Seeking Happiness...Did You Miss It?

Father Pius Pietrzyk, O.P. of the Province of Saint Joseph.

On Saturday, October 13th, a group of young women from around the Bay Area (and beyond) gathered here at the monastery for our second Janua Caeli Retreat Day. Father Pius Pietrzyk, OP of the Province of Saint Joseph spoke on our quest for happiness and how we can truly find happiness as we live a life of prayer and virtue, and how to go about it with the demands of life today.

Mass, praying the Divine Office with the nuns and times for silent prayer before the Blessed Sacrament filled out the day, as well as opportunities for confession and short one-on-one conferences.

Sister Joseph Marie, O.P. welcoming the Janua Caeli retreatants and introducing Father Pius Pietrzyk, O.P.

As a fun break after lunch, some of the novitiate sisters spent recreation with the retreatants creating a little art and talking.

A big thank you to Father Pius and for our retreatants, and for those that prayed for these young women and all involved in providing the retreat day. May God richly bless you with abundant graces!

If you missed this retreat day, don’t miss the next one! Visit our Retreats at the Monastery page to learn more about our next Janua Caeli and Come-and-See Days, or contact Sister Joseph Marie, O.P.

Before the rush of the holidays, take a retreat day!

It’s already October and the holiday season is right around the corner - what better way to prepare than by taking a day of retreat! Janua Caeli are days of retreat for single Catholic women between the ages of 18-38 who desire to live more faithfully as Catholic women in today’s culture. Our next Janua Caeli Retreat Day is Saturday, October 13th and our retreat master is Father Pius Pietrzyk, OP. The day of retreat will include talks, Eucharistic Adoration, Mass and the Divine Office prayed with the Dominican nuns, and more!

Father Pius is a friar of the Eastern Dominican Province and serves as Chair of the Pastoral Studies Department and Assistant Professor of Pastoral Studies of Saint Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California. He holds a BA in English and Philosophy from the University of Arizona and a JD from The Law School at the University of Chicago. In 2002, Father Pius entered the Dominican Order and his studies eventually led him to the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas (the Angelicum) in Rome. In 2016, Fr. Pius was appointed a missionary of mercy by His Holiness, Pope Francis.

Don’t miss this opportunity to join other like-minded young women and grow in your relationship with Jesus through Mary! For more information and to register, visit our website.

Have You Met...

Sister Joseph Marie, O.P. is our vocations directress and coordinator for our Janua Caeli Retreat Days.  She's passionate about helping young women grow in their relationship with God and discern His gift of their vocation, whatever that may be.  

A welcome from Sister Joseph Marie, O.P. on our vocations page.

If you are, or you know, a young woman who would like to grow more deeply in relationship with God (and other young women of like mind), check out our next Janua Caeli Retreat Day on Saturday, October 13th!  You can find out more and register online at our website.  Have additional questions?  Contact Sister Joseph Marie!

Gratitude for a Great Come-and-See Day!

Last Saturday, we hosted our July Come-and-See Day, packed with prayer, information on vocations and the life of a Dominican nun, and more!  The day began with Mass and Terce (Midmorning Prayer of the Divine Office), then a wonderful talk given by Father Michael Carey, O.P. of the Western Dominican Province, who shared with us his vocation story and steps for discerning God's call in your life.  

Other talks were given by Sister Joseph Marie, O.P., our vocations directress and novice mistress, a few of our novitiate sisters, as well as a time of sharing with the community.  And the entire day flowed around the continual prayer of the Divine Office and adoration.  

Our deepest gratitude to Father Michael Carey and to all those who kept us, and the young women in attendance, in prayer.  Please continue to offer your prayers for them (and us!) as they continue seeking God's will for their lives.    Deo gratias!

Father Michael Carey, O.P. shares his vocation story and the freedom found in following God’s call.

Sister Joseph Marie, O.P. giving helpful insights into the consecrated life and tips for hearing God’s voice.

Recreation with the community!

Four of our novitiate sisters speaking about the four pillars of Dominican life as lived by the cloistered nuns of the Order.

Benediction following Vespers (Evening Prayer).

Final Days to Register for July’s Come and See!

We’re finalizing preparations for our Saturday, July 21st Come and See Day and if you’ve ever had questions about how to know what to do to follow God’s will, you won’t want to miss it!  Our guest celebrant and speaker is Father Michael Carey, O.P. of the Western Dominican Province.  He is currently an associate professor at St. Patrick’s Seminary in Menlo Park, California and chair of the Moral Theology Department (for those not familiar with the different branches of theology, our faith teaches us our goal [eternal happiness with God in heaven]; moral theology is concerned about the human actions necessary to get us there).

The day of retreat will also include talks, Eucharistic Adoration, Mass and the Divine Office prayed with the Dominican nuns, and more!

Father Michael Carey is a native of Chicago, Illinois.  Later, his family moved to Arizona where he graduated from Arizona State University.  That same year he entered the Order of Preachers (Dominicans).  Continuing his education, he received a law degree from Boalt Hall, University of California, Berkeley, and a Doctor of Sacred Theology degree from the Pontifical University of Saint Thomas (The Angelicum) in Rome.  For many years he has done specialized, itinerant preaching throughout the United States and was chaplain to the cloistered Dominican Nuns in Hollywood, California.  As well as teaching at colleges and universities through the U.S.

To learn more or to register, contact Sister Joseph Marie, O.P. or visit the Upcoming Events page on our website.

Did you miss it? Recap of Janua Caeli

Our first Janua Caeli Retreat Day was on April 21st and our theme for was Fullness of Grace: How to Receive an Overabundance of God’s Gifts.  Our retreat master was Rev. Quan Tran, priest for the Diocese of Orange in California and founder of Fullness of Grace, a ministry aimed at helping Catholics and other Christians grow in their spiritual life by better understanding supernatural grace, and how to gain an abundance of God's gifts by imitating the qualities of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

The day of the retreat included talks, Eucharistic Adoration,  Confessions, Benediction, Mass and the Divine Office prayed with the Dominican nuns.  Our novitiate sisters also joined the young women in the parlor during afternoon recreation for an art project.  Most of the young women had never done much art, but were surprised at their own hidden talents uncovered through the simple watercolor project the sisters showed them and all had fun – it ranked as one of the top three moments of the retreat day.

Here's a bit more of what our retreatants had to say at the end of the day:

"I liked best the helpful information to live out grace in the secular world..."

"Father Tran shared much insight about developing our spiritual life.  I liked best the 12 essential dispositions needed to receive the fullness of God's grace."

"God is so good to have inspired you to hold this Janua Caeli Retreat Day.  Thank you!"

"A few words to describe this retreat to someone else?  Contemplative, informative, unique, peaceful..."

"I really appreciated how we were integrated into the sisters' prayer schedule - a very close second was the recreation time with the sisters.  Thank you!"

A big thank you to Father Tran, the young women who attended and to all those whose prayers and support helped make this retreat day possible.  And if you missed this Janua Caeli, don't miss the next one in October!  Invite a friend and register!

Overcome With Paschal Joy: Living in the Fullness of Grace

Alleluia!  He is risen!  Are you still overcome with Paschal joy?

Nearly every day at Mass during the Easter season, if we pay close attention, we hear those words during the preface of the Eucharistic liturgy: “…overcome with Paschal joy…”  So how come many of us feel more relief that Lent is over and a bit of anxiety over what to do about all the Easter candy in the house with shorts season right around the corner?  Because we are thinking like “grown ups.” 

Paschal joy is given only to the extent we are childlike, because the kingdom of heaven can only be received by the childlike.  Being childlike is not the same as being childish.  Being childlike is to live through Jesus the relationship He had with His Father.  It is to be simple of heart, to receive everything as a gift because the childlike recognize everything they have is a gift.  It is to see the world as full of delightful surprises – from the colors of the sunset, to the twinkling of stars in the sky, to the way an ant carries its food back to its home.  And it is to express this wonder and joy in heartfelt praise and prayers of gratitude.

Jesus was childlike.  One of our sisters wrote a haiku from her meditations on Jesus’ appearances after His resurrection: “now the fun begins” as He began appearing here, there and everywhere to His disciples.  We must remember that Jesus’ resurrection was not merely a physical “resuscitation”.  As Pope Benedict expressed in “Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week”, His resurrection was a quantum leap forward in human existence: to have a physical body, but to be free from all laws of physics and the weaknesses of a physical body.  Imagine!  And as we live in Christ, that will also be our eventual existence.  Though now, for a season, we groan in pain, someday it will not be that way.  And because of that hope, we can begin to experience a foretaste of heaven now and be overcome with Paschal joy!

We heard yesterday how Mary was also childlike, and because of her humble simplicity, trust in and love of God, the Word was made flesh in her womb.  She was full of God’s grace and her praise and thanksgiving for Him bursts forth in her Magnificat: “my soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord!  My spirit rejoices in God my savior!”  And Mary wants our hearts to also burst forth in freedom and joy, being filled with God’s grace and goodness. 

This is our hope, this is what we celebrate for these fifty days of Easter.  Let’s begin today by counting our blessings, no matter how small, and giving thanks to God for them.  The more we give Him thanks, the more we see what we have to be grateful for and the larger are hearts become to be filled with His love and peace.

Want to learn more about living filled with grace as a young, single Catholic woman in today’s culture?  Then our April Janua Caeli Retreat Day is for you!  The theme is “Fullness of Grace: How to Receive an Overabundance of God’s Gifts.”  Janua Caeli are days of retreat for single Catholic women between the ages of 18-38 who are not actively discerning a vocation, but desiring to learn more about and grow as Catholic women in today’s culture.  The day of retreat will include talks, Eucharistic Adoration, Mass and the Divine Office prayed with the Dominican nuns, and more!  For more information and to register, visit Upcoming Events.

Preparing For the Light: Join Us for the Triduum

Throughout the 40 days of Lent, the Church has repeatedly echoed the invitation of Jesus: Repent!  The kingdom of God is at hand…  We have fasted and prayed, done acts of penance and works of mercy, and often have failed in some way in those we had intended to do.  But even these failures are gifts of God grace, when we offer them to Him, He uses them to draw us more deeply into Himself and our knowledge of Him and His mercy. 

Soon, we'll be entering into Holy Week and the Triduum.  The Triduum is a liturgical season in and of itself, the three days of the year marked profoundly by the passion and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  The days are marked with special liturgies, full of silence, lamentation and sorrow.  Through these liturgies the Church looks on the face of Jesus and sees the reality of sin, and also sees her hope and deliverance through His offering of love.

In the monastery, the last days before Easter, the Holy Triduum, are spent as days of retreat as much as possible – all but the most essential work stops as the sisters are given more time to complete their tasks for the Triduum and Easter preparation, such as reviewing and practicing the liturgies, cleaning, decorating and cooking for Easter, but most importantly, spending extra time in prayer and meditation.  You are invited to join us in prayer and reflection, in the celebration of the liturgies and in time of silent prayer in our chapel.

Most people are familiar with the afternoon and evening liturgies of the Triduum: Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday, the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, and, of course, the Easter Vigil Mass the night before Easter Sunday.  But there is also another powerful time of liturgical prayer during the early morning of these three days: Tenebrae.

Tenebrae is traditionally prayed in complete darkness, with the only light coming from a hearse holding burning candles.  As the hour of prayer proceeds, at various times, the candles are extinguished, representing the disciples abandoning our Lord.  Chantresses intone passages from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, which describe the sins of Jerusalem (representative of the Jewish people, and also of the Church) and entreat her to return to the Lord, her God.

Eventually only the center, or Christ candle, remains burning, until near the end of Tenebrae when its flame is also removed after the chanting of the Benedictus.  Then, in Dominican tradition, two chantresses stand at the front of the choir, two more chantresses stand in the middle of the choir and all face the altar as the chantresses and choir pray for Christ’s mercy.

Each day of the Triduum has slightly different entreaties; those recorded in this clip are from Holy Thursday.

May God’s grace pour out on us all during these holy days of Triduum as we prepare for His Resurrection and the triumph we share with Him over the captivity and death of sin.

If you would like to see the full schedule, check out our Upcoming Events.

2018 Holy Week and Easter Sunday at the Monastery

You're invited to join us for the celebration!

Our First Janua Caeli Retreat Day!

I will allure her and lead her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her heart...

Do you (or someone you know) desire to take a step away from the noise and busyness of the world, experience deeper prayer and relationships with others of faith, and learn more about living the Catholic faith as a young, single woman in today’s culture?  Then Janua Caeli is for you! 

The theme for our Saturday, April 21st Janua Caeli Retreat Day is Fullness of Grace: How to Receive an Overabundance of God’s Gifts.  The day of retreat will include talks, Eucharistic Adoration, Mass and the Divine Office prayed with the Dominican nuns, and more!

Our retreat master is Rev. Quan Tran, priest for the Diocese of Orange in California and founder of Fullness of Grace, a ministry aimed at helping Catholics and other Christians grow in their spiritual life by better understanding supernatural grace, and how to gain an abundance of God's gifts by imitating the qualities of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  To learn more about Father Tran and the Fullness of Grace ministry, visit www.fullnessofgrace.org.

Janua Caeli are days of retreat for single Catholic women between the ages of 18-38 who are not actively discerning a vocation, but desiring to learn more about and grow as Catholic women in today’s culture.  For more information about this and our other events, or to register, visit our Upcoming Events.