Thursday 1 November – Feast of All Saints and anniversary of the founding of Our Lady of Calvary 105 years ago.

Friday 2 – A group of six students arrived in the evening for the weekend.  They are students at the University of St. Thomas in Fredericton.

Saturday 3 – After about six weeks here, Br. Albert still has not received his visa for re-entering the United States.  We don’t like to see him disappointed but we are enjoying his stay here among us.  He is very pleasant and good humoured.

Sunday 4 – This week, Br. Albert is reader both at the Office and in the refectory.  A rest for the others.

Tuesday 6 – On the farm, they are spreading muck, liquid cow manure to be exact.  And there is a vast quantity of it.

Wednesday 7 – In the guest house there are two Anglican priests.  They are friends and frequent visitors to the Abbey.  Both belong to a group of Anglicans asking for full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

An e-mail from Father Innocent of Illah in Nigeria told us that Immigration Canada in Lagos had refused him a visa.  But we still hope to see him here.

This evening we had a continuation of our discussion on silence.

Thursday 8 – Each Thursday evening we watch a video.  This evening it was a concert by Yanni and a large musical ensemble.  Wonderful music.

Saturday 10 – There are more comings and goings in the guest house.  Fr. Graham’s parents were here for the day.

Sunday 11 – Remembrance Day, despite it’s being Sunday.  All the business will be open tomorrow.  It snowed and the Abbot was obliged to take his bikeride on his winter circuit, the quiet country road of West Collette, instead of in the woods.

Monday 12 – Robert Pichette, the author books like the history of our monastery and the history of Acadie we had read recently in the refectory, has been here for several days.

Tuesday 13 – Several of us went to the clinic to get the anti-influenza injection.

Wednesday 14 – The Abbot, Br. Albert and I went for treatment by, Kumar Luke of Miramichi, a massage therapist and acupuncturist.

Friday 16 – At the beginning of the chapter, the Abbot distributed a résumé of our discussions on silence, entitled “The Fruits of our Dialogues”.  Its various points will help improve our practice of this important monastic discipline.

Saturday 17 – The weather became a lot milder this week.  The little bit of snow that we had has all disappeared and it was nice weather to walk out in.

Sunday 18 – This afternoon Fr. Maurice gave the Sacrament of the Sick to two ladies.  Fr. Maurice and Br. Henry also had the pleasure of a visit from their cousins.

Monday 19 – The Abbot left with Mother Alfreda, the Abbess of Assomption, with Rhéal Desroches as their driver, to go to a meeting of Canadian abbots and abbesses at the Cistercian monastery of Rougemont in Quebec.

This evening Fr. Graham gave a conference on St. Ephrem.

Wednesday 21- Fr. Graham gave us another conference.

Thursday 22 – At last, Br. Albert has got his permit to re-enter the United States, after two months of trying.

We were expecting the Abbot and his fellow-travelers (now including Mother Marie of St. Benoît-Labre) back today, but because of a day-long snowstorm they had to break their journey for the night at Grand Falls.

Friday 23 – Our travelers got back safe and sound.  This evening the Abbot gave us news of our monasteries.

Saturday 24 – This evening again, the Abbot gave us news of the monasteries.

Sunday 25 – Feast of Christ the King.  The Abbot presided the Mass and Fr. Maurice preached the homily.

Monday 26 – The Abbot spoke some more about our Canadian monasteries.

Tuesday 27 – Gospel-sharing as usual on a Tuesday.

Wednesday 28 – The Abbot showed us the websites of our Canadian monasteries, those that have them, including Rougemont of the Cistercian Order and Saint Benoît-du-Lac of the Benedictines.

Thursday 29 - We watched a video about Alaska.  A documentary with monastic undertones since the sub-title was: solitude and silence.  The first part focussed on one man who had spent a good part of his life in solitude in a remote and wild area.  There are great shots of the wild animals too.

Friday 30 – Mother Marie, Abbess of Notre-Dame du Bon Conseil is having a break at Assomption.  She came by invitation to our Vespers and stayed for supper.  This gave us the opportunity to have a good exchange with her.

A large group turned up to hear Fr. Melvin Doucet speak and to take part in the Mass he celebrated.  His workshop continued through Sunday.