Newsletter #22 - March 2020
Dear friends of M.A.R.Y.,
This year’s Lenten journey is like no other we’ve ever lived through. The coronavirus is prompting us to follow directives we wouldn’t have otherwise chosen, and to make sacrifices that we couldn’t have foreseen, such as the public celebration of the Mass being suspended. Now whole counties are being compelled to “shelter in place,” and limit activities to those deemed “essential.” A Carmelite prioress in Canada sent around a post card with a text highlighting some positive effects of people being told to stay at home, and I thought I’d share it with you. The text runs:
And the people stayed home. And read books, and listened, and rested, and exercised, and made art, and played games, and learned new ways of being, and were still. And listened more deeply. Some meditated, some prayed, some danced. And the people began to think differently.
There is a silver lining to this pandemic. People are surely thinking more deeply about serious questions than they might have otherwise, and Lent seems more real, and following Christ and His Cross seems more applicable than ever before. As St. Paul says in chapter 8 of the letter to the Romans, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord,” and that’s a fact! We Carmelite Nuns are joking to ourselves that we live in a sort of perpetual self-quarantine: our enclosure!
We can’t thank you enough for your attention to our community, in the form of monetary donations, or shopping goods. You are burying us in the fruits of your generosity, and we love it! May the Blessed Trinity, and Mary and St. Joseph, reward you, protect you and your loved ones, and prosper you. You know that we keep you and your intentions in our daily prayers. We anticipate the day we can unlock our chapel doors for Holy Mass again, and meet with you around the Table of the Lord as in “days of yore.” God bless you all!
Gratefully in Christ,
Mother Mary Bethany and Sisters
Auxiliary News
Yes, you read that correctly: the Sisters’ chapel at the monastery is CLOSED to community until further notice. Mass will be offered for the Sisters only. While they are normally extremely clean, they now have to be extra cautious about germs, since they live in a closed community of more than 10 people! Imagine all the effort you go to for hygiene, times 15.
This is why I am extremely grateful for the outpouring of support to collect items for the Sisters. We did get enough of the paper products, cleaning products, dry and canned foods, and it took two trucks and a Subaru to haul it all up to the monastery! Thank you, thank you, thank you.
I also want to thank Danny and Martha Styer in the East area and Colleen Morrison in the South area for opening up their homes for the donations, and Bea Deala in Del Web; together we made this happen! And it seems that it was just in the nick of time, too, because now we are all on Lockdown.
More thanks are needed for you also: you have responded marvelously to our request for extra financial donations for the Sisters, since they have lost their most significant donor last summer. Every little bit helps! Your monthly donation adds up and helps with the repairs and bills. I also want to thank whoever put that $100 bill in their bag of supplies anonymously! The Sisters are very grateful for all donations.
With that in mind, we can all help by getting more people to sign up for the Auxiliary. So far we have 250 people on our list. If each of us got one more person to support the Sisters, we would have a mailing list of 500 in no time! We can do this!! If you want to make me CRAZY BUSY adding people to my list, just email me their names, email addresses, home addresses and phone numbers. You can also have them go online to our website to sign up.
The annual Carmelite Fundraiser Luncheon is set for September 26, to be held again at St. Mel’s in Fair Oaks. Please mark your calendars now! And look for us at your parish selling tickets for the quilt and displaying it. It’s going to be super beautiful this year.
I hope you have found a daily Mass online, like Word on Fire or EWTN, or Christ the King online. Also, Magnificat is offering free access to daily readings:
“In addition to its online edition, MAGNIFICAT is now offering complimentary access to its iOS and Android Apps throughout May. To register for free access in English, visit www.magnificat.com/free. For free access in Spanish, visit and register at www.magnificat.com/gratis. We are also happy to make available complimentary access to MagnifiKid. Visit www.magnifikid.com/free to view and download each weekly booklet of our colorful Sunday missalette for children ages 6 through 12. While so many children are missing formal religious instruction and are unable to attend Mass, MagnifiKid! can be their special guide, accompanying them through each week as they prepare to attend Mass or watch it at home.”
Finally, we all know people who are suffering from this pandemic. Let’s remember the beatitudes at this time, and be available for those in our community who need our help, in a safe way and following the suggested orders for social distancing. Here is where our Catholic faith can shine: to be a light amidst the darkness, sharing hope and love where we can. God bless you!
In Christ,
Patty MacEgan
President,
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Auxiliary, www.carmeliteauxiliary.org, carmelitehelpers@gmail.com