Conception Abbey
The Unconquered Snow
It was yóu who fíxed the bóunds of the éarth, yóu who máde both súmmer and wínter. -Psalm 74:17 The snow prevented many people from coming into work yesterday. Br. Blaise, our “weather-monk”, measures the temperature, snowfall, and precipitation daily. It was difficult to predict accurately how much snow there was on Tuesday due to…
Winter Storm Nika
Snow began to fall gently around 11:30am this morning, and it has not stopped as we move into the evening. Many of the schools in the local area, including Northwest Missouri State, were cancelled even last night as they anticipated the storm. Somewhere between 2-4 inches of snow have fallen, making the roads pretty treacherous…
St. Blaise, Bishop and Martyr
Through the intercession of St. Blaise, bishop and martyr, may God free you from illness of the throat and from any other sort of ill. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. When I was a junior in high school, I took St. Blaise as my Confirmation…
The Weekend brings us into February
Today we celebrated the Presentation of the Lord with a candle procession at the beginning of Mass. We had about 20 Benedictine Prioresses from all over the United States joining us for Mass, lunch, and Day Prayer. I visited and ate lunch with a few of the Sisters in our guest refectory and enjoyed a…
Support our Seminarians Benefit Dinner
Our SOS (Support Our Seminarians) dinner and auction is this evening. It benefits Conception Seminary and the two Kansas City dioceses. It snowed this morning, but I made it safely to Kansas City to help set up at the Marriott downtown. Dinner begins at 7:00pm. I rode the elevator to the 20th floor to snap…
Let there be Light
Then God said: Let there be light, and there was light. God saw that the light was good. God then separated the light from the darkness. -Genesis 1:3-4 Beauty in the simple things. No single picture in this collection would be considered spectacular, but I think there is an attractiveness among them when placed together.
A Typical Day in the Office
Yesterday afternoon I traveled 45 minutes to St. Joseph, Missouri to attend the St. James School Vocation Day. I represented the monks and monastic life on a panel which included a diocesan priest, a religious sister, and a married couple. We had three sessions: the first included 1st and 2nd graders, then 3rd-5th graders, and…
Monastery Clothing Drive
Postulant Eric is spearheading the efforts for a Monastery Clothing Drive. It is a great opportunity to support to the poor and needy in the area and recommit ourselves to living out the simplicity of life that we profess as monks. The sign hangs on the main bulletin board in the monastery and the clothing…
Home Sweet Home
Sunday evening we pulled into the drive at Conception just before 10:30pm. It was a long and arduous journey from Mundelein, Illinois, particularly due to the duration of the drive (close to 8 hours) and the unpleasant weather. I led the group, driving in the car, followed by two vans and a suburban full of…