But our biggest joy of late summer is the Feast of the Assumption. The way we celebrate it is just one example of the legacy of Archbishop Raya. For he made it into a bigger celebration, a more joyous one, and a celebration, not only of Our Lady, but also of women.

In our community, it is many feasts in one—Catherine’s and Archbishop Raya’s birthdays, the anniversary of the acceptance of our MH constitution by our diocesan bishop, the foundation day of MH Barbados, and the ordination anniversary of three of our priests.

It was also, in the past, one of our dates for making promises, and it is now the day chosen to celebrate the golden anniversary of staff, regardless of the actual date of their first promises.

And it is a day of flowers. Every year we sacrifice “the finest fruits” of our flower gardens for Our Lady—making a huge bouquet under the altar and large baskets full of flowers which hang from the ceiling in the dining room.

It is a day for a beautiful Mass, a day to dress up in our finest, a day to pray and sing praises to our Mother, and a day to rejoice in the fact that we are her beloved children.

This year on August 15th, three of our members celebrated their 50th anniversary in promises—Thérèse Richaud, Mary Kay Rowland, and Elsie Whitty. As always, our celebration was simple—a gathering with refreshments, and on the wall large posters with photos of them and a list of the specific ways in which they have served.

The director general of women, Susanne Stubbs, in the proverbial “few words,” began by saying that words are hard to find because “the lives of the jubilarians speak so loudly.” “Few are aware of the power of lives laid down in this way for 50 years. The power goes out mightily throughout the world.”

The words of the jubilarians were even fewer: Mary Kay said, “Thanks to each of you who helped us persevere.” And Elsie said, “I’d do it all again!”

Thérèse, the third jubilarian, was not present, for she suffers from Alzheimer’s. About her Susanne said, “Thérèse may be the most powerful witness of all—a life lived out in utter poverty. It is consecrated and powerful.”

With the end of summer comes the end of Cana Colony, the end of summer school, and the lessening of the numbers of customers in our shops.

Our summer school is really a simple one. What we basically offer our visitors in summer is what we offer them all year round—an opportunity to experience total immersion in a Catholic culture, Madonna House style. In summer we just add on some talks and a few extra activities.

This summer, besides witness talks by the staff, some of the heads of the various work “departments” talked about their work and how to live the Gospel in that work. The kinds of work talked about included cooking and cleaning, carpentry and maintenance, office work, library, and crafts.

Fr. Pelton and Fr. David May also gave classes on the Theology of the Body, which included the teachings of the Church on some of the current related issues. And, as always, every Saturday evening, our three director generals, in an open forum, answered questions from the visitors.

We also had picnics and evening weeding and bean picking bees. It’s amazing how many green beans “everybody who is able to” can pick in about an hour. (We had a bumper crop of green beans this year.) One of these work bees was followed by an evening of music and dancing.

At the end of summer, some work departments slow down and others get busier. The farm and food processing, for example, go into high gear.

Starting now and well into fall, the men are harvesting, and, led by Diana Breeze, whatever women can be made available are washing, chopping, canning, and freezing our food supply for the winter.

Events, large and small, are always with us. One Sunday evening, Helen Porthouse put together a presentation called “Words of the Martyrs.” It consisted of readings of exactly that, and one of the most moving was by the abbot of the Cistercian monks who were martyred not long ago in Algeria.

And Angela Redmond gave a moving reading of her poems which come out of her experience of being African-American.

Then there was World Youth Day Cologne. Unlike the last one, which took place in Toronto, we were only able to watch it on TV. Still it was wonderful to see and hear Pope Benedict and to see all those joyous young people.

Visitors, too, we always have with us. Recently these have included Bishop Dalieh of Cape Palmas, Liberia (where we used to have a house), Archbishop Lawrence of Lahore, Pakistan, and Fr. Frere Kennedy, an Anglican clergyman who has been visiting Madonna House for close to 35 years.

We also had a visitor from Japan, a descendant of the “Hidden Christians.” He works at the University of Tokyo, read Poustinia and The Gospel Without Compromise from their library, checked out our web site, and came.

The last visitor I will mention is not a visitor but a sister. She is Eliana Ribeiro das Chagas, a Brazilian staff worker who received her formation at MH Brazil and has been stationed there since. She speaks no English, and this was her first visit to Combermere.

Well, that’s all the news for this month.