Over the past year, we were privileged to experience so many graces as a community. We would like to share a few with you, so that, like Our Lady, we can “proclaim the greatness of the Lord.”
1. January: Sr. Seraphina Marie’s Investment
Our youngest postulant was invested in the holy habit and received her new name: Sister Seraphina Marie of the Holy Face. In this dramatic step of embracing a new identity in our community, we all rejoiced for and with our sister in her determination to follow Christ’s call to her. Deo gratias!
2. April: Interregnum
Easter Monday turned out to be a somber day, both for us here at OLAM and for the entire Catholic Church: the Holy Father, Pope Francis, suddenly departed to meet the Lord. It was a new experience for some of us: Pope St. John Paul II was the last Roman Pontiff to die in office, since our beloved Benedict XVI had adopted the position of “Emeritus” well before his death. It was a strange feeling to know that there was no living pope. Of course, the Lord is always guiding His Church, but the vacancy, filled by prayers for Pope Francis’ soul, was a real and experienced one. We all eagerly looked forward to the conclave, when a new Holy Father would fill the unimaginable role of guiding the Universal Church.
3. May: Pope Leo XIV
And so, we waited. In the days leading up to the conclave, we prayer for each of the cardinals by name and savored again the universality of the Church. Names from such faraway places as India, Cote d’Ivore, and (from here, at least) Canada, as well as many others, were in our prayers as we awaited the Holy Spirit’s work to take place. The Sistine Chapel’s doors were shut, and we were granted our new Pope by the mercy of God: the first pope of American origin took the name of Leo XIV, and we rejoiced.
4. June, July, August: Life Outdoors
Summer is a busy time here at OLAM. Since our gardening has become more active, we go down to “the South Field” and do our work almost every day. One thing we’ve learned, is that, while weeding is certainly hard work, especially if the ground is dry, the challenge of “bringing in the harvest” and managing produce is definitely a real one. One plant that did very well this year was the habaneros! They outlasted and outproduced many of our other plants; as it turns out, no garden pest is not particularly interested in spicy peppers. Tomatoes made it into our homemade “Seraphic Salsa”, and cucumbers were turned into all kinds of pickles. Finally, our white radishes, planted as a kind of natural pest control, grew to completely outlandish sizes, and we turned them into lovely radish soup.
5. August/September (I don’t recall which it was): Chicks!
Our mail order chicks arrived safely at the end of summer, and instantly became a source of delight and entertainment. Warmed by a heat lamp in a crate in a back room of the monastery, they got used to “life outside the egg” in their own little feather community. My personal favorite thing about the tiny chicks was watching them go to sleep sprawled on their fluffy stomachs. One day when they had warm water, one of the yellow chicks went to sleep standing in it—we dubbed her “Bathsheba.” Once they got big enough, which happened quickly, we moved them down to the big coop where they successfully integrated with the adult flock.
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In conclusion, 2025 was an eventful year, to say the least! And how could we forget, too, the Jubilee Year of Hope that was so powerful for the whole Church. Some other honorable mentions of the year include the St. Clare Retreat (with Fr. Stan Fortuna), Sr. Mary Amata’s Renewal of Vows, and the death of our beloved Sr. Mary Michael. Thanks be to God for all the graces He has poured won on us and continues to pour down!