The classes for the guests, the men in the spiritual formation program, and the applicants have resumed, and the Friday afternoon study groups will soon begin for the staff.

This is the time of "boots on—boots off," what we sometimes call our "winter asceticism," the time when we bundle up into boots, coats and scarves and hats and mitts or take them all off many times a day.

It is also a time, here as elsewhere, for flus and "bugs," and a number of us have been sick.

The gift shop is open only a few hours a week, and those working there are busy sorting, cleaning, and pricing your donations. Up at the farm, among other things, the farmers are fixing what needs fixing, and feeding and caring for the animals. (Did you know that our cows stay out all winter?)

At this time of year, I once asked one of the men in the maintenance department what they were mainly doing "these days." He answered, "Snow, snow, snow, wood, wood, wood."

Yes, snow removal—shoveling footpaths and sanding them when they are icy, snow-blowing the road, and pulling snow off roofs lest they cave in from the weight of it. The men have to spend a lot of time dealing with snow in this climate.

And wood. When a lot of your heating is from wood stoves and furnaces, and some of your cooking is on wood-burning stoves, wood, too, takes lots of time. In the maintenance department, that means mainly chopping, hauling, and stacking.

The bush crew, of course, deals fulltime with wood. They manage our woodland, and chop and chainsaw trees, hauling the logs out of the bush to where they are needed.

This year the bush crew had the added work of finishing the cleanup after the tornado. Now there are a number of treeless patches, especially on the island.

Winter is also the time when Mary Davis, the head gardener, readies the wool from our sheep to sell in our wool shop. She sends much of it to a mill in Prince Edward Island where they wash, card, spin, and dye it. The result is wonderful yarn, some of which is sold as is, and some used by staff and friends who enjoy knitting to make hats, socks, mitts, and sweaters to sell in the shop.

Other wool is sold as batts or woven into rugs by Zoyla Grace. A few whole fleeces are sent to a tannery where they are transformed into clean, useable sheepskins.

This winter one big job that is almost finished is the insulating of the upstairs adoration chapel, that is, the chapel over the main dining room. This was much needed, as the chapel was fairly cold in winter.

That has meant that for a few weeks there has been no Blessed Sacrament in the main house, no prolonged adoration and hence no place to go for a time of adoration, no chapel to just easily drop into to pray. (Yes, we do have the island chapel, but there is no exposition there, and it is a few-minutes walk away.)

I myself am surprised at how much I miss that chapel and the Blessed Sacrament, and I’ve heard others say the same. May we remember this and never take for granted the tremendous gift of having the Blessed Sacrament so close.

Visitors continue to come in January, though of course they are fewer in number than in July. Fr. Thierry, founder of the Points-Coeur community in France, one of the new ecclesial communities, visited along with two of their members.

After brunch on Sunday, they told us about their community, which has houses all over the world, including Asia and South America. They described their work as a presence of compassion and friendship for the poor and lonely.

Fr. Thierry knew our house when it was in Paris, and is very drawn to Catherine’s spirituality, so much so that he uses her writings for training the members of his community.

Fr. Paul Crochat, a member of that community and a woodcarver, stayed on for a month. While here, he carved a beautiful approximately 2-foot statue of Catherine Doherty.

The Winter Lecture Series continues, and our last talk was by Dr. Christine Schintgen. She was a working guest here for eight months a few years ago and is now dean of studies at Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Academy, a small college just 18 kilometers away which was founded to give students a 100% orthodox Catholic education in the liberal arts.

Christine spoke on The Divine Comedy and Robinson Crusoe, comparing the spiritual journeys portrayed in each—one Catholic and the other Calvinist.

The spirituality of Catherine Doherty continues to be spread by various means. Fr. Bob Pelton gave a week’s retreat to the seminarians in Denver, Colorado and was thrilled with how receptive they were. MH Publications has recently signed a contract with the Carmelites in Poland to translate and publish a number of Catherine’s books over the next few years. A Russian friend reports that she saw the Russian video about Madonna House, The Open Door, on Orthodox cable TV in Russia. They even showed it twice in one day.

Well that’s the end of our news for this month. May God give each of you a blessed, graced rest of Lent.