Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

O great mystery, and wonderful sacrament,
that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in a manger!
O blessed virgin, whose womb was worthy to bear the Lord Jesus Christ.
Alleluia!

O magnum mysterium, et admirabile sacramentum,
ut animalia viderent Dominum natum, iacentem in praesepio!
O beata virgo, cuius viscera meruerunt portare Dominum Christum.
Alleluia!

In one of his sermons for Christmas, St. Bernard of Clairvaux writes of the marvelous mystery that God, whom the heavens cannot contain, should become flesh, contained in human form, and that one who can say, “From eternity to eternity I am God” (Is 43:13) should now be limited by time and space, now as a day-old child. We have a beautiful handmade nativity scene in choir, given to us a number of years ago, which depicts the Holy Family surrounded by, not only animals, but a number of Dominican saints and blesseds. What a great mystery and wonderful sacrament to ponder in the company of the many Dominican saints who have gone before us.

We had a very joyful celebration of Christmas and its octave, culminating in the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God on January 1. After Christmas Matins and Midnight Mass, we get to bed around 2am, and so we “sleep in” a bit on Christmas morning, rising at the late hour of 6am! Our typical work periods are free for recreating, rest or prayer on Christmas and sisters took advantage of all three options. We got a good amount of snow on Christmas eve, so one group of sisters went out sledding on Christmas morning, while others stayed in and played a board game. In the evening we enjoyed opening a number of gifts which kind friends had given to the monastery - including new vegetable peelers! YAY!.

December 31st is observed as a retreat and fast day, taking a break from the festivities of the Christmas Octave to pray in reparation for our sins of the past year, and to pray for graces on the year to come. January 1 is, like Christmas, a day free for spending “family time” together as a community outside of our usual times of prayer. After Mass, we gather in the chapter hall to draw our patrons for the coming year, along with a special prayer intention. Each sister draws a patron and intention along with a quote, which this year were on the theme of hope as we celebrate the Jubilee Year of Hope.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of the nuns!