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We have had an unusually mild autumn and as I write this, almost in mid-October, the leaves are at the peak of their colors. There is beauty everywhere you turn, and it’s been a great time for hikes. But best of all, we have been blessed with a very good harvest, for which we are very grateful.
Now, harvesting is over and food processing is winding down. The slaughtering has just finished, and this week it is the meat that is being processed for the winter.
It’s been a particularly good year for apples—our main fruit. Ruth Siebenaler, our head gardener, put up a wonderful display of some of the different varieties of apples we grow.
Would you believe we grow 65 varieties in all! Some we’ve grafted from different varieties, and some hybrids happened naturally. Some we’ve given names to. My favorite name is “Laundry Tree” for the apples from the tree just outside our laundry.
As for events, the three-day annual meeting of our associates—priests, deacons, and deacon wives—was a major one. Thirty-two priests, deacons, and deacon-wives came from near and far. Some of the associates have been coming for years and years, and it is always great to see them.
The meetings began with the opening Mass, which we all attended, and as always it was awesome to see all those priests and deacons—the associates plus the member priests who live here—process down the aisle and then concelebrate.
The theme this year was, “Gospel Foolishness and Holiness.” It is these things, Fr. David May told us in his homily, that will bring light into the darkness in today’s Church.
During the meetings, our after-lunch spiritual reading in all three parts of Madonna House Combermere—the main house, St. Mary’s, and the farm—consisted of witness talks by individual associate priests or deacons, who reflected on their vocations and priesthood.
For example, Fr. Dan Hermes said that during his early visits, the Madonna House priests showed him how to be a priest, and Fr. Gilles Surprenant talked about how being at MH is like being immersed in liquid love, a place where over the years he has found restoration and healing.
As always, the priests heard talks by our member priests and had time for Eucharistic adoration, confessions, and visiting with one another and with us. At one Mass, several made or renewed promises and two were accepted as associate applicants. (See Milestones.)
At this time especially, it is wonderful to see all those priests and deacons who come to feed their souls.
We did a few things to celebrate Thanksgiving. (Canadian Thanksgiving is in October.) We had a half-hour of personal prayer time to thank God for all our blessings. The main house had the apple display already mentioned, and St. Mary’s display was as usual done by Peter Lyrette.
A number of years ago, he did a Thanksgiving cross-stitch, and he used it as a centerpiece for his Thanksgiving display.
And on that day, besides turkey stew, we had apple pie. Apple pies for our crowd are a lot of work, but how could we have all those apples without making pies? So we had an evening bee with volunteers slicing apples and rolling out pie dough.
Our applicants are by now well into their formation program, which began with an afternoon of recollection. Every Friday, they hear a witness talk by one of the staff (the story of his or her vocation), listen to a teaching about one facet of MH spirituality, and have Mass and supper together.
Moreover, in a community whose spirituality is so rooted in everyday life, they learn much in the areas in which they work—not only work skills but also how the Gospel is lived through work.
They had a “valley tour,” that is a tour of this area, and they are watching what we call “The Cavalcade,” a series of slides narrated by a recording of our foundress Catherine of scenes of Madonna House in the early days.
This year, this is enhanced by several of our pioneers, some of whom have just recently moved from a field house to Combermere, watching it with them and making comments and answering questions.
Another formation program that begins this time of year is the spiritual formation program for men discerning priesthood. They live the same life as working guests but have additional classes and other input. This year they are: Kyle Buhrke, Daniel Gallagher, and Benedict Menachery.
The guests, too, have begun their fall classes, The Fundamentals of the Spiritual Life, on Wednesday mornings with Fr. Denis Lemieux.
The men have been working on a multitude of projects ranging from oil tanks to chimneys to pumps and wood, wood, wood (chopping it and stacking it).
We’ve had three talks and a movie.
Former UK gangster turned Catholic evangelist, John Pridmore, gave a powerful witness talk to us. His humble love for the Eucharist, the Consecration, and the Rosary were touching. You can see him on YouTube.
Fr. Worku, who visited us for a month from Ethiopia, also gave us a powerful talk, about his life, his vocation, and his work in an isolated area among his extremely poor parishioners.
He got to know about Madonna House through picking up a copy of Restoration at his seminary, after which he wrote to Fr. David May. They have now been corresponding for ten years.
Some of us went to a third talk at the local college: Religious Freedom in Canada and China by David Mulroney, a former Canadian ambassador to China.
The movie was a powerful one, Romero, which we watched on October 14th, the day of the canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero and Pope Paul VI.
Twenty-two art students from a Catholic school in Oshawa came for an “art tour” of Madonna House, led by one of our artists, Patrick Stewart. He toured them around our handicraft center, gift shop and artists’ studios.
And in our own crafts department, Raandi King and Diana Breeze did another firing of the wood-burning outdoor kiln. In each try, the process has improved, and this time, they really succeeded in the technique. The results were just beautiful.
May God give each of you a blessed, graced Advent and a joyous Christmas and Christmas Season.
