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Pictures of Novitiate and Garden for September
Before these pictures are out of date, I had better get them on-line! Here it our crew of postulants who are soon to lose one member to the novitiate.Postulant Phoenix will be clothed in the Holy...
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Our Newest Novice
As promised, we have for you the best of our pictures of our newest novice, invested with the Holy Habit yesterday, feast of St. Faustina and nameday of her twin Sister! It was a wonderful day for us...
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Construction Update
So far, this little flag is the only outward sign that we are about to construct a new novitiate dormitory. It was placed there to mark the location where a sample of our ground was to be taken to...
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This is the first time I have tried this: upload a video here on Blogger. Above, please find this first attempt. It is a simple slide show featuring our novitiate, some recent photos of ceremonies...
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Keep on Living!
Remember that monster squash vine that I was going to pull up but didn’t? Well, it made about 10 various sized pumpkin-like squash! The novitiate carved them up to make Poor Clare style...
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Sister Laetitia's First Profession
Our New Bride with St. ClareSister Laetitia made her First Profession of Vows on Wednesday, the feast of the Presentation of Mary in the temple. Her large family was able to attend the ceremony with...
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Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her.
We are in the first week of Advent, yet we do not forget why He came and His Passion lived out in the crisis afflicting the Church at the present time. One of us wrote a poem a year ago after taking...
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Construction/Fundraising UpdateWe have good news…. And not so good news….We have a contract and the price is not as high as we feared it would be!...
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Christmas Greetings from Bethlehem Monastery
Our artistic Novitiate somehow makes tissue and construction paper into stained glass! This creation hangs on the glass door leading into one of our interior patios, making a rather bleak sight into a...
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The Cross and the Crib
Blessed Feast of St. Stephen, Protomartyr! The Cross is never far away from the Crib at Christmas nor at any other time. Here at Bethlehem Monastery, we take care to decorate our crucifixes as well...
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Impudent Daffodils
Although I have lived in Virginia for over 40 years, the weather here always throws my native New Englander sensibilities for a loop. Back in Connecticut, my home state, Spring always came around...
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St. Colette new statue
The Poor Clares of Barhamsville are of the Colettine tradition, which means that we are descended from the monasteries founded in the 15th Century by St. Colette of Corbie. She was a courageous...
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Construction Update: The Fun has Begun!
Overhang roof must be removed before the Novitiate Dorm can be builtAt long last we can record that we have begun construction! Or more precisely...de-struction! There is an analogy here, as there...
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“Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return”.
We have seen more dust this week than what was applied to our foreheads on Ash Wednesday! A few surprises were in store for us as the construction men continued destroying our overhang roof at the...
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The Flying Bulldozer
One of the biggest logistic challenges facing our work crew is the location of our to-be-constructed novitiate dormitory inside our cloister courtyard. The doors allowing access to the construction...
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"You don't see this every day, do you?"
So did Kenny, our project manager question me as we watched this huge chunk of concrete being lifted out of our courtyard by an even bigger crane than we had last week. “No,” I replied, “But I suppose...
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Sister Chiara Marie to make Profession
Not a lot has been happening on our construction site, so we have taken the opportunity to share our enjoyment of the just beginning Spring in our neck of the woods. Pictured above and around are our...
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Palm Sunday update
Poor Clares always remember Palm Sunday with special affection as the day our Foundress, St. Clare "eloped" with Jesus in the year 1212. St. Francis was our Lord's "best man" who received her vows at...
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Post Easter Construction
We took a Holy Week/Easter break from both blogging and construction, but we are here at it again! It was wonderful to be workmen-free to celebrate the great Paschal Mysteries.A few of us took the...
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Concrete and Steel
I have been remiss in keeping our faithful readers up to date with our construction! A lot has been happening and we are doing our best to keep up with it. It has been fascinating to watch the...
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