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“A voice is heard in Ramah,   
mourning and great weeping,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
 because they are no more. ”

— Jer. 31:15

As we commemorate the solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ today, the members of the community of Queen of Peace Monastery are heart-broken with the horrific news about the 215 children found buried at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. 

Like Mary, the mother of Jesus at the foot of the cross, we are sorrowfully and silently present to the suffering of our First Nations brothers and sisters. Mourning with them, we share their grief and are deeply hurt and betrayed by the deplorable conduct that led to this and other tragedies.  We add our voice in asking for “full transparency” with regard to archives and records regarding all residential schools in Canada.

The Queen of Peace community celebrated the Eucharist Sunday June the 6th in remembrance of these children and their families.  Always, but in a particular way throughout these coming months, we will offer ongoing prayer for the healing of the survivors and for all those persons who have been traumatized by the injustice of colonialist policies and residential schools with their devastating consequences.

Our community is humbly grateful for the privilege of living in the ancestral territory of the Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation). We have been deeply touched by the welcome we have received, and continue to be nourished and formed as we listen and learn from Squamish: the people, the land, the Salmon and the Cedar.

+ The sisters of Queen of Peace Monastery

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For more information about the 215 children and the developing efforts to restore and honour their memories:

• Updates from the Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, the “home community” of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School: https://tkemlups.ca/newsroom/

• Expression of Commitment from Archbishop Michael J. Miller CSB to First Nations governments and all Indigenous communities, families and citizens (June 2, 2021):
  https://rcav.org/first-nations

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“Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live!” (Ezekiel 37:9)

A joyous Pentecost to you all! Summer is here ahead of schedule in the Upper Squamish Valley, and we’re looking forward to seeing even more of our vegetables sprouting in the garden. At last count, we have appearances of potatoes, gladiolas, spinach and asparagus, with squash and zucchini still incubating indoors. Up on the mountain behind our monastery, the shrubs and kinnikinnick are growing and full of flowers. We’re also pleased to report that a sister spotted our first bear of the year about a month ago, at the end of April.

Every year, between Ascension and Pentecost, we join Mary and the Apostles for a beautiful silent retreat. During this time we pray for a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit into our hearts, the Church and the world. Whereas Christmas and Easter have Octaves prolonging the feast (eight days of celebrating the same Office as the feast itself), this third big solemnity of the year is prolonged by the liturgical season of Ordinary time (which is really anything but ordinary). The first Pentecost launched the first community of the Church, described in a reading that is very dear to Dominicans:

“All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.”

— Acts 2:44-47

Having celebrated intensely the mysteries of our salvation in the liturgy of the past several months, Pentecost now sets us loose to live out the consequences of Jesus’s Incarnation, death and Resurrection in our daily lives. Most of all: “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12). And so, we try to do!

Before our retreat began, though, we have a few beautiful daily things to catch up on. The first is that one of our sisters finished a project of building a planter box for our back cloister. The trellis is for sweet peas and perhaps, one day, a climbing rose.

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The second was a novitiate hike further up our valley. “Up” may be the operative word, as the trail was a pretty steep climb in some sections (not pictured, because it took the camera sister both hands to climb!). It was worth it, though, with an incredible waterfall at the top and viewpoints along the way. As monastic father St. Anthony the Great said (paraphrasing): Monks need play occasionally in order to be strong to serve God. Nuns too!

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Finally, we are so grateful for the first customers who ordered our soap. We’re working away at crafting more and, in the meantime, are now offering free shipping on all Canadian orders of $100 or more. If you haven’t checked out our soap yet, you can find it here. God bless!

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Grinding herbs for a new batch of soap.

As those of you who read our autumn newsletter know, we’ve been quietly working on a surprise for you over the past year. Now it is here, and you can shop Queen of Peace Monastic Arts and Workshops from right here on our website! Our first online product? Handmade soap! Our nature-inspired blends are prayerfully handmade in our monastery by our sisters, using simple ingredients. You can learn more from the video below, and then shop our collection online here.

Why an online store? As those of you who have visited our monastery know, we have a small gift shop in which we sell items handmade by our community: pottery, rosaries, icon prints, candles and, yes, soap. Along with our guest house, and the generosity of benefactors, this gift shop ordinarily helps to support the day-to-day needs of our community. When Covid-19 hit our region, we suddenly found ourselves with both the guesthouse and gift shop closed for the (un)foreseeable future. We are deeply grateful to our friends near and far who have continued to financially support our life of prayer during this time that is economically difficult for so many. Now, we are happy to share our handwork with you again in a new way, and look forward to adding more products once we have the inventory. Thank-you for being part of the adventure of our growing community, and please know that we are praying for you and your intentions. God bless!