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JUNE 2014

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Sunday 1 June - Ascension Day. The group of Anglicans, due to have their own Communion Service at another time, were making toast in the guest-house and set off the fire alarm in the middle of the community Mass! We had the monthly retreat day, which involves Vespers at 5pm so that it can be followed by half an hour's Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament. Everybody remembered the advanced time of Vespers except the Abbot. Things are growing so well, especially the tomatoes, in Father Innocent's greenhouse. Brother Stephan had a complicated day, with calvings and breakdowns on the farm. Father Roger helped out our weekend cook because he is a bit new and a large group was difficult for him. But the seafood casserole they did between them was a treat.

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Mepkin Abbey
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Mepkin Abbey

Monday 2 - Brother Stephan went to a meeting about milk production in Sussex, New Brunswick, and returned the next day.
Tuesday 3 - Another guest set the fire-alarm off with the toaster. Conclusion: we need a new toaster. Father Roger had business in Moncton and drove the Abbot for the start of his journey to Mepkin, our monastery in South Carolina, for the Regional Meeting of the USA superiors of the Order. Of course, they spent some time with Brother Henry and Father Maurice.
Wednesday 11 - Brother Stephan is very happy with the way the last week's work has gone. The seeding is complete and the nice mix of sun and showers promises good growth.
Thursday 12 - Father Roger went shopping in Moncton and picked the Abbot up from the Résidence Notre-Dame du Sacré-Coeur where he had stopped in to see Brother Henry and Father Maurice on his way back from South Carolina.
Friday 13 - In chapter the Abbot began talking about his experience of the United States Regional Meeting of Abbots and Abbesses, mainly, today, giving his impressions of the community of Mepkin, which hosted the meeting and its beaufiful location. The Abbot disappeared in the afternoon to see the nuns.
Saturday 14 - We had a singing practice after Lauds to run through the antiphons for tomorrow's feast of the Holy Trinity, some of which have always given us problems.
Sunday 15 - We celebrated the feast of the Trinity. Father Roger presided the solemn Mass and preached on the Trinity as the dynamic of love. In the evening the Abbot showed pictures of Mepkin Abbey.

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Monday 16 - The Abbot, in chapter, started talking about he topics treated at the meeting of the USA superiors. Father Innocent is happy with the plants he planted out in the garden after the nursery stage in the greenhouse. It will not be long before we are eating egg plant and other vegetable delicacies. The Abbot went to see Doctor Blanchard and Doctor Blanchard, our general practitioner came to the monastery to see Brother Leo. Everybody is well, of course.
Tuesday 17 - The professed of the community had a meeting to discuss further the possibilities concerning heating from a geo-thermal source. The farm team started the first cut of silage on a beautiful summer day. Brother Stephan was also trying to test out his newly perfected rock-picker, but the ground was too wet!
Wednesday 18 - The Abbot, in chapter, completed his treatment of the topics of the USA regional meeting. It rained all day. The Abbot went to see Dr. Sharma the eye surgeon, driven by Father Roger.
Thursday 19 - Father Graham went to see the optometrist and drove the Abbot to his massage therapist.
Friday 20 - We took up again our ordinary chapters of reading and exchanging on the Rule. We also practiced the antiphons for Corpus Christ, the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ which we have on our calendar for next Sunday. A neighbour offered to do some repairs on the greenhouse. A young man on a government work scheme began work on the grounds with a strimmer. In the evening there was a rainbow over the lake. Brother Leo was having some trouble with his right knee and took to using a walker for the time being.
Saturday 21 - Summer Solstice. No Sun. The Abbot went to say Mass for the nuns and found he was saying Mass for the Abbess' mother on her hundredth birthday. In fact, Father Clovis, the nuns' chaplain was saying Mass at the lady's domicile. Father Roger went to get rid of a load of hazardous waste at a special collection in Miramichi. The Abbot went, in the afternoon, to the graduation day at the local secondary school and visited the centenarian, Mme Ernestine Gaudet. The rather nice icon of the Eucharistic Christ appeared for the celebration of first Vespers of the Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ.
Sunday 22. Brother Henry and Father Maurice joined us for the Mass and festal lunch. On the way here they encountered a moose.

Monday 23 - Activity and hitches on the farm kept Brother Stephan out of choir most of the day. The summer heat has not yet made itself acutely felt, but, following our normal usage we left off the cowls for Vespers from the First Vespers of Saint John the Baptist until the Feast of the Holy Cross. There was a lot of grass-cutting going on.
Tuesday 24 - The Abbot had another meeting with the professed to discuss the geo-thermal heating project. An accident on the farm. One of the workers knocked down the gate-post with the mowing machine on the back of the tractor. Father Graham spent the inside of the last two days in Moncton taking Brother Henry to medical appointments. The farm team worked furiously at making silage, because wet weather is in the forecast for the next few days. Three chairs for the scriptorium that have been on order from Leon's Furniture Superstore since January, because they had to be transported from Vancouver, finally turned up. But the delivery guy could not find anybody around at eight o'clock at night, so he took them away again.
Wednesday 25 - We practiced the antiphons for the Sacred Heart in chapter. Father Roger was out for the middle of the day for a meeting about chicken business. Father Guy Legendre, who has been parish priest in Rogersville for the last six years came to lunch, because he is being transferred to another parish as from the 1st July.
Thursday 26 - Father Innocent went to Halifax to buy clay for his pottery. He left after Lauds and was back for Compline. Brother Michael went to Miramichi to buy flooring for the room he is renovating.
Friday 27 - The weather changed for the hotter.
Saturday 28 - The Abbot and Brother Stephan went to Moncton Airport to pick up Father Joseph of Mount Saint Bernard who is coming to preach our annual retreat which we begin tomorrow evening. Naturally, they called in for a brief visit to Brother Henry and Father Maurice. To facilitate this operation we had First Vespers of Saints Peter and Paul early in the afternoon.
Sunday 29 - Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul. Solemn Mass presided by the Abbot, at which he also preached. We had a festive talking meal, to honour the feast and to welcome and meet Father Joseph before the retreat.
Monday 30 - In his retreat conferences Father Joseph is sharing with us his reflections and insights based on his experience of our monastery at Kurisumala, in the Indian State of Kerala. The chicken barn workers are renovating the upper floor of the carpenters shop to make it more accessible and suitable as a storage area for the shavings that they use to bed the chickens.

Our Lady of Calvary Abbey
11505 Route 126, Rogersville NB, E4Y 2N9
Tel : 506 775 2331
E-mail : CalvaryAbbey@aol.com