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AUGUST 2015

Saturday 1st. The corn got some of the hot sunlight it has been needing. Some excited tourists were parked just beyond the cloister gate today. Upon sighting a monk they swiftly hustled in and asked if it was standard practice to walk around where the monks live. When they were told: well, usually no one comes in here they just kept on smiling and explaining and asking if they could which for them was a winning strategy. They took some pictures by our pieta, and by the monastery's red doors. They had ties to this place from fifty years ago. People don't seem to forget this place.
Sunday 2nd. A blast of lightning could be felt in the refectory as we ate, last evening. This morning the internet was partly down. Our hero Brett will be by tomorrow to fix things.

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Work in the fields
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Work on Route 126
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Monday 3rd. Dom Bede gave a Chapter talk this morning. Father Innocent was in Québec, having left here by train yesterday evening. He will be assisting at a series of conferences on the liturgy being held at the Ursuline Center in Loretteville, Québec City. Dom Bede has redrawn the little calendar of upcoming events on the notice board: August 15, visit of Brother Henry and Father Maurice. That will be their first visit in several months, since January, I think. A series of winter and spring visits were cancelled because of weather and because of health concerns. Today was New Brunswick Day, and Simone our cook created some limited edition NB Day cupcakes for us.
Tuesday 4th. In Father Innocent's absence, Brother Glicerio is keeping an eye on the greenhouse and garden. Father Roger had visitors from his home province of Ontario today, a happy moment.
Wednesday 5th. In Chapter, Dom Bede asked us what we thought of having a co-visitor for October's regular visitation by Dom Clément of Mistassini. ‘Co-visitor' is a role Bede's taken on himself, accompanying Dom Guerric of La Trappe to Tre Fontane. It means a different ear, a different voice to help the visitor and the community visited accomplish their task. With Father Roger down with a cold today, and Father Innocent in Québec, and Father Clovis in Bathurst, Dom Bede presided here and Father Graham said Mass at the sisters.
Thursday 6th. As the corn gets taller and thicker, covering itself over, it becomes easier to understand people (most notably Stephen King) dreaming up spooky stories about corn fields-the ambience is unusual. The only thing we've seen walk out of the corn is a bear. They have been scraping the highway in front of the monastery as a preparation for re-paving. The little tractor which is used on the farm for several important tasks, a skid steer, is a model which is also used to help prepare roads for paving. As no viewers showed up for the video tonight, it was postponed to next week. Sunday will be Bede's first turn selecting music for lunch in quite some time: what will the music be? Brother Léo says everyone has a remedy for his cold, and medical advice.
Friday 7th. Dom Bede replaced the Transfiguration icon in the chapel (yesterday's feast) with the icon of the Blessed Assumption. Msgr. Vienneau of Moncton is preaching the novena this year in Rogersville, staying here while he does so. Hopefully he will have a moment to talk to us but we'll have to wait and see. August 15th, friends and family get together locally; our guest house will be busy. In Chapter Dom Bede announced that we have been formally invited to the sisters for prayers followed by a bar-b-q lunch on the feast of the Assumption. Talk of this event had been swirling like smoke from an outdoor grill recently. If it rains, we can dine with them in their refectory, which is also nice. This event was added to the community calendar, along with the name of Dom Mark Scott from New Melleray USA as co-visitor in October.
Saturday 8th. The man who gave Brother Léo his painting of Saint Michael dropped by. It overlooks the counter at the front door and gets attention, even offers to purchase it. The Pope's environmental encyclical, which we are listening to in refectory, seems to be quite a success. Pope Francis manages to be direct regarding the issues concerned but gentle as well. Father Shawn Daley organised a local pilgrimage with different stops, including the monastery for Vespers this evening.
Sunday 9th. Greeting the light of Sunday morning with our Abbot at our side again is really nice. At lunch, Dom Bede played us some Gilbert & Sullivan.

Monday 10th. Father Clovis was slowly walking through the orchard this morning, sizing up the apples: a few red ones now. In Chapter, Father Innocent, who returned on Saturday, spoke to us about the session on the liturgy he attended. There were a relatively large number of women religious present there, including two women who presently live as hermits in Montreal. The timetable for the session was on the heavy side, in order to work a lot in. Travel-wise things went well, and Innocent was able also to see a bit of Quebec City for the first time.
Tuesday 11th. Behind the monastery John has been sawing metal, getting ready to create the foundation for the new generator shack. Today the cement pad for the generator shack was pretty much ready. Clovis was involved for a bit. Brother Michael was involved quite a bit and says it seemed to help his cold.
Wednesday 12th. With the novena ongoing in town, unfamiliar faces appear: a pleasant stir. One person only might show up for Mass here. Before Mass another morning, two old friends would be sitting talking in our otherwise empty Church.
Dom Bede had a visit  this week from a Roman family he has known for many years.  They were en route to Montreal for a vacation.
Father Innocent was weeding his garden again today while closer to the monastery someone else was bent over, collecting produce. We couldn't figure out who it was, and he went his way. Maybe he was with Agriculture Canada.
Thursday 13th. In Moncton, Father Graham picked up some more marine varnish for the road sign and a copy of the environmental encyclical in book form. This encyclical is selling steadily in Moncton. Folks there were very surprised to hear that a bad bug was making the rounds not so far away. Five out of eight of us have now caught it, as well as Msgr. Valéry. Thursday, we watched the beginning of Babette's Feast, which was central to the session on the liturgy. The professor at the course said he'd watched it a few dozen times, each time discovering something new, and taking notes.
Saturday 15th. Dom Bede presided and preached for the Assumption. Bar B Q at the sisters was certainly a go, but for health reasons only the following made their way there from here: Bede, Leo, Innocent, Glic, Mike. Brother Henry was here for Mass, which was great. At the residence in Dieppe where he and Maurice live, Poutine and not Bar B Q was on the menu. For most Acadians, this potato dish with meat is about as good as it gets. Father Maurice is an exception to the rule and ate a more conventional lunch.
Sunday 16th. The day after the Assumption, a lot of people came to Mass here and we saw several old friends among them. Brother Léo misplaced his walker, then discovered it in a
corridor
.

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The lakeside walk has been refurbished
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Monday 17th. Today, Father Clovis along with a friend of Father Roger's made some apple sauce that Clovis says is good enough to sell. Just add lemon and brown sugar to apples and voilà. For the feast of the Assumption on the weekend, we received nice e-mail greetings from Mother Alfreda Gaudet (post B B Q), and from Anne Bernet and her sister Caroline in Laval, France. With a tractor, Brother Stephan carried the new back-up generator over to its pad behind the monastery. There it awaits the construction of a shack around it.
Tuesday 18th. Dom Bede and Father Roger made their way into Moncton this afternoon. Fresh hay is being stored in the barn. The barn is receiving some buttressing from the east side to push it into place. This means more concrete, and more work from the Chiassons. Temperatures here have increased substantially, a reminder of the Augusts of fifteen years or so back.
Wednesday 19th. The shattered window in the guest house entrance has been replaced. Not sure how it got broken to begin with. Brother Léo had a blood test this morning and ran into a former employee he had not seen in many years. Today was Father Innocent's birthday, with a quadruple-layer cake to celebrate. We made our way through half of that in one sitting. A guest bicycled here from Moncton for a retreat today. It took four or five hours, he says.
Thursday 20th. Father Roger and Brother Stephan are now back to regular singing as they continue to recover from the recent bug. At Mass for Saint Bernard this morning, Brother Michael's brother Rob and Father Graham's brother Jason were both present. The geo-thermal crew returned with a bang, and heating units appeared in third floor rooms that were lacking them. One of the workers was overheard to say he will return when it gets cool out, then when it gets cold to make sure the system is not giving more heat than we'd want.
Friday 21st. Brother Michael's sister gave him some Blueberry muffins. This week a few car or camper-loads of vacationing tourists stopped by. It is a happy spot, they find, and they're certainly intrigued by the whole thing, politely asking questions. Often enough they think maybe we are like the Amish, reluctant to use modern technology; farming and so on in order to have no need (or less need) for the modern world. This time of year the grounds are green and welcoming for them.
Saturday 22nd. Bede bicycled to the edge of the property, a 6 mile ride, and spotted a deer leaving the corn field with her young. Brother Stephan acted as chauffeur to Moncton for someone in the wee hours and had to take care not to hit a moose. Humidity here remained high today, 88% which is tough for some people, tougher for cows, and due to increase over the next few days.
Sunday 23rd. Father Graham's family left after a few days' stay. Father Innocent is selling cucumbers from his garden at the door, 3 for two dollars. As is not uncommon this time of year, a nice group for Sunday Mass, some arriving quite early to pray.

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Monday 24th. We have been digging in to watermelons from our garden, and a torrent of perfect tomatoes. As if by miracle, there were no other patients waiting to see Dr. Blanchard at the Rogersville clinic this morning, only f. Léo. His health is good. Food advice from Dr. B : easy on the potatoes, on bread and on sweets. As for death, Brother Léo will have to wait: Dr. Blanchard said he regularly receives a list from heaven, and Léo's name is not there yet.
Tuesday 25th. There were caterpillars in the dumpster when I opened it: not their usual spot but it has been an exceptional summer for insects and wild flowers. Around 7 AM the barn swallows were flying very high in the mist, feeding on bugs it looked like. I wondered what their maximum range was. After the sun came out Father Roger and Maurice Gallant worked on the little lawn in front of the guesthouse with watering buckets and rakes. With Brother Michael at the wheel of the Kia, Dom Bede got in to Moncton to see a specialist, who sounds like a good doctor.
Wednesday 26th. Brother Henry visited the monastery for lunch in the company of his brother, his two nephews and nephew's family, all from Massachusetts. We are having our well water tested again. The last test came back as neither unsafe to drink nor top drawer so this one will hopefully confirm things one way or the other. Some wonder if the geo-thermal drilling didn't perhaps affect our usual source of drinking water, the cover to which is tucked against the east wall. But the cause is unknown.
Thursday 27th. Our automatic bell system works extremely well, except that every so often it sets itself a minute behind what it was, which we notice most perhaps when it sounds five minutes before offices to help us get ready. To reduce heat in the chapel, we tried leaving the big lights out for Vespers. These are flood lights. They are the best illumination we have found so far. Then we have overhead lights each with their own switch, in reflective fixtures.
Friday 28th. In Chapter, Dom Bede announced that September First has been chosen by Pope Francis as World Day of prayer for the Care of Creation.
As it turns out, the drinking water's bacteria persists. We have switched to the ‘chicken water' well, which is clear, while the usual well now has a hose running out of it to keep the water running all the time so as to prevent stagnation. Solution: a chlorine treatment, which we have done before successfully some years back. Country living at its finest!
Saturday 29th. There are two Robichauds who'd never met in the guest house, one from the north shore, one from closer by. A third retreatant is here from the Magdalen Islands. He said he enjoyed our lakeside trail, which runs up from the grotto: a little muddy here and there but fun. It is warmer on the Islands than here, he said. The Magdalen Islands belong to Québec but lay across from Prince Edward Island.
Sunday 30th. Having taken August's two solemnities, Dom Bede presided his first Sunday Mass since his return. The Gospel, from Mark 7, is maybe one of the most distinctive passages in that Gospel. A nice crowd for Mass.
Monday 31st. There are seven calves in hutches currently. Cross-bred calves are often peppier. With the increased vitality, they seem to be getting a little more vocal as well. In the monastery, the water from the back-up well which we're using has higher levels of iron and magnesium, a source of wash woe for Brother Michael. He is currently in charge of the laundry and this mineral-rich water reacts badly at times, making some whites brown while other whites come out fine.

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