rogersville, the honourable Bertrand Leblanc, member of the New Brunswick Legislative Assembly,
and Senator Rose-Mai Poirier were present to pay the last tribute to a lady who was much loved by the local community. Flora
was 18 months old when the monks came to Rogersville, and nearly four when the nuns came. She remembered a brother from the
monastery delivering the bread baked by the nuns, with a horse and cart.
Friday
31 - Robert began cleaning and painting parts of the basement that have never been done in living memory.
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