Newsletter

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.......Easter 1999.......

Dear Friend of Carmel,

A curious and somewhat humorous thing happened to us, recently. For quite some time, we have been looking for work which can be done in the monastery and which is conductive to our way of life. After much research, we decided to publish our own spiritual journal, which would come out four times a year.

So, after the Christmas holidays and the first of the year, we began to work at this project with spirited determination. With great delight and pride, we wrote on the cover of the new journal: Volume 1, Issue 1 - Winter, 1999.

There was only one thing wrong. The harder we worked, the more Spring-like the weather became. We had mixed feelings when we saw the return of the robins and the days getting longer. Would our new publication see the light of day while it was still winter? We prayed to St. Therese, and even enlisted the help of St. Clare, patroness of Writers.

But then a wonderful thing happened. A really big snowstorm came to our rescue. The Eldridge vicinity got more snow than anyone in the surrounding area. With heartfelt emotion, we apologize to our neighbors. Our new member from California knew that it was Christmas for her. As the Irish saying goes, "Blessed is the birth upon whom new snow falls." (This saying has various renditions, depending upon the precipitation at hand.) So, right before andother snowstorm, Journey and the Joy made its first journey to the Eldridge post office. If you would like a complimentary copy of this quarterly, please send us your address.

Soon, we will have available another resource, that of memorial and celebration cards, offering the gift of prayer for your friends and loved ones. By celebration, we mean birthdays, anniversaries and special occasions. We hope you will like them.

Lent finds us longing for routine and ennui, a good old monastic malady, sometimes refered to as monotony. As we write, we are occupied with moving all our dining room and kitchen utensils to the sewing room in another wing, which will serve us on a temporary basis.

In all of this, our prayer for you continues. We hope to have an open-house after we have done a bit of landscaping. As the poet writes, the big blue sky bends over all. This big sky unites us with you and all the world. Thank you for being companions with us. The glory of Easter is just around the bend. With our hearts, we pray that you will find your life in that glory.