06 November 2009

Mount St. Bernard Abbey: Update

Well I have been here at the abbey for 5 weeks now, and there have already been some changes:
One of the brothers was ordained deacon. He was ordained by the Bishop of Nottingham. Because of his tight schedule a Dominican brother came to the abbey to be ordained too. The Dominican had been born profoundly deaf, but with speech therapy and modern hearing aids (and I am sure plenty of lip-reading), he is able to communicate quite well. Both of them should be ordained in about six month.

My fellow postulant was "clothed" on the All Saints Day; now I am postulating on my own. He took the name Rafael after Rafael Arnaiz Baron a Trappist Oblate who was canonized a few weeks ago by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI. St. Rafael was noted for his self-abandoning love for God, humility and detachment. He is a very apt patron for our Brother Rafael. Please pray for him.

So until the end of January -God Willing- there will be two novices and a postulant. Then we have a man scheduled to join the postulancy, and two more in the Spring-time. With God's great grace we shall have a pretty full house.

And one personal note about my blog: I have now have at least one visit from every continent on the planet, including Antarctica (thx Melanie). I am still marveled (and grateful) at the amount of readers that I have. God Bless you all.

PAX!

2 comments:

  1. umm TRappists? blogging? whats beccome of REligious life, what would,ARmand de Rance think? dont telll me you all watch TV too?
    pax

    ReplyDelete
  2. EJG, First no TV! Secondly, we follow de Rance's rules. I, for example, do not spit on the walls in the dormitory.

    ReplyDelete