The Heliotropium In The Garden

A HandmaidHPB Vocations, News

Our Novice Mistress has the novices, and any discerning guests, learning about the spiritual benefits of gardening as well as culinary should the harvest be abundant enough. But on a strictly spiritual level sunflowers are good models for us. Jeremias Drexelius wrote The Heliotropium, or Conformity of the Human Will to the Divine around 1630.  The sunflower that follows the …

O Sacred Heart of Jesus!

A HandmaidNews

Until we raise up Holy Family Building, a lot of our religious devotionals like art prints and statues of various sizes remain in storage. We likely won’t find their ‘final’ homes until after construction is finished yet, in hope and some growing excitement, we are preparing. When we were just doing some survey work on the site where Holy Family …

Sister, an avid gardener, displays her favorite flowers, Roses.

Happy 100th Birthday to a Handmaid In Eternity!

A HandmaidNews

Happy 100th Birthday Sister Margaret Mary of the Sacred Heart! Though she has been gone for ten years now, we mark that today would have been her centenary birthday. We pray she is enjoying her big day, now outside of time, before the Beatific Vision, we continue our prayers for her and ask her to intercede for us! 

Gertrude Caught Stalking…but it wasn’t the Squirrels

A HandmaidNews

Our squirrel cat Gertrude, known as Sunbeam in cartoon land, was recently observed among the rose bushes next to our Mass Chapel. She crouched, then leaped into one bush very energetically. Unfortunately, her prey was the butterfly she had been stalking, not the hoped-for squirrel. The good news is that the butterfly fluttered away and the rose bush was more …

Congratulations Chrissy Tworek!

A HandmaidHPB Vocations, News

Class-24_Vocation-Story_Web_Tworek-Chrissy.pdf Join us as we congratulate our Aspirant Chrissy for completing the Labouré Society program in offsetting her academic debts in order to pursue a religious vocation. If you haven’t heard about Labouré, please visit their website where you can see how their model of fundraising works for each class. You can learn about each aspirant class, as well as …

May She Know Your Pleasure, Lord

A HandmaidDiamond Jubilee, HPB Vocations, News

“Almighty God, we ask you to bless your daughter, Sister Mary Genevieve, for 60 years she has devoted herself to you. During the 60 years she has been united and hidden through Christ with you. And countless times everyday she has said yes to your invitation to prayer, to sacrifice, to adoration, to give herself for priests. May she know …

Ite Ad Joseph: We Need Holy Family Building

A HandmaidCartoons, News

They say to go to Saint Joseph when in great need. We have been praying his Litany daily for some time now for the intention of successfully fundraising, then building and completing, a needed addition to our monastery: Holy Family Building. This annex, which would attach directly to our largest building, would allow all Handmaids to live, work, and pray …

Gunther Climbs To New Heights

A HandmaidNews

Our indoor cat Gunther (a.k.a. Shadow in cartoon land) has the run of the largest building, Cor Jesu Monastery, which is a large, rustic, wooden lodge. It’s like one big cat tree. Fortunately he is not like most cats and doesn’t often push his limits. But during a recent meal (best nun audience time) he leapt from the second floor …

Mater Dei Deck Replacement

A HandmaidNews

We long ago had to declare defeat in our War Against The Squirrels and replace the outside stairs leading to the cells adjacent to Mater Dei. They have resisted the squirrels teeth, although some squirrels, perhaps to spite the loss of the wood staircase, have a regular penchant for visiting when Gertrude lets them. Actually she has been seen chasing chipmunks …

The Fourth of July, Fireworks, and Hope

A HandmaidNews

Yes, cloistered nuns do celebrate the Fourth of July and thank God for our freedom and pray for our nation intensely that she may find her way back to God again. Being cloistered, naturally means we do not go out to parades and firework shows. An interesting fact in our history was having the best ringside seat to the Jemez …

Gardening Is Good For The Soul

A HandmaidHPB Vocations, News

Yes, gardening is good for the soul and a raised bed is good for the back. Earlier this year the Formation Group began working two raised beds just outside Saint Joseph Hermitage. We are happy to share that the first (rationed) harvest was enjoyed by the community recently and featured sugar snap peas. They were flavorful and delicious and cooked …