Summer Newsletter 2003
Bethlehem Monastery of Poor Clares
Newport News, Virginia
www.poor-clares.org
Our dear Friends,
If the photos, front and back, print out successfully on our copier, you will have our summer news at a glance... but only a glance. Read on, for what you see finds its deeper meaning in heart and spirit.
Our Paschal Triduum, celebrated by Father Russel Murray, O.F.M., brought a new brother to us, for it is at the level of sharing the Divine Mysteries in the Liturgy that we forge our deepest bonds. And strongly forged they were as from Maundy Thursday through Baptismal Vespers of Pascha we journeyed together was toward newness of life in the Light of Christ.
Winter rains turned into spring rains, watering the earth with a generosity that seemed to apologize for last year's drought. Through it all, an outstanding team of many trades sought out any dry moment to keep our construction moving forward. Meanwhile, the many plants and bushes we moved to the site rejoiced with each downpour and returned thanks to God in riotous blossoming! At this writing, 90% of the concrete is poured, rough-in plumbing and electrical work is well underway, the masonry team has reached the roofline on a great part of the building, and trusses are being hoisted into place on the roof. Vermont Timber Works, after completing the exposed interior wood structure of the choir and chapel, attached an evergreen bough to the top outer framing an old-world gesture of calling down a blessing on the building, and to us it seemed to be a tender farewell from this wonderful crew of workers.
Meanwhile, relocation-related events on Harpersville continue apace. We are stripping and refinishing some venerable monastic furniture to give it fresher look in its new environment. We are nearing the end of plant transit from our back yard to New Kent, leaving behind a generous amount for future owners of our property here. However, it was a not-so-easy process to remove a louver in our bell tower, but tenacious workers from Clancy and Theys Construction Company persevered until both our tower bells, Maria and Chiara, were set down on our back veranda. There they will stay and be rung until after the feast of our Mother St. Clare. It is the seven hundred fiftieth anniversary of her death this August, and bell ringing is to be a paramount external expression of our celebrations. After this event, Maria and Chiara will precede us in the move to New Kent and be ready to proclaim our joy on Dedication day.
EGO VOS SEMPER CUSTODIAM
Above you see the inscription chosen for our corner stone. A translation of the Latin reads, I will always protect (or defend) you. The stone was a gift of our Masonry company, Snow Junior and King, Inc., a gift for which we are so deeply grateful. We carefully chose June 22 as the day to have the Cornerstone ceremony. Not only was it the Solemnity of Corpus Christi, but the quote on the stone relates directly to our Poor Clare history:
It happened that in September of 1240, a vicious band of Saracen soldiers in the Army of Frederick II stormed San Damiano Monastery in Assisi. They were already scaling the walls and dropping down into the cloister when the terrified sisters ran to Mother Clare. She had herself brought to the door of the refectory; the precious little silver pyx with the Eucharist was brought there also. They would be hostages together, she and her Saving Lord. She prostrated herself before Christ in the Sacrament and uttered a prayer that could have come only from the heart of a spouse utterly confident of her position in her Beloved's affection. This prayer, in fact, borders on a challenge. Look, my Lord, do you wish to deliver into the hands of pagans your defenseless servants whom you have nourished with your own love? Lord, I beg you, defend these your servants whom I am not able to defend at this time. It is from the testimony of Sister Francesca, who had been helping to support her frail Mother Abbess, that the answer to Clare's prayer comes to us: A voice of wonderful sweetness said, I will always defend you. The Saracens were overpowered. They turned about-face and inexplicably retreated. The Lord struck them down by the prayer of a woman.
Less than a year later, Frederick's full army stormed through the Valley of Spoleto and besieged Assisi. St. Clare once more shouldered the weight of the people's defense, enlisting her
"army" of sisters. She sent them before the Lord to pray that he might have pity on the city that had supported them in their life of worship. The following morning, the captain with his army lifted camp and left, leaving a stunned population gazing out on a peaceful view of the valley. The grateful city and its inhabitants to this day celebrate June22, the anniversary day, in high festivity. The citizens awake to the sound of silver trumpets, proclaiming the Assisi fanfare from the civic tower off the Piazza del Commune. It is Voto Day. The red and blue Assisi colors are flown everywhere and medieval costumes recall the day, long ago, when their favorite daughter became the savior of the "Magnificent City of Assisi."
June 22, 2003, was indeed another milestone on our journey. The weather itself hearkened back to the Exodus, for the extremely rain-logged weeks before and the onslaught of Brother Sun's intensity after, were like a wall to the right and to the left of this day of cool breezes amidst intervals of sun and clouds. Four diocesan priests, a military chaplain and our new friar-brother from the Paschal Triduum joined Bishop Walter F. Sullivan for the moving cornerstone blessing. The Bishop and Mother Abbess were gently guided in their first try at masonry by the skilled hand of Soren Bengtsson, while with precision our contractor-superintendent, Jim Grace, and our concrete superintendent, Ron McLenaghan, positioned the stone near the chapel entrance. Our prayer at that moment was that our monastery may serve the diocese of Richmond by manifesting the inner nature of the Church's calling, and giving witness to the primacy of prayer over action; that our construction team may see their work as a gift from God, a call to reach new heights by using their talents for the good of all; and that our benefactors, whose outstanding generosity is making this relocation project possible, may receive a hundred-fold from our good God and a safe relocation in his heavenly mansion for all eternity.
As this newsletter is being written, we, after the busy weeks of a winter and springtime construction schedule, begin the summer with our community retreat. The welcome pause allows us to ponder in our hearts the deeper meaning of all that has happened, and to refurbish the interior sanctuary of our spirits. The months ahead will hold special moments and Liturgies of farewell to Newport News, the actual move to New Kent County, and then the Dedication of our new house of prayer: Bethlehem Monastery of Poor Clares, Barhamsville, Virginia.
We ask God to reward you for continuing to support us, spiritually and materially. As we walk into the future, wherever we are, and wherever you are, the bond that unites us will forever be growing stronger.