Dear Parishioners,

A couple weeks ago, I took a trip to an Abbey in Missouri. It was quite a wonderful trip and I would like to tell you all about it.

The Abbey is the home of the Benedictine Sisters of Mary of Ephesus. They are well known for their various music CDs where they chant and sing hymns but their main work is making vestments for the liturgy. They are a very strict order, not being allowed to make casual conversation, wearing a traditional habit, and praying all their liturgies in Latin. The Abbey has about 50 women in it and they have so many vocations (young women who want to be nuns) that they are opening three more monasteries very soon.

Their order is especially blessed because their foundress, Mother Wilhelmina was found to be incorrupt. She died in 2019 and was buried in land with water running through it. When the Church rose the monastery to the level of an Abbey (which is a monastery in charge of other monasteries) a couple years ago, the sisters wanted to put her body into the Abbey. When they exhumed her, they were expecting bones but instead her body was miraculously preserved and you can see it in the Abbey today. This could possibly lead to her canonization, if the Church approves it.

The trip was for St. John Parish in Allentown for their altar servers (their boys group) and their maidens (their girls group). I was originally brought along to help with Mass, but my role quickly changed when the chaplain of the nuns was called away for a family medical emergency. So, I was asked to give a couple talks to the two groups. While I gave a talk to one group, the other was able to do work for the sisters around the monastery. I am especially glad to have been given the opportunity to say a Sung Latin Mass for the sisters.

There are a couple lessons I take from my time with the sisters on this trip. First, the religious life is beautiful and full of joy. Each one of these sisters is happier being a sister than living in the world because they love worshiping God and being in a loving community. This is a reflection of the life in heaven and why people can be happy with the celibate life. Second, this form of life encourages lay people to be holy because they get a little glimpse of what heaven is like. Third, the Holy Spirit will bless the work of those who are faithful to God. Fourth, there is no time limit to the works of the Church. Sisters, miracles, and the liturgy in Latin are not a thing of the past but just as present as God is even if we do not see Him.

God Bless!

Fr. Carter