Emmaberry's Pcc Countdown

[Lil'Monster]

Sweet Emma!!! But I will miss you something awful though...............

[TheresaThoma]

Emma that is quite funny about being measured for the postulant garb, you were figuratively and literally "on the threshold of the cloister"

I also LOVE your countdown chain. I made one for when I was baptized/entered the Church. 100 days goes by so quickly and so slowly!
Many prayers for you!

[MeteorShower]

I am so happy for you! You must be so excited! I think it's wonderful that you get to spend some time with the Missionaries of Charity too. It's a really great idea to have you experience religious life more deeply even though you cannot be in the cloister with your Sisters. I will pray for you and your family during this time.

[BarbTherese]

God's richest blessings, Emmaberry! - and may the time fly.
Edit: The Poor Clares, Roswell, have a most comprehensive website.

Edited September 16, 2012 by BarbaraTherese

[NonNovi]

Deo gratias! I wish you all the best, Emma. I'll pray for you

[VeniJesuAmorMi]

Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever.

I am keeping you in prayer as you begin your preparations. I pray especially that you will keep His peace and not be disturbed.

I will be looking forward to seeing that new website!

[OnlySunshine]

I hope that I have not taken attention away from Emma in this great time of hers. I want to make clear that I am, in no way, envious of your happiness (or anyone else who is entering or has entered). God's timing is not our own and I understand that there is a reason why He is asking me to wait longer to receive my answer. I have been growing in patience and trust these past four weeks. I know my time will come when He wills it. Emma, I am rejoicing for you! You have been a terrific, supportive friend since you first posted here and I know that your prayers will do much good in the cloister!

[ChristinaTherese]

Yay! I'll miss you, though. Praying for you as you prepare to enter!

[emmaberry]

Wanted to post this, if some of you had not already seen it on the website, which as Barbara said, is very comprehensive!

[url="http://www.poorclaresroswell.com/Come%20let%20us%20cliimb%20the%20mountain%20of%20the%20Lord.wma"]http://www.poorclaresroswell.com/Come%20let%20us%20cliimb%20the%20mountain%20of%20the%20Lord.wma[/url]


[indent=1.25][font="Times New Roman"][color="#0F0B52"]The mountains proclaim the glory of God! Throughout the ages their beauty and majesty have lifted man's heart to God and called him upward to a place of sacred encounter. It was on the mountain called Horeb that the Lord spoke to Moses from the burning bush and to the prophet Elijah in a tiny, whispering sound. The Son of God Himself, when He walked our earth, sought the heights of the mountains to pray to His Father. Mount La Verna witnessed the divine encounter that left our seraphic Father St. Francis with wounds of love in hands and feet and side.[/color][/font][/indent]
[img]http://www.poorclaresroswell.com/twofacesB.jpg[/img]
[indent=1][font="Times New Roman"][color="#0F0B52"]We, too, are called to the heights. The whole of our blessed vocation is a summons from the Bridegroom, "Come, let us climb the mountain of the Lord!" (Is. 2:3) Set forth on a journey that will last a lifetime, this Franciscan adventure of love! To go up the mountain, we must first leave the comforts of the valley, and fly from all that will keep us from the heights. Thus we give clear witness that man belongs entirely to God, and so keep green among the human family the desire for a heavenly home (cf. [i]Gaudium et Spes[/i], # 38). Our life says to the world, "There's something up there!"[/color][/font][/indent]
[indent=1.25][font="Times New Roman"][color="#0F0B52"]We take the sturdy staff of obedience to guide us on the direct path to the summit, for there is no shorter way nor one which leads more directly to heaven than to renounce one's own will for God's love (cf. [i]Testament of St. Colette[/i]). The Lady, holy Poverty, lightens our journey. Like our sisters the larks, we entrust ourselves entirely to the providence of the heavenly Father, and know the joy and lightness of heart that spring from a genuine and effective poverty (cf. Constitutions of the Poor Clare Federation of Mary Immaculate in the United States of America).[/color][/font][/indent]
[indent=1.125][font="Times New Roman"][color="#0F0B52"]The precious gift of God that is radiant chastity infuses into our hearts an unparalleled freedom to love. It binds us to Christ and also to our community with a unique and stable bond (ibid.). This sisterly charity helps us keep our footing in the narrow passes on rocky ways.[/color][/font][/indent]
[indent=1.125][font="Times New Roman"][color="#0F0B52"]As we climb, our gaze encompasses the whole world, gathering the needs of the souls of men into the embrace of sacrificial love (ibid.). We set our journey to a song, the psalms and hymns that many travelers have sung before us as they made the ascent. The Virgin Mary illumines our way as Mother and guide, and every path she travels is made safe and joyful.[/color][/font][/indent]
[center]


[img]http://www.poorclaresroswell.com/tablea.jpg[/img][/center]
[center]

[img]http://www.poorclaresroswell.com/Twonuns.jpg[/img][/center]
[indent=1.25]


[font="Times New Roman"][color="#0F0B52"]Everything on this mountain is worthy of wonder; but the greatest wonder is the wonder of Jesus, walking with us, present to us in the Holy Eucharist as companion on our journey.[/color][/font][/indent]
[indent=1.25][font="Times New Roman"][color="#0F0B52"]Our life of spousal love is this daily ascent toward the summit, that eternal wedding feast with the King. "Blessed are those called to the wedding feast of the Lamb" (Rev. 19:9). This is the ultimate beatitude. This is our hope and our whole desire.[/color][/font][/indent]


[indent=1.25]Dear Mother playing the Franciscan violin with Mother Vicaress:[/indent]

[indent=1.25][img]http://i41.photobucket.com/albums/e280/emmajaneberry/mother.jpg[/img][/indent]
[img]file:///Users/ummitsemma/Pictures/iPhoto%20Library/Previews/2012/09/15/20120915-032707/IMG_1569.jpg[/img]

[nikita92]

Emmaberry, did you know someone recorded your community singing? http://voxfeminaesacra.blogspot.com/2011/04/poor-clare-recordings-roswell-nm.html I haven't listen to this yet...Thought you might be interested in it!

[emmaberry]

[quote name='nikita92' timestamp='1347939798' post='2483583']
Emmaberry, did you know someone recorded your community singing? [url="http://voxfeminaesacra.blogspot.com/2011/04/poor-clare-recordings-roswell-nm.html"]http://voxfeminaesac...roswell-nm.html[/url] I haven't listen to this yet...Thought you might be interested in it!
[/quote]

Thank you for posting it here nikita! Yes I have this bookmarked-my favorite is Carol of the Drifting Snow. I think the nuns really enjoy their Christmas carols, because there is a Sister Gaudeta for the carol [i]Gaudete[/i]. It is wonderful to be able to listen to the recordings! I edited the blog recordings to sound better and gave my benefactors, along with A Right to Be Merry and other things from the nuns' gift shop, the recorded songs on a cd. I added Mother Angela's "Come Let Us Climb the Mountain of the Lord!" on at the end, as well as Mother Francis' Abbatial Blessing.

The new website offered 14 songs sung by the nuns. The quality was not fantastic, a lot like that of those recordings on the blog, but they were lovely to hear. I might include these on some of the CDs I give to benefactors.

I've been practicing singing like the nuns after my last visit. They sing beautifully, but almost flat in a way. I think this may be the way Gregorian chant and other chants are properly sung, because the Cistercian monks near my university sing like this as well. It makes it easier to sing songs that are challenging for me, like the Salve Regina.

The novice and I joke because we both 'stalked' the site. I shyly mentioned to Dear Mistress that there were recordings of them online on a blog (I don't think she knew what a blog was, but she didn't indulge her curiosity ). The novice said, "You found those too!?" It was really nice meeting with the novice.. I felt like she was someone I would have been friends with outside in the world, just because we got along so well.. The poor thing's charge is the laundry, and so as an 'overflow' task she was supposed to measure me for the postulant garb. It was her first time, so I got the privilege of being her guinea pig. She did great, though, and there was a more experienced nun there to help her out.

Edited September 18, 2012 by emmaberry

[emmaberry]

Time is passing so quickly. This coming week will be filled with family birthdays, then I go stay with the Dallas MCs in October, then I get my wisdom teeth out (), then I am visiting the nuns with my grandparents. A couple days later, my mom and I are heading to Roswell again for the novice's first vows-November 1st, the Mass is open to the public and it is at 8:30 am if anyone is in the area! Then I go stay with the MCs again, then it's the winter holidays....then JANUARY.

These next three months are going to fly by.. Time is passing so quickly, and it's only been a week since Mother told me I'll be entering. What will I be like in a month?


I am going to make this a PCC one-size-fits-all thread, since the PC threads on Phatmass are either archived or about one specific monastery, and I don't want to infringe on another Monastery's thread with random news about a different group of Poor Clares.

Chiara Francesco pointed me to some great interviews (2 hours worth!) of interviews by the Rockford Poor Clares here: [url="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_srch_drd_B005O4PUEI?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Abbie%20Reese&index=digital-music&search-type=ss"]http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_srch_drd_B005O4PUEI?ie=UTF8&field-keywords=Abbie%20Reese&index=digital-music&search-type=ss[/url]

Also, I was on the Belleville PCCs site, which is lovely, and stumbled across this picture of their Monastery:
[img]http://www.poorclares-belleville.info/Who%20We%20Are/index.2.jpg[/img]

and laughed when I did, because it was just after reading the 'Mother Mary Francis' section of the Roswell PCCs site, where this is posted:
[url="http://www.poorclaresroswell.com/MMF-Symbol.jpg"][img]http://www.poorclaresroswell.com/MMF-Symbol.jpg[/img][/url]
[b][font="Times New Roman"][size="4"][color="#782750"][i]F[/i][/color][/size][/font][i][font="Times New Roman"][size="4"][color="#782750"]ront of Mother Mary Francis' remembrance card. Mother's identifying mark in religious life, the world surmounted by the Cross, was highlighted in this silk-screened design.[/color][/size][/font][/i][/b]


I found it so funny that, when the Belleville PCCs were founded out of Roswell, they took Mother Francis' 'mark' of the Cross on the globe as the design for their Monastery! Who knew whether that was Mother's idea or the founding group of Sisters though.

Also, the Belleville site has a really nice description of their horarium ([url="http://www.poorclares-belleville.info/Praise/index.htm"]http://www.poorclares-belleville.info/Praise/index.htm[/url]), with cute illustrations. I especially like the Scripture references they give for the hours of the day.

This reminded me a lot of the Whitesville Passionists' adorable illustration of the horarium which they have here: [url="http://www.passionistnuns.org/blog/2011/04/14/a-cartoon-of-our-monastic-horarium/"]http://www.passionistnuns.org/blog/2011/04/14/a-cartoon-of-our-monastic-horarium/[/url]
[img]http://www.passionistnuns.org/blog/wp-content/themes/fallseason/images/horariumBlog.jpg[/img]

I will post more reflections (more like trifles!) here.

Edited September 23, 2012 by emmaberry

[PhuturePriest]

Congratulations! I will really miss you, but we can catch up when we're in Heaven one day.

[emmaberry]

Aw, FP, whose going to be on VS at crazy hours of the night with you?

Oh, man, when we see each other in Heaven, it will be like a tiny re-enactment of Saint Francis meeting Saint Clare... except it will be ordinary old us of course.... Although in Heaven we will be 'Saints' in the truest sense of the word, so I guess it will be like the two Saints meeting! Maybe they'll even introduce us.


EDIT: I forgot this in my previous post, but I made a youtube video with Mother's "Come, Let Us Climb the Mountain of the Lord!" with many rare/unseen pictures that will be on the website. One of the things Mother asked me to do once she told me I'd be entering was to tell people about the Poor Clares, especially their Monastery. She also gave me some literature to put into various adoration chapels and give to potential discerners, one of which is the fantastic [i]The Meaning of Vocation[/i] by Pope John Paul the Great along with Mother Francis' [i]Come Alive. [/i]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COo4icdlHK4[/media]

EDIT #2: The Los Altos Clares here: [url="http://poorclares.wordpress.com/the-poor-clare-vocation/"]http://poorclares.wo...clare-vocation/[/url] have some really lovely drawings that were done by the Roswell PCCs but are not on their website. They are in the booklet [i]Walls Around the World [/i]by the Roswell PCCs, which includes tidbits from conferences on enclosure by Mother Mary Francis. Here is the cover and some of the drawings:

[img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/walls-around-the-world.jpg?w=194&h=300[/img]
[url="http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/to-live-uniquely-for-christ.jpg?w=205&h=300"][img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/to-live-uniquely-for-christ.jpg?w=205&h=300[/img][/url]
[url="http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/to-live-uniquely-for-christ.jpg?w=205&h=300"][img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/god-is-enough.jpg?w=182&h=300[/img][/url]
[url="http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/the-mystery-of-mary.jpg?w=172&h=300"][img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/the-mystery-of-mary.jpg?w=172&h=300[/img][/url]
[url="http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/the-mystery-of-mary.jpg?w=172&h=300"][img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/too-small-a-world.jpg?w=202&h=300[/img][/url]
[url="http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/the-mystery-of-mary.jpg?w=172&h=300"][img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/urged-on-by-love.jpg?w=197&h=300[/img][/url]
[url="http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/the-mystery-of-mary.jpg?w=172&h=300"][img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/into-his-arms.jpg?w=176&h=300[/img][/url]


[url="http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/the-mystery-of-mary.jpg?w=172&h=300"][img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/to-love-more-profoundly.jpg?w=189&h=300[/img][/url]

My favorites:
[url="http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/the-mystery-of-mary.jpg?w=172&h=300"][img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/jesus-the-song-in-our-hearts.jpg?w=235&h=300[/img][/url]
[url="http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/the-mystery-of-mary.jpg?w=172&h=300"][img]http://poorclares.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/bridegroom-and-bride.jpg?w=210&h=300[/img][/url]

I love how each community's little drawings of themselves or their vocations are so reflective of the community! I have seen these kinds of drawings by the Cistercian nuns, the Benedictines of Mary, and the Whitesville Passionists as well (along with other PCs, of course.)

Edited September 23, 2012 by emmaberry

[VeniJesuAmorMi]

God reward you Emmaberry for sharing those little drawings. They're so beautiful and simple with so much meaning.