On October 9, the memorial of St. John Henry Newman, it was our great joy to celebrate the solemn profession of Sr. Marie Thomas of the Divine Word. Our Dominican Provincial of Canada fr. Yves Bériault celebrated the Eucharist, and fr. Don Goergen O.P. preached the homily. Many of sister’s friends and family came from across Western Canada, including her parents and siblings, her university chaplain Fr. Dean Henderson, and the abbot of our local Westminster Abbey, Fr. Alban Riley OSB. This day was also Canadian Thanksgiving, and there were certainly many reasons to give thanks!

Originally from Prince Rupert, British Columbia, Sr. Marie Thomas attended high school just up the road from us in Whistler. She discovered our community during university when a Google search of “nuns, BC” brought her to our website. Captivated by pictures of our liturgy, the glaciers, and a nun skiing in full habit, she made contact with our community just a few months after our Squamish monastery was opened and blessed in August of 2012. Her profession marks a significant step in our foundation’s development, as she is the first solemn professed sister to complete the entire monastic formation program “in house.”

As St. John Henry Newman wrote, however, “Holiness is the great end. There must be a struggle and a trial here.” In this case, shortly after Sr. Marie Thomas went on retreat in our hermitage, six sisters and our monastery’s chaplain fell ill with COVID. Thankfully, no one was gravely ill, and our novice mistress and liturgist returned from quarantine just in time for a final choir practice and rehearsal! The quarantined sisters who were well enough donned parkas and participated in both the Mass and reception by staying outside behind glass (see the sisters on the roof in photo above). As one sister quipped, “The prayers of hermits and those who suffer are highly efficacious; quarantine combines both!” Well supported by these prayers and the joy of the Lord, we thank God and sister’s family for her gift of life. Ad multos annos!

“What’s solemn vows?” asked Dominic the monastic rabbit. “Are they tasty? Can I eat them? Are they like carrots?”
“True love is even better than carrots, Dominic,” replied the newly solemn professed. “God is just that good.”

Sr. Marie Thomas LawrieOctober 18, 2023

Happy Feast of St. Dominic

Dear friends,

Happy feast of St. Dominic! As we celebrate today the memory of our founder, we hope that you are well and enjoying the summer. These past few months in our community have been quiet but not idle, and we have abundant news to share. Our summer newsletter is ready and available either online or through the post. It contains a reflection on St. Dominic, new arrivals, a first profession, and an interview with Sr. Mary Magdalen about her recent carving of St. Dominic for the Monastery of the Infant Jesus in Lufkin, Texas.

*A new carving of St. Dominic by our Sr. Mary Magdalen.*

If you don’t already receive our newsletter, you can sign up here and in the meantime read the digital version below:

Since the newsletter went to print, work has continued on our new workshop building. In July, a team of sisters suited up and pulled the electrical cable from our micro hydroelectricity project, over Pilchuk Creek, under our chaplain’s house, through a bit of forest, and right to the new building’s electrical room. Now the workshop building is fully powered by our own sustainable energy (and the construction team can hook up their power tools inside the shop itself rather than needing extension cords!). Next came the installation of the water, and last week sisters began to move their work areas from the main monastery building down to the new shops. It is only once a work area is packed and ready that we realize how much we’ve been able to fit into a small makeshift space for so many years! Thank-you for your continued support of this project; we could not do it without you, and are deeply grateful.

The garden is also doing well, with baskets of kale and other vegetables arriving regularly in the kitchen. At the beginning of August, we harvested the garlic, and spent a community recreation brushing and tying the heads for dry storage.

*Although the community’s rabbit Dominic is not allowed to nibble the garlic stalks (much to his chagrin!), he joined us for the recreation in his outdoor pen.*

Finally, we’ve been blessed with an abundance of wild animal spottings over the past month. The beavers that live in the wetlands skirting our monastery are routinely seen in the late afternoon and evenings. Although the iron-rich creek at low water looks more like strong tea than anything one would want to swim in, these Castor canadensis seem perfectly content, with up to five spotted at one time.

A few days ago, the sound of a distant squeegee-like squeaking could be heard from our monastic cells at just past five in the morning. In the profound silence of early dawn, this proved a puzzle, until sister photographer realized the true source of the disturbance and rushed down to our fields. A rogue car wash? An errant squeaky toy? None of the above! A herd of our valley’s resident Roosevent elk had spent the early morning, and the squeaks were the calls of the calves as they galloped and played around. Although the arrival of sister photographer unfortunately interrupted their game, the herd was kind enough to pause for a picture before disappearing silently into the woods.

We wish you a blessed feast, and joyful remainder of the summer (or winter, for our friends in the southern hemisphere).
St. Dominic, pray for us!

God bless,
your sisters of Queen of Peace Monastery

Sr. Marie Thomas LawrieAugust 8, 2023

"In this bright joyous Paschal day"

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.

Sr. Marie Thomas LawrieMay 4, 2023