Mother Gabriella to speak at Women's Retreat Day, Jan. 25, Solon, Ohio

Mother Gabriella will again be the speaker for the Women's Retreat Day sponsored by Holy Resurrection Parish (but this year happening at St. John's in Solon). And Bishop Robert will celebrate the Divine Liturgy! Join us for this enriching day of listening, sharing and rejoicing in the gift of your sisters in Christ.

For more information and to register, visit this link.

The Entrance of Maddie & Rose

Christ the Bridegroom Monastery received two new dokimoi (postulants) during Vespers on Sunday, December 15. Madison ("Maddie") Hebert is from the Proto-Cathedral of St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church in Sherman Oaks, California, and Rose Tsakanikas is from St. Sophia Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Garner, North Carolina. 

Dokimos means "one who is approved by testing." This first period of the monastic life is a time for the dokimos to try out the life, and it is also a time for the monastic community to become more deeply acquainted with the one who wishes to live this life. Her ability to live the life, to accept correction, to love and be loved, and to grow, is "tried." Like gold mined from the ground, she begins to experience the monastic purifying fire that will make her "pure"--in other words, "of one substance," all gold, oriented to the love of God.

The service for the reception of the dokimoi took place in the midst of Vespers in the monastery chapel, celebrated by Bishop Robert. The brief service included a special Epistle and Gospel reading, a prayer over each of the young women by the bishop, and the blessing of their head coverings and crosses, which the new dokimoi put on with the help of the youngest members of the monastic community. 

Bishop Robert then gave a beautiful homily about the monastic life. Comparing the entrance of the dokimoi into the monastery to the recent feast of the Entrance of the Theotokos into the Temple, he said:

"How fitting it is, with family, pastor, and now your sisters...to come to this day of entrance...ready to put yourself before God (recognize already the temple that you are by the power of the Holy Spirit...) and to make your very life a sign, as we just heard in the prayer, of the fleeting nature of this life and our life being about the kingdom of heaven. Monasticism is baptism radically lived. We begin this evening the celebration of the holy prophet Haggai. Monasticism is a community of women--or men--who each themselves have a prophetic role in the world today. And in one way we need not be overwhelmed by that aspect of the fullness of life that you now, in a very formal way, begin to discern, because it is the life itself that is prophetic--the life itself."

Supporting Maddie in person for the entrance were her parents, pastor Fr. Michael O'Loughlin and friend Libby Reichert. Rose's guests were her parents, grandparents and nine of her thirteen siblings. The monastic community and guests spent time over the weekend praying together and enjoying meals and recreation, discussing the pain of the impending separations, sharing funny stories, and widening their hearts to receive the many new members of their "family."

Please pray for Maddie and Rose as they begin to live monasticism and continue to discern God's will for their lives.

Please pray for Maddie & Rose, entering Sunday

It is with great joy that we ask you to please pray for two young women as they enter our monastery as dokimoi (postulants) on Sunday, December 15. Here are some very basic facts about them and some quotes from the "theological reflections" section of their applications. They have a good understanding of the purpose of monastic life; now they will find out what it's like to live it! (And therefore will need your prayers!)

Madison ("Maddie") Hebert

Santa Clarita, California

29 years old

Parish: Proto-Cathedral of St. Mary Byzantine Catholic Church; Sherman Oaks, California

M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling; Franciscan University of Steubenville

"[Monastic life] is not primarily for the sanctification of the world, but rather the individual and through their individual holiness, they make healthier the greater body of Christ, the Church. The monastic life is a life of reception and reliance upon Jesus, not of production, but of uselessness in the world's eye."

"I hope to mature in receiving the extent of Jesus' love that He desires to gift to me, to 'let [myself] be drawn' to 'the one whom my soul loves,' allowing Him to, 'penetrate [...] all the fibers of [my] life'" (Blaise Arminjon, The Cantata of Love: A Verse-by-Verse Reading of the Song of Songs, 72; 99; 61).

Rose Tsakanikas

Garner, North Carolina

26 years old

Parish: St. Sophia Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church; Garner, North Carolina

M.A. in International Relations; Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland

"It is not simply the place though that the monastic seeks. Christ was not seeking the right location to die with the empty hill of Golgotha the perfect place to raise three crosses. He was fulfilling the Father's will and returning to the Father. 'Father, into your hands, I commit my spirit!' (Lk 23:46) The purpose of the monastic life then is to return to the Father by placing one's life in the hands of the Father. They do this by the same means as Jesus. They embrace the Paschal Mystery. Dying to this world, they are resurrected in the Heavenly Jerusalem."

"When Christ asks, 'Do you love me above all?', I wish to be able to say in all sincerity, 'There is nothing upon earth that I desire besides you'" (Ps 73:25).