Early Summer Update

We are in full-planning-mode here at the monastery for our upcoming girls' camp (one more week to register!) and teen campout (August 11-12, in conjunction with the annual pilgrimage at the Shrine...more info. coming soon!).  We are also immersing ourselves in our daily schedule of liturgical and private prayer, working in the garden and around the grounds, and continuing the provide hospitality to guests.  The monastic life is very full!  But God continues to refill us with energy and grace as we pour out everything He has given us.  It is the power of the Holy Spirit, given at Pentecost, that fuels our life (and yours!).

Here are a few updates:

The talk we were scheduled to give this month at St. Nicholas Church in Barberton, Ohio, has been rescheduled for Thursday, August 2.  However, our talk this Sunday, June 10, at Sacred Heart Church in Livonia, Mich., is still on!  We will be speaking about our monastery and the purpose of monastic life.  If you are anywhere near Livonia, please join us!  Divine Liturgy begins at 10:00 a.m., and our talk will follow at 11:30 a.m.

The students from the Lyceum school recently came out to celebrate the Divine Liturgy at the Shrine (which they sang in beautiful four-part harmony!) and to offer a day of service with outdoor work projects at the shrine and monastery.  We were pleased to meet the students and grateful for all their hard work!

The Lyceum students singing the Divine Liturgy

We never would have been able to build and install our new raised-bed vegetable gardens without the help of the volunteers who helped us at each step of the process.  Thank you!!!

Seminarian Max and Gregg putting up the fence

Sr. Julie's brother, Steven Hritz, a junior at North Royalton High School, chose our monastery as the recipient of his Eagle Scout Project!  He brought out crews of friends and family on two Saturdays in May and completed a majority of the project.  Two decorative stone walls have been built on each side of the driveway, with landscaping and beautiful flowers.  The project will be finished with the installation of a sign for our monastery later in the summer!  Now visitors will be able to find us much easier!

Steven (in the yellow shirt to the right of Sr. Julie) and his work crew

On Monday the Apostle's Fast began.  This fasting period begins on the day after the Sunday of All Saints, which is the Sunday after Pentecost, and ends at the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul (June 29).  It is traditionally said that after Pentecost, the Apostles fasted before they went out into the world to preach the Gospel.  To borrow a quote from the blog we linked to:

St. Leo the Great (†461) says: "After the long feast of Pentecost, fasting is especially necessary to purify our thoughts and render us worthy to receive the Gifts of the Holy Spirit ... Therefore, the salutary custom was established of fasting after the joyful days during which we celebrated the resurrection and ascension of our Lord, and the coming of the Holy Spirit.''

We encourage you to participate in this fast in some small way, as a means of opening your life more fully to the power of the Holy Spirit!

Please keep us in your prayers as we enter into a very full summer.  Please also pray for the teens who will attend the boy's and girls' camps this month and the campout/pilgrimage in August.  Know that you are all in our prayers!

Mother Theodora loves rainbows! A bright one a few days ago.