Several women expressed interest in attending our 2022 Monastic Experience Weekend, but in the end, according to the designs of God's providence, it became a week-long experience for one woman, Toni. She thoroughly enjoyed her time here, attending the Divine Office, talking with our vocation team members (Mother Vicki, Sr. Rita, and Sr. Pam), lending a hand in the altar bread bakery and elsewhere, along with ample time for quiet…
OCSO General Chapter, September 2-23, 2022 This year our Order, the Cistercians of the Strict Observance (a.k.a. the Trappists), held its overdue General Chapter in Assisi, Italy, in two parts. The first of these, held February 7 – 17, was for the election of our new abbot general: Dom Bernardus Peeters. The second part was held September 2-23 to attend to other business of the Order. A highlight of this…
If June was all about Sr. Hildegard and our special visitors, July and August were all about the weather! This year's Arizona monsoon season began a little early with our first good rainstorm occurring on June 20. The annual" green miracle", as one of our sisters calls it, began to unfold, and by the day of Sr. Hildegard's change of stability, the grass in our yards and fields had…
Photo above: front row--Sisters Pam, Miriam, Sharon, Margarita, and Clare; back row--Sisters Rita and Jacqui, M. Vicki, Abbot General Bernardus, Sisters Hildegard and Esther. This June was full to overflowing with blessings for our community! Abbot General's visit The newly elected (in February 2022) abbot general of our order, Dom Bernardus Peeters, and his secretary, Fr. Raphaël Garcia Pelayo, came for a brief visit June 12-14. Dom Bernardus is traveling…
We hope you had a blessed Easter rejoicing in the risen Lord Jesus! Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! The Liturgy of Light which begins the Easter Vigil, when the Paschal Candle is lit from the blessed fire and carried into the dark church, is always so meaningful in the face of all the suffering in our world. In 2020 and 2021 it was the Covid pandemic; this year it is Ukraine and…
Our dear friend and brother, Brother Lawrence (Oluf) Koester, monk of the former Benedictine Monastery of Erlac in Sonoita, passed away on Sunday, January 30, 2022. He would have reached 91 years of age on February 16 this year. Pictured above, left to right, are Br. Lawrence, Abbot Pachomius, and oblate Br. Dominique. On Easter Saturday, April 23, a beautiful spring day in Southern Arizona we celebrated his funeral rites…
Sr. Sharon Bezner entered our community as a postulant in 2019 and was clothed as a novice on March 25, 2020. After three years of prayer, study, spiritual direction, work, and the daily living of the monastic life in our community with all its joys and challenges, Sr. Sharon was ready for the next step in her vocation journey. During our community chapter on March 25, the feast of the…
We are celebrating three jubilees in 2022! First off, on February 6, was the 50th anniversary of the foundation of our monastery of Our Lady of the Santa Rita Mountains. Next, in April, is our Sr. Clare's 70th anniversary of vows, and in December, our Mother Vicki's 50th anniversary of vows. Our Foundation It was on Sunday, February 6, 1972 that our six foundresses, accompanied by Rev. Mother Angela Norton,…
