Mount Saviour Monastery

April 2023 News:
On the 1st we had a vocational candidate arrive to spend 10 days as a guest. He will return in June as an observer to live one month in the monastery with the community.

Holy Week began on the 2nd with Palm/Passion Sunday.

Our first lamb, healthy and fully developed, was born prematurely on Good Friday. The date for newborns is typically around the 15th, but there is always one that has to be first. Also on the 7th, we received news of the death of a local oblate, Thomas Wingert Sr. at age 92. Please remember him in prayer.

Easter Vigils began at 4:45 am on the 9th and ended just after 7. The temperature warmed into the 50's under sunny skies, having started in the chilly 20's. In the evening, Brother Joseph ended his novitiate year and professed temporary vows for one year as a monk.

All the ewes, bellies swollen, were brought from the field into the barnyard area on the 14th as their due date approached. Several were born on the 16th, including a set of quadruplets which has not happened in about 10 years.

On the 17th the community decided to drop most of our COVID-19 precautionary requirements for the time being. We continue asking that guests with reservations self-test for COVID-19 before they travel and not to visit the monastery if not feeling well. Face masks and hand sanitizer remain available.

Grass cutting commenced on the 28th as it usually does in late April each year. Heavy April showers extending into May, also to be expected, quickly moved in to prevent us from finishing round one.

By the end of the month, the maternity ward for newborn lambs was becoming less hectic, also to be expected at this time of year. As the lambing slowly comes to an end, 82 mothers have given birth to 138 lambs so far this season.
 

COMING EVENTS:

Sister Kathleen Hughes, RSCG, sacramental theologian, teacher, speaker and writer, will be the speaker for the Annual Damasus Winzen Memorial lecture on Sunday May 7, 2023.