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MH Missouri

Truly the Lord is in this place and I did not know it (Gen 28:16).

How does one write a lasting impressions newsletter when so much has happened in one year here? The Lord in his mercy has changed my heart and my life. Now I know with utter conviction our foundress Catherine Doherty’s insistence that Madonna House must first and foremost be a community (family) of love.

The love and care poured out by those who have gone before us laid the foundation: Muriel Herbrand and Betty Summer, who left Madonna House this house and property and whose vision and lives established Marian Acres as a retreat and prayer house, and each of the Madonna House men and women who loved and served here.

Many guests have also come, sharing their lives with us for a time. The intimacy and intensity of our discussions and working together helped change my life.

This is a healing place. One can sense the prayer, love and death to self that are essential for God’s grace to abound.

I continue helping out with the twice-a-month food bank and “meal for the hungry” at Sacred Heart parish in Salem. The garden produced amazing tomatoes, peppers, and okra; and gardening helped reinforce one of the healings the Lord worked in me.

Plus I have thoroughly enjoyed doing the homemaking tasks of cooking, canning, caring for the chickens and generally keeping the home fires burning.

In autumn, our life moved from our relatively quiet existence into the more usual intensity. Fr. Denis Lemieux arrived on October 2nd to begin his six-month stay, and we had a Cana weekend with a family from Texas.

For their four-year-old Owen, Fr. Denis became “Farmer Fr. Denis,” and Owen’s favorite thing was helping him (Fr. Denis) with closing in and letting out the chickens every day.

We are currently widening our driveway entrance—our biggest project these days. Getting the bees ready for winter is also high priority.

And we three are going on retreat: Fr. Denis to Little Rock, Arkansas, to give an 8-day retreat to the Carmelite nuns, and Patrick and I to make private ones—Patrick here at home, and I at a friend’s house.

Let me finish with a few random snippets: Fr. Denis has become our yogurt-maker and bread baker par excellence. The prayer, “Jesus, I surrender myself to you, take care of everything.” has carried me through many a temptation. Kale and pineapple are delicious together!