"What Silence is Not," with Mother Cecilia

Today on the podcast, "What God is Not" with Mother Natalia and Fr. Michael O'Loughlin, the first of a series of episodes with the other nuns of our monastery begins, kicked off by an episode with Mother Cecilia, titled, "What Silence is Not." (The other episodes will air periodically throughout the coming months.) Mother Cecilia takes a unique angle regarding silence, speaking about more than just the obvious physical reality of silence. She defines it as, "the emptiness of self," and challenges both those who would rather avoid silence and those who naturally like it. We hope that everyone will find some food for reflection in this episode and be challenged to dive into some true silence.

"Be poor with Me: reflections on poverty"

Today is the first day of the 40-day Nativity Fast (or "Philip's Fast," because it begins on the eve of the feast of the Apostle Philip). Today we begin to prepare our hearts to receive Jesus in the Incarnation, who enters into our physical and spiritual poverty and takes on the poverty of our humanity. 

As we begin this fast, we offer for your reflection a video that we produced this year and just released this past weekend for our Bridegroom's Banquet. It is called, "Be poor with Me: reflections on poverty." We hope that it will help to set the spiritual tone of your preparations for Christmas.

Discernment Retreat, Dec. 17-19

Single Catholic women, ages 18-35, who would like to take a weekend to pray about a possible vocation to the monastic life, are invited to inquire about attending the upcoming discernment retreat at Christ the Bridegroom Monastery, December 17-19, 2021. Experience the life of prayer at the monastery, listen to talks on prayer and discernment, make use of the opportunity to get to know the nuns, and receive healing through the Mystery of Holy Repentance (Confession). If you are interested in this retreat, or a future discernment opportunity, fill out the Vocation Inquiry Form. Please fill out the form by Dec. 6 for this retreat. Space is limited and may fill up before Dec. 6. Mother Theodora will contact you to talk about availability. With questions, call 440-834-0290 or email christthebridegroom@gmail.com. Visit this link for the schedule and more information.