The Triumph of the Cross, for example, is a beautiful feast, especially in the Eastern Rite. On that day, which fell on Sunday this year, we had a Byzantine Liturgy which included their tradition of blessing the four corners of the earth.

And there are always, as we are reminded in the Pope’s Corner, many feasts of the saints. Here at Madonna House at morning prayer on a saint’s feast day, someone gives a short account of his or her life, and the library puts up a display of pictures and other material. We get to know the saints as people, and each of us has particular friends among them.

As for the farm, it is harvest time, and just about every able-bodied person who can be spared from his or her ordinary work for a day or more takes part in some way.

We had work bees to pick green beans, onions, and potatoes, and a chicken bee (when the chickens are slaughtered, plucked, gutted, washed, and bagged for the freezer).

Then there are the bees that involve only a few people, such as the honey-harvesting bee.

Our food also has to be preserved for the winter, and food processing is a major work. Most of the women guests as well as women staff are pulled from the library, office, gift shop, etc., etc. to wash, chop, and can or freeze.

Two major events occur during early autumn: the reception of applicants and the associate priests’ meetings.

The reception of applicants (the first step for those entering into our vocation) is something profound that happens in a very simple ceremony during supper on September 8th, the birthday of Our Lady.

The central symbol is a white frosted cake topped with a plain cross. "Our vocation," said Catherine Doherty, "is the sweetness of the cross."

The directors general also presented the applicants with "the brown folder," which contains, in the writings of Catherine, her legacy to all of us: some of her essential writings on the spirit of our apostolate.

This year there are two new applicants—Cody Gabrielson and Catherine Oakley.

They were quickly immersed in their new life. They began their classes, had a day of recollection, and went on a pilgrimage to Midland, the shrine of the Canadian martyrs. But much of their formation will occur in their living of our daily life, a life which they were already living as guests. The difference is that now they will be given more training.

The meetings of our associates is always a graced time—a time for them to be renewed and fed spiritually in a variety of ways, to be immersed in Madonna House, and to share with and support one another.

This year the theme was: Preach the Gospel with Your Life.

Some of the priests have been coming for years. Fr. Al Hewett probably has the record. As far as he can remember, he has only missed once since 1966, the year we started having the meetings.

This year an unusually high number attended—perhaps the highest ever. The associates included 21 priests, 9 deacons, 7 deacon-wives, and 1 bishop. Plus a few of the associates brought guests along—6 in all. So the total attending, not counting our Madonna House priests, was 43.

That bishop was Bishop Robert Rose of Grand Rapids, Michigan. He knew Catherine Doherty, has been close to MH for many, many years, and now it was our great joy to welcome him as an associate bishop. During the meetings, he made both his first and final promises—the first to have become an associate in this way.

Bishop Rose, the first pastor of MH Muskegon, was instrumental in the opening of two of our houses: Muskegon and Alpena.

Also making first promises during the meetings was Fr. Zachary Romanowsky, who was formerly in our spiritual formation program for men considering priesthood.

One evening we watched four news video clips of our directors general returning Catherine’s Order of Canada award, videos which we obtained from television stations.

What’s been happening with that whole situation? The good news is that the protest against abortionist Henry Morgentaler’s award is continuing. 30,000 people (including us) signed a petition demanding that his Order of Canada be revoked. And last week, the cardinal of Montreal, Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte, returned his Order of Canada award. His is the tenth to be returned.

As always in autumn, the number of our working guests is down, but there are always some. One was a young Christian Palestinian from Israel. After he left, he sent us a beautiful note: "You took me in your arms like a mother takes her son…. I felt warm and safe…. I know now there is a good place to live in and I know where that place is…."

One Saturday evening we came back from Vespers to find a busload of pilgrims from Poland. Their chaplain had typed explanations of Madonna House, Our Lady of Combermere, and our island chapel in Polish which he read at each spot.

Their stop here was part of their visit to the nearby Wilno/Kaszuby area, the first Polish settlement in Canada. When asked how they knew about us, the priest said, "You are quite famous, you know!"

And just this past week, five Korean seminarians arrived to spend several months with us.

Miriam Stulberg, formerly stationed at MH Magadan, visited Moscow recently. While there, she gave a talk on Radio Sofia, a Catholic/Russian Orthodox radio station.

I’d like to finish with the story of one side-effect, one small unexpected fruit of our Order of Canada Action. A young couple saw our action on television, were moved by it, and googled "Madonna House" on the Internet.

On our website, they came across information about Cana Colony. They were delighted. Their vacations plans had fallen through, and they had been looking for something else. Ordinarily it would have been too late to apply, but another family cancelled.

"God granted us not merely a vacation but a retreat," said the wife, Ruba Hanlon, "a chance to reflect on our first year of marriage and to deepen our relationship with God, with each other, and with our wonderful baby boy, Leo Joseph."

As we go to press, the newspapers are filled with the financial crisis in the States. This and the Canadian and American elections are much in our prayers.