 |
|
|
January 2009 Thursday 1 January – A happy New Year to all our friends.
May the Lord bless you and keep you! The Abbot presided the Mass and Fr. Innocent
gave the homily in English. Friday 2 –
Guests disappeared after Christmas, but have started coming back now: Fr. Zoël Saulnier of Tracadie came and made us
a gift of his new book, “Conversatons.” He came with Rodney Paulin who is a frequent visitor. Saturday 3 – Br. Stephan did not manage to get the new
barn completed for Christmas. But they have begun the final clearing up to get ready to put the animals
in. Our friend, Sean Tobin of Moncton has been with us all the week. He is one of our
associate oblates and quite monk-like. Sunday 4 –
Feast of the Epiphany. Our Cistercian sisters of Assomption invited us to lunch. We
celebrated the Office of Midday Prayer with them beforehand, and had an excellent dinner. The
Abbot presided our Mass. Father Maurice gave the homily and suffered one of his attacks of dizziness after
the Mass, so that he was unable to join us at the sisters’. |
||||
|
|
|
|
||
|
 Saturday 17 – The intense cold continued as promised. Records
have been broken that go back to the end of the nineteenth century. The town of Edmundston is the worst
hit. Br. Stephan got a tractor stuck near the hermitage.
Monday 19 –
As the weather forecast had predicted, a snowstorm arrived and chased off the wave of extreme cold. The
temperature even went up to minus three. Tuesday 20 –
We kept the memoria of Blessed Cyprian Michael Iwene Tansi. This priest was a native of Nigeria in Africa,
where our Father Innocent comes from. Blessed Cyprian became a Cistercian at Mount Saint Bernard Abbey
in England, our Abbot, Dom Bede Stockill’s original monastery. Br. Stephan took a few days of
retreat in the hermitage by the lake. Wednesday 21 –
In Chapter talked about Barak Obama’s inauguration address as President of the United States and comments
on the occasion by the Pope. He also talked about what the Pope had had to say about the week of prayer
for Christian Unity. Thursday 22 – In the refectory we are reading
the recently published, two-volume work: “The Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance in the Twentieth Century.”
It is very interesting and informative for us. It has been written by a variety of authors from
our Order. Saturday 24 – Feast of Saint Francis de Sales.
Here is a profound reflection of his: “It is not the greatness of our actions that is pleasing to God, but the
love that we put into them.” Sunday 25 – 3rd Sunday of Ordinary
Time and Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul. According to the liturgical calendar the Sunday liturgy
took precedence, but the Holy See allowed the Mass of Saint Paul because of the year being celebrated to commemorate the two
thousandth anniversary of his birth. Monday 26 – Solemnity of our Holy Founders, Robert, Alberic and Stephen Harding. Tuesday 27 – A few people were out today: the Abbot went to Moncton;
Fr. Maurice and I went to Miramichi to have our hearing checked out. Thursday 29 – Another big snowstorm during the night. But it got quite nice during
the day, and the temperatures are less severe than last week. Friday 30
– A gentleman is coming to give French lessons to Fr. Innocent, who, though he manages the language quite well wants
to perfect it. Another priest of the Moncton diocese died this morning of a heart attack. He
was on holiday with a priest friend in South America. It is a great loss for the diocese which is short
of priests. Fr. Léger was a historian. He had recently published a book. Saturday 31 – This afternoon we were witnesses to a rare event in a Trappist
monastery. The Abbot baptised two babies, twin boys, grandsons of our friend John Bourque. A
beautiful ceremony that gave us the opportunity to meditate on the meaning of our own baptism. The Abbot
has a gift for carrying out these liturgical celebrations.
 |
||||
