JANUARY 2015

Celebrating with the nuns

Monday 12th. A group of priests have joined us for a few days' retreat. Father Innocent and Father Graham took both our vehicles to Moncton, leaving the Kia at a shop for the week for repairs. After Vespers, Brother Stephan went to Sainte-Marie, about an hour's distance, for the funeral of the father of one of our employees, Laurie Allain.
Tuesday 13th. Today is the feast of the Abbot Saint Aelred of Rievaulx. At the occasion of Aelred's death, GIlbert of Hoyland, a contemporary, wrote that as far as anger went, Aelred wasn't just slow, as per Saint James' advice. Aelred wasn't even in the running. Once a month, samples of each cow's milk are taken for quality assessment, and that took place today. After None, Father Adrien saw Dr. Blanchard who advised him, after the consultation, to enjoy winter. Winter will be over before we know it: that is the doctor's opinion.
Wednesday 14th. At dawn, a plume of smoke was rising from the chimney of the wood stove in the farm garage: minus 25 out. Clear sky. To get a little warmer, starlings sometimes nestle on our windowsills here during the afternoon. It was blood tests this morning, first for Dom Bede then for Father Adrien. Old friends Father Adrien met in the waiting room were happy to have the chance to see him again, one of them was local entrepreneur Raymond Gallant.
Thursday 15th. Bread was baking early today in the kitchen, with the aroma helping to wake us up. The geo-thermal team were walking through the building at mid-day to discuss where and how to place heating units, and what sort of walls they would have to cut through. Before we watched the last part of Holiday Inn this evening, Father Adrien encouraged monks in attendance to dance a jig themselves as they were able, but no one chose to compete with Fred Astaire.
Friday 16th. Pipe is being put in place along the basement ceiling for the geo-thermal heating, In Chapter, Dom Bede announced that we would be trying a new arrangement of the places in chapel. Our stalls are made so as to be able to be slid about on the floor, so he will move some stalls tomorrow, having left a new seating plan on the notice board outside the chapel. The biggest question is, how a given configuration affects the singing.
Saturday 17th. From a new vantage point in chapel, it is possible to notice anew how well-designed the present chapel is. It was Dom Maurice who conceived of renewing the appearance nearly twenty years ago, a step which seemed radical to some at the time. Tiles replaced the carpet. The position of the tabernacle was changed. Stone altar and ambo appeared. Two stained-glass pieces were done for us on Prince Edward Island. Once complete, the only alterations to Maurice's plan were an image (presently an icon) of the Crucifixion to supplement the stained glass Cross of the Resurrection, and plastic behind the stained-glass pieces to reduce the amount of light entering.
Sunday 18th. Today is Brother Léo's 88th birthday. A happy milestone. He thought his brother might drop by, but this did not happen.

Work on the geothermal installations

Monday 26th. Even in extreme cold as per today, it's not unusual to see a crow lazily circling over the forest and lake, slowly rising then descending; whether to keep warm by flying, or because it does not mind the cold, or for some other reason altogether. The geo-thermal work caused a bit more of a ruckus today, and had to take up more space. Dom Bede was unable to access his office at all a good part of the day, but bore this with a smile. Today, the 26th of January, is a day we realise how much God loves us: it is the day we celebrate the founders of Citêaux.
Tuesday 27th. The wind was at blizzard strength by the time Holy Mass was over at 9, with snow flying by: storm day. Our cook went home at noon, having prepared a tasty supper in advance. In the dairy barn, you could tell where the cracks in the wall were by mini drifts of snow that formed inside. Later, it was necessary to shovel a way out of rather than into the barn. Though we lost the electricity before Vespers, it came back just in time for supper, and for powering the elevator to bring some of us where we need to go.
Wednesday 28th. The geo-thermal installation work spread east from the area around the Abbot's office, to the scriptorium, where the book shelves were covered in poly, and pipes along the ceiling started going up. After supper, Brother Stephan attended a meeting of the New Brunswick Soil and Crop Improvement Association which was held in Napan.
Thursday 29th. Some books arrived for the store. One of them is Massimo Faggioli's recent work on Saint John the XXIII. It's the first book in English to draw on the recently completed Edizione nazionale, John XXIII's complete diaries in ten volumes. Every story old is new again.
Friday 30th. A slight rise in temperatures brought an afternoon calmer than we're used to outside, with soft clouds, even an ice mist floating through in the morning to cover the trees. This afternoon a woodpecker was tapping away at a tree just outside the monastery. A very pure sound.
Saturday 31st. Quite heavy snow once again. Rémi had to do snow removal morning, afternoon and early evening which is fairly rare. There are now three heating coils in the chapel, waiting to be hooked up. They are barely noticeable there, which is a plus. Things are a more than a little dustier than they once were, recalling the days of yore when, it is said, Brother Henry once brought in a team of cleaning ladies from the vicinity to help him properly clean the chapel.