April 23, 2022 How the Sisters are Celebrating Easter After the aridity of Lent, The lilies of Easter make the Chapel seem like a garden! Blessed Easter, to all our family and friends! Lent and the Sacred Triduum flew by, full of the Lord’s grace and a constant invitation to go deeper than ever before into these holy mysteries. The Church continues to give us the joy of celebrating Easter, liturgically, for an entire octave. One day could not be sufficient to recognize the importance of what has just occurred! Liturgically speaking, each day of the Octave is Easter Day all over again. The Alleluia is constantly on our lips as we pray and sing, with continual reflections on the appearances of Jesus after His Resurrection, and the bold preaching of the Apostles. That being the case, we must find innumerable ways to celebrate together! This Octave has been very full, thanks to lots of planning from various teams, hosting new fun each day. On Easter Monday, we were blessed to make the trip out to Fort Payne, Alabama, where Sister Clare Marie’s brother, Fr. Rick, is pastor of Our Lady of the Valley. We were able to have Mass together, after which Father Rick and some of his staff members took us on a tour of Little River Canyon, which was beautiful. We all laughed heartily, hearing how this second-hand table needed to be cut in pieces to be brought from Birmingham! On Tuesday, some Sisters worked to construct small shrines (to be given away), to honor Our Blessed Mother and create a place in the home for veneration, and writing prayer intentions. Wednesday brought an invitation to a wonderfully elegant evening Tea, organized by Sister Rita Marie. The outside of one of the shrines(the space on the left is for writing prayer intentions with dry-erase marker) The Novitiate has been providing entertainment each evening, with trivia from the book of the Lives of the Saints we read from each morning. Each correct answer counts for an egg in the basket (i.e. ticket in the raffle) on the eighth day of the Octave! What does the name Barnabas mean? (answer: Son of Encouragement) This weekend we are hosting a retreat for young adults – please keep them in prayer during their retreat. May the celebration of Our Lord’s triumph over sin and death continue to bring great light and joy to you all!