A happy and blessed Easter to you all! As one of our liturgical hymns says, “in this bright joyous paschal day, the sun shines out with purer ray.” Here in the Upper Squamish Valley, that is certainly the case. Summer seems to have arrived at our monastery, at least for the moment, and we are basking in both the light of the Resurrection and the reappearance of the sun after a long winter of rain. The tulips and asparagus are up in the garden, and the sacristans are busy clipping salmonberry blossoms to make bouquets. Bushes of wild red flowering currant provide unexpected flashes of colour in the forest around the monastery, and in the next few weeks the wild dogwood trees should come into bloom. Once they fade, we can look forward to the purple lupins and Nootka rose which will take flight as summer deepens. Speaking of flight, our local humming birds have returned for another year, and the swallows have again taken up soaring outside our chapel windows (little do they know how much they are a beautiful distraction during the liturgy!).
In all these joys, we give thanks, and hold you in our prayers. We wanted to share with you a few photographs of our Holy Week liturgy, as well as events big and small from around our monastery over the past few months. May God bless you and those you love, and may He grant us and our world peace.
Holy Week
Palm Sunday dawned in true West Coast fashion—that is to say, wet! As Holy Thursday approached, we began to consider building an arc. Instead, a group of sisters performed the solemn task on Holy Saturday of putting up the processional tent to keep celebrant, Paschal Candle and sisters dry. Despite all this, the liturgy was beautiful, and its unfolding led us deeper in to the mysteries of our salvation. Easter Sunday dawned with at least a bit of sun, and it was a joy to welcome friends and guests for the Eucharist.
pruning Lessons
When we purchased the land to build the monastery, we were blessed that it included an orchard of mature fruit trees including apples, pears, plums and cherries. Just before the Pachal triduum, the trees were budding and needed to be pruned. Our farmer friend Thomas Schneider was gracious enough to give our sisters a full-day class in tree care and maintenance. By the end of the day, the trees were shipshape and looking their best for Easter. A few weeks later, they are now in full bloom, and we are joyfully anticipating the fruits, jams and jellies that will come from their branches in just a few months.
Workshop Construction
Building continues on our new workshops, with our sisters pitching in for odd jobs and indoor painting. One of these jobs was to construct an indoor planter box for our greenhouse space. Our workman Ron and friend Dan built the form, and then our sisters suited up to mix the concrete and put it in place! Once the box was firmly cured and set, Thomas guided us as we filled it with layers of straw, wood chips and compost to create nutritious soil for our future plants to grow in. A few weeks later, and we are happily eating our own lettuce long before it would be possible to begin such a delicate crop outdoors in our region. Thank-you to all who helped. We are deeply grateful.
Curds & Milk
The season of Easter let us taste the fruit of certain Lenten preparations—literally! Earlier this winter, two of our sisters asked if they could try their hands at cheesemaking. With the roots of our Order being in France, and with several of our sisters also being from there, this seemed like a fitting thing to do. After two months of careful tending and occasional surprises, this “Squamish-style” tomme graced our refectory for the fourth Sunday of Easter. Its rapid consumption was an encouragement for our sisters to continue experimenting and creating for our community use. We look forward to the results on future special occasions!
soap
Finally, we just want to let you know that our “Summer Collection” of soap is back and will be available for order beginning May 8. Containing scents and ingredients reminiscent of summer around our monastery, this gentle handmade soap will leave your hands clean and soft. Shipping is still free on Canadian orders of $100 or more.
