On August 5th, Brother Kim was received as a novice after First Vespers of the Transfiguration, the titular feast day of Mount Saviour. Brother Kim took as his patron saint, Saint Lawrence, whose feast day is August 10. That evening the community gathered with Brother Lawrence for a festive recreation.
Also on the 10th, Brother Joseph hastily arranged a flight to California when informed his sister had been hospitalized and was seriously ill. Please remember the family in prayer.
On the 12th, the Orien Arts Group arrived for the week. The participants were different from last month’s retreat group which also spent a week with us. For more information on the group and their activities, you can visit their website: https://orein.org/
This year’s lambs were separated from their mothers on the 13th. The first 24 hours or so is usually pretty noisy as moms and babies call back and forth from separate locations. The lambs quickly quieted down the next day as they were off fending for themselves while the mothers received a long deserved rest.
Brother Bruno transported this year’s haystacks from the fields into the barn the next two days while the weather was favorable.
We celebrated our Dedication Day on the 18th with a 10:00 am Mass followed by a brunch for everyone. The day commemorates the first Mass celebrated in our chapel and its blessing by Father Damasus on August 16, 1953. It was a good turnout including individuals making a special trip from out of state and Canada. The Orien Arts group which had been with us for the week left afterward.
On the 28th, Brothers John and Bruno left on trips for monastery business. Brother Bruno took loads of wool from shearing to New Hampshire to be processed. Brother John left for Benedictine meetings in Spain and Italy. The meeting in Spain is the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation General Chapter. It is at Montserrat Abbey which will begin celebrations for its Millennium at the conclusion of the Chapter. The meeting in Italy is the Abbots’ Congress held at Sant’ Anselmo, the Benedictine University in Rome. The group is expected to be in the General Audience with the Holy Father on the 18th of September.