Mount Saviour Monastery

March 2022 News:
Throughout the month, there were hopeful hints of spring. The first geese to migrate north were seen and heard on March 1st, the day that also marks the start of meteorological spring. Buzzards and killdeer returned the following day. On the 7th, the first red-winged blackbird was sighted. Father James Kelly always believed that it was not truly spring until they returned. On the 8th, the woodchucks awoke from their winter hibernation. On the 17th, we were able to see and hear our local pair of guard-geese, who return to one of our ponds every year. The first open flower, a snowdrop, bloomed in the portery garden followed by purple crocuses on the 18th. For the majority of the month, we saw more green than white outside. From the 7th to the 11th, Fathers Dominic Hahn, Superior of Thien Tam Monastery in Texas, and Gregory Phillips, Superior of St. Mary's Monastery in Massachusetts, were here to conduct our regular canonically mandated Visitation. The Visitation is when monks from other houses come to examine the life of a particular monastery. It is a means of helping a community to see where it is going, what problems it finds along the way, and what can be done to solve them. Visitations are the principal means by which the congregation to which one belongs assists individual monasteries. Visitations also help monks meet other monks in the congregation and get to know their monasteries better.

Our first large retreat group since the start of the pandemic arrived for the weekend of the 11th. The 17 participants from Cornell University were spread out among our guest houses, cooked their own meals, and joined us for prayer in the chapel.
 

On the 18th, after the first Vespers of Saint Joseph, whom he chose as his patron saint, Brother Ramon was accepted into the novitiate. Please remember Brother Joseph in prayer as he continues his discernment. The solemnities of Saint Benedict on the 21st and the Annunciation on the 25th added still more joy to the Lenten season. Br. John welcoming Br. Joseph  

COMING EVENTS

Maundy Thursday, April 14: Mass of the Last Supper at 5:00 p.m.

Good Friday, April 15: Celebration of the Lord's Passion at 3:00 p.m.

Easter Sunday, April 17: The Paschal Vigil including Mass, will begin at 5:00 a.m. in the crypt. There is NO 9:00 a.m. Mass.

Easter Monday, April 18: Mass at 9:00 a.m.

May 1, 2022: The annual Damasus Winzen Memorial Lecture will be presented by Father Richard Vosco of the Diocese of Albany.

Title: "Worship in a Post-Pandemic Church: The Future of Christian Symbol Systems"