NEWSLETTER #2. BENEDICTINE CONVENT OF OUR LADY OF SOLITUDE

Dear Friends, Family and Benefactors:

Greetings in St. Benedict!

How time flies in the convent!

We’ve been in Colombia for nearly 2 months, and already Our Lord has showered us with countless graces. Most notable is that of our recent retreat, preached by our spiritual father, Fr. Raphael, OSB. The theme was devotion to Our Lady of Solitude, the Patroness of our convent. We cannot say enough about this beautiful devotion! Our most Blessed Mother, who is perfectly united with her Divine Son, was exalted to share in the divine merits of His Passion in order to be uniquely united with the glorious, infinite value of the Redemption. In our convent, the Sisters unite with St. John and the holy women who accompanied, served and consoled Our Lady in her solitude, which began at the death of Our Lord on the Cross. In this way, we hope to be instruments of reparation and to compensate divine justice for the sins of mankind which constantly wound the Sacred and Immaculate Hearts. We hope to conceive within our souls the imploring of Our Lady’s sorrows in order that we might be present with her in that moment of grief and anguish. She, in return, will compensate the offended Majesty of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, and draw from the treasury of graces deposited with her at the death of her Son in order to save souls. It is our desire to remain with Mary and never leave her…to belong to her, serve her, love her, honor her as Queen, and please her until our last breath. We continue to urge each of you to unite with us in this continual act of reparation by attaching yourselves and your families to this devotion which is our refuge in the darkness rapidly enveloping this passing world. The final victory will be hers, and no truly devoted servant of hers will perish!

Community News:

The Sisters are happy to report that each day finds us more settled in our time of formation here. Our primary work is the chanting of the Divine Office. Seven times a day, we process into the chapel to sing the prayer of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, to His Heavenly Father. Everything in our day centers around the holy sacrifice of the Mass. How blessed we are to receive daily the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our beloved Jesus! Our manual labor consists of cooking (which we’ve finally learned to do without modern appliances or conveniences), domestic chores, sacristy work, and keeping up the chapel and the grounds. We are blessed to have the constant, generous help of friends and benefactors. Our spiritual father and his monks, our beloved Brothers, continue to give themselves to us unsparingly. The Sisters constantly marvel at their spirit of sacrifice and self-abnegation, and we have made a “pact” to engage in a holy war with them in order not to be outdone in sacrifice and generosity. We have a true Benedictine family here in our twin communities, the bonds of which are completely supernatural and stronger than any earthly ties. We’ve also recently acquired chickens. They will supply an abundance of eggs for both the convent and the monastery, in addition to the milk which is provided by several “resident” cows. We have yet to teach the animals the rules of silence and cloister. The roosters love to break the silence, and they do not at all agree that males are not allowed in the convent! They, along with the cows, love to make their presence known by random appearances during recreation, and they provide the Sisters with much entertainment! Finally, we’ve saved our most joyful news for last. One of our postulants, God willing, will receive the holy habit of St. Benedict on November 1, the feast of All Saints. It will be a doubly glorious day for our twin communities, as the monks have also announced that two postulants will be clothed as novices in their monastery in the same ceremony. We humbly request that you unite with us in prayer for the perseverance and sanctification of these three souls. We hope to share photos with you in our next newsletter. May God bless you all, and Our Lady keep you close to her Immaculate Heart!

Sr. Mary Magdalene of the Sorrowful Mother OSB for the Benedictine Sisters

Postulants’ Corner

It’s extraordinarily beautiful to see the little ways Our Beloved puts together His newborn Benedictine family. We have discovered very quickly that we are one another’s guardian angels with some of the insects Our dear Lord was so clever and creative in making. One has discovered that any spider larger than a quarter – and needless to say, anything the size of a saucer – are quite enough to make her signal for help from her dear sisters. Meanwhile, another is fully prepared to bludgeon the other two with a broom if it means getting rid of a 1/4” worm! Still another is apparently the target and/or magnet of all things that fly and jump. God is good! So apparent was our discomfort around God’s creation that our Reverend Father made half a joke wondering if he should put an insect in a plastic box so that we could contemplate it! I say “half a joke” because, when it comes down to it, those insects only ever obey God’s Will, never offending Him once. In truth, they deserve infinitely better treatment than we lowly servants.

The Postulants