During this time of preparation for the birth of Our Lord, He has given me the gift of seeing my poverty a little more clearly. I am not talking about poverty in terms of a lack of physical things that I have, but in terms of my utter inability to do anything on my own without God. I’m weak, I’m limited and I’m frequently making mistakes and sinning.
Sr. Natalia was tonsured and received her new name on Dec. 5, during Vespers for the Feast of St. Nicholas. Following monastic tradition, she submitted three names to Mother Theodora, who chose Natalia. Sr. Natalia is named after the Apostle Bartholomew (Nathaniel). She would like to share with you about her connection with her patron.“Jesus our God, the Sun of glory, sent you to the whole world like a ray of light to disperse the gloom of ungodliness, O all-glorious one, and to enlighten all who sit in the darkness of ignorance.”
“Submitting to the will of Him Whose will all things obey, you imitated Him as a teacher of righteousness.”
Yesterday evening, our dokimos (postulant), Victoria Olsen, was tonsured as a rasophore ("robe-bearer") nun by Metropolitan William at St. Stephen Byzantine Catholic Church in Euclid, Ohio, during Vespers for the feast of St. Nicholas. During this service, she received her habit and new monastic name: Sister Natalia! She is named after the Apostle Bartholomew (Nathaniel).
We are full of joy to announce the tonsuring of our dokimos (postulant), Victoria, as a rasophore nun on Monday, December 5! During Vespers for the Feast of St. Nicholas, Victoria will be clothed in the monastic habit, belt, riassa (robe) and skufia (hat) and receive a new monastic name. Please keep her in your prayers as she prepares for this next step in her monastic formation!
Thank you for helping us to "keep our lamps burning" by your prayers and support of our benefit dinner, Nov. 5, at St. Joseph Byzantine Catholic Church in Brecksville, Ohio! About 200 guests joined us for a wonderfully joyful evening of Great Vespers, dinner, music by the band Zug, and enjoying the company of so many awesome people! We also showed a video that we produced about our monastery (which we will share with you soon!)
"Behold, the Bridegroom is here! Go and welcome Him!” What stirs in your heart? “The Bridegroom is here!” Does your heart leap, does it wince or is it indifferent? We, like the ten virgins, all hear the same message and are called to be prepared, to keep vigilance and to respond at the arrival of the Bridegroom with blazing lamps filled with oil.
The five wise virgins were prepared because they knew and loved the Bridegroom and possessed the oil of desire. Prayer, which is ultimately union with God, is essential to know and desire Christ. Prayer is a dialogue or a knowing silence of oneness of being with the Other. “The Fathers of the Church say that prayer, properly understood, is nothing other than becoming a longing for God” (Mary: The Church and the Source, Ratzinger and Hans Urs Von Balthasar, 2005). Our “oil of desire” that keeps our lamps burning is continuously replenished and purified with each encounter with Christ. St. Augustine, in his reflection on Psalm 37, says, “Desire is your prayer; and if your desire is without ceasing, your prayer will also be without ceasing. The continuance of your longing is the continuance of your prayer.”“O faithful, let us be on fire with love of the Bridegroom, and with lamps burning, let us go out to meet Him. May the light of our virtue shine brightly, and may our faith be radiant. With the wise virgins, let us prepare to enter the banquet hall of the Lord; for the divine Spouse offers us all the crown of immortality.”
"Song of Songs 1:4 says it all: 'Draw me Lord and we will run.' Zug means train in German, and it means literally to draw, to pull. It is theological in the sense that Christ attracts, pulls, all to Himself. We are drawn by the transcendentals of the True, the Good, the Beautiful, ultimately to Christ. And as we are drawn by Christ, we want to be a connector between Christ and each person listening and joining into the music we play, just as a train car links to train car, all pulled by the single engine."May we follow the example of the guys of Zug, allowing ourselves to be drawn to Christ, and drawing others to Him by our lives. "Draw me and we will run" (Sg 1:4, quoted above).
Last year many enjoyed our first fundraising dinner, the "Mumford & Nuns BBQ," which took place in the summer at the monastery. This year, we invite you to join us for "The Bridegroom's Banquet" on Sat. Nov. 5, 2016, at St. Joseph Byzantine Catholic Church in Brecksville, Ohio."When we see her greatness, it's not because she does something that's out of reach of us. She does something that every one of us can do: she's empty, she's open, she's earth that God can plant His mercies in. She has a space that she can't fill, and she doesn't try to--that's our danger: we always try to fill that space with something that's in our own control; we have to let that go. We have to allow ourselves to be poor, and weak, and limited, and broken, and then God can fill us like He fills her.
He shows us precisely what He wants us to be: empty and filled with His love, that we may also become a fount of His mercies, pure earth which pour forth His abundant mercies. What God shows us in our Lady is precisely what He is making us into: not a porcelain statue distant from us and unachievable, but something that's more like falling than like flying...something that looks more like dying than like rising. Our job is to die, His job is to raise us up again, and that's what our Lady demonstrates for us in her Dormition...."
Today we celebrate the great Feast of the Dormition (falling asleep) of the Mother of God. This morning, pilgrims who were camping out after the annual pilgrimage to the Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch joined us for Matins (morning prayer) with the burial procession and Divine Liturgy. It was a beautiful 3-hour marathon of a celebration! During the burial procession with the shroud of the Mother of God, we chant verses from the Song of Songs. When we come back inside the chapel and place the shroud on the tomb, we then sing the "stations" at her tomb, similar to the stations sung during Jerusalem Matins on Great and Holy Saturday. Here is one beautiful line from the second station:
"As an infant upon earth, God rested upon His holy Mother; now the holy Mother rests and makes her abode in God!"
"Only one who has been caressed by the tenderness of mercy truly knows the Lord” (Pope Francis, March 7, 2015, address to the Communion and Liberation movement).
“But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you” (Matthew 6:6).
(Originally published in our spring newsletter)
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We would like to give a big thank-you to the priests and seminarians who coordinated a work day for us recently and worked incredibly hard to cut down some huge, dead trees on our property and cut them into firewood. They also began the construction of a platform behind the shed for our trailer. We also had a blast helping and feeding the guys! Here are some additional photos from the day.
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| Bishop John entrusting Sr. Iliana to Mother Theodora, September 2015 |
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| What?! It's already full? Oh no! |
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| Weeding and landscaping the newly-named "Mount Theodora!" |
"In the days of old, pride brought confusion to the tongues of the builders of the Tower of Babel, but now the diversity of tongues enlightened the minds and gave knowledge for the glory of God. Then, God punished the impious for their sin; now, Christ enlightened fishermen through His Spirit. Then, confusion of tongues was for the sake of punishment; now, there was variety so that voices could be joined in harmony for the salvation of our souls" (Vespers Aposticha Doxastikon).
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| Mother Gabriella finishes a project outside and Fr. Cyril carries Pentecost decorations to the chapel |
Among the various saints we commemorate today, one is St. Emilia, the mother of ten children, five of whom are canonized saints. Below is a reflection from our Sr. Emilia on the occasion of her feast day and Mother's Day. |
| Sr. Emilia with her mother, dad & step-mom, "Aunt" Shirley, & godmother |
Bishop Kudrick was ordained the fourth bishop of Parma in 2002. Born in Lloydell, Pa., in 1947, he was ordained a priest in 1975 for the Third Order Regular of St. Francis (Franciscan Friars, T.O.R.). He was incardinated in the Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Pittsburgh in 1987, serving in Pennsylvania until his episcopal appointment to Parma. He was 68 at the time of his resignation.
More information to follow.
The days leading up to my entrance were focused on opening my heart to be receptive to the love of the Father, a grace for which I had never really asked, but badly needed. God answered those prayers through scripture and meditation, helping me to see the ways He has healed my wounds and invited me to a deeper discernment of marriage to Him. He graciously showed me how my weaknesses not only don’t inhibit His love, but are in fact endearing to Him, and how it brings Him joy to work through and in those weaknesses.
Because my entrance was on a feast of Our Lady—the Protection of the Mother of God—we sang many hymns to her during Vespers. In one of these hymns we sang, “O Theotokos, you cooperated with the invitation offered by the Holy Spirit.” Mary is the most prominent example of immense trust in our Bridegroom. She is a constant reminder for me that God always gives us a choice, but also that He bears so much fruit within our hearts when we make the choice to follow Him. This hymn, combined with the Gospel reading, says we must trust and believe in how much it delights Him when we say “yes” and also how much He delights in saying “yes” to us! 
Join us for a day of outdoor and indoor work projects, prayer, food and fun at the monastery and the Shrine of Our Lady of Mariapoch on Saturday, May 14. Volunteers of all ages and abilities are welcome! The day begins at 10 a.m., includes lunch, and closes with vespers at 5 p.m. followed by a cookout. Come at whatever time you are available, and bring a side dish to share if you can. The monastery is located at 17485 Mumford Rd. Burton, Ohio. Please RSVP* by Monday, May 9, to 440-834-0290 or christthebridegroom@gmail.com, so that the appropriate amount of food can be prepared.
Newsletter Reflection 5 of 6
During my retreat before tonsure, the Lord asked me again if I would follow Him, and I was repeatedly able to join in Mary’s “yes.” These many “yeses” brought an incredible joy to my heart: the joy of knowing that He had called me, and most importantly, the joy of knowing that I was loved. After retreat, I kept being led to scriptures such as: “Serve the Lord with gladness” (Ps 100:2), “The joy of the Lord is my strength” (Neh 8:10), “I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy” (Ps 27:6), and “Let the faithful rejoice in their glory, shout for joy and take their rest” (Ps 149:5). I wondered, how could souls be shouting for joy and resting at the same time? Then I understood that they are resting in the knowledge of His love. They are resting because they know that they are His own, His chosen ones. It is when they rest in His heart of love, in His loving gaze, that they can do nothing other than “shout for joy” and dance as God Himself is dancing “with shouts of joy,” for they know that God has “renewed them with His love” and this joy is too great to keep contained in their hearts (Zeph 3:17). 
I went to visit a family member in the hospital this week,
and while I was there, we were chatting about the weather and I commented that
the sun was shining when I came in. “The
sun is shining? It looks dark out to me!”
was the reply. So I opened the curtain,
but part of the hospital building was blocking the sun from shining directly
outside the window. “Still looks dark to
me.” No matter what I said or how I
reassured that the sun was indeed shining, since it could not be seen from the
angle we were looking, it was not believed.
A wonder is Your mother: The Lord entered her
and became a servant; He entered able to speak
and He became silent in her; He entered her thundering
and His voice grew silent; He entered Shepherd of all;
a lamb He became in her; He emerged bleating.
The womb of Your mother overthrew the orders:
The Establisher of all entered a Rich One;
He emerged poor. He entered her a Lofty One;
He emerged humble. He entered her a Radiant One,
and He put on a despised hue and emerged.
He entered, a mighty warrior, and put on fear
inside her womb. He entered, Nourisher of all,
and He acquired hunger. He entered, the One who gives drink to all,
and He acquired thirst. Stripped and laid bare,
He emerged from [her womb], the One who clothes all.
The mystery hidden from all ages and unknown to the angels has been made known to those on earth through you, O Theotokos. God has taken flesh in a union without confusion, and willingly accepted the Cross for us; whereby He raised the first-formed Adam and saved our souls from death.
