February 14 - Mountains and hills, bless the Lord
The canticle of Daniel (3:57 - 88) which we sing at Lauds on Sunday mornings is a joyful exhortation to all creation to praise the Lord:
“Frost and cold, bless the Lord.
Ice and snow, bless the Lord;
Night and days, bless the Lord.
Light and darkness, bless the Lord.”
Since Christmas, it seems like we’ve had all of the above, and then some, to praise the Lord for! Starting with the most recent blessing, Sonia entered as a postulant just before the first Vespers of the Presentation of the Lord (February 1). In a simple ceremony in our Chapter hall, our prioress prayed for Sonia’s joy and perseverance in following God before presenting her with our Constitutions, a handmade wooden cross, and a rosary as a sign of perpetual prayer. Then, of course, hugs from the community!
This canticle is also a reminder to give thanks to God in all circumstances, which we certainly had occasion to do. The morning of February 1, we (and our neighbours in the Upper Squamish Valley) had woken up to a power outage. Traditionally, the Feast of the Presentation is also called Candlemas, as this is the day when a symbolic representation of the year’s candles are blessed before Mass. Well, without light, heat or running water, we quickly began to (silently, in our hearts) bless the little candles and oil lamps scattered around the monastery. We got our generator going with the help of a sister’s visiting family, and our resident priest went out in search of more fuel. Meanwhile, we hauled water from the tanks in the basement up to the kitchen and cells. As the day went on, we lit a fire and still had a very festive recreation to welcome Sonia. But as the outage stretched throughout Sunday and into Monday, peculiar and hilarious things began to happen. One pair of wool socks became two pairs of wool socks, became three pairs of wool socks, became finding a larger pair of sandals to accommodate such a pair of sheep feet. Toques peeked out from under veils, and the gentle rustling of parkas began to be heard in choir. Finally, on Monday morning, about half the community took their study or handiwork and sat by the fire, rotating places and trading jackets as sisters warmed up. But then, from the kitchenette, a distant noise could be heard: “Beep! Beep!” And, serenaded by Handle’s “Alleluia chorus,” on the third day the lights came on. Overall, it was an interesting adventure in emergency preparedness, and an opportunity to give thanks for lights, heating and drinking water we usually enjoy, which so many people in our world go without.
Continuing to recount backwards, in mid-January our prayer was answered and we were blessed us with a cold snap and a bumper crop of snow! There was sledding, making snowmen and at least one (very silent) post-Compline snowball fight. In the end, all this white fluff was put to good use, as our novices sculpted a snow-statue in honour of Our Lady of the Snows.
Last, but definitely not least, here are a few community moments from our celebration of Christmas and Epiphany—from harvesting and decorating our trees, to a recreation performance of “We Three Kings” by at one of our Epiphany queens and her helper.
