Poor Clare Monastery
of the Immaculate Conception
12210 South Will Cook Road
Lemont, Illinois 60439
Summer 2005
Our dear Friends,
The Spring months have quickly overflowed into Summer ones, vibrant with the fullness of maturing life and growth, and we are reminded of a petition placed on our lips by Holy Church: "That the Sacrament of the Eucharist will be increasingly recognized as the beating heart of the Church's life.*
As we celebrate the fifth anniversary of our foundation, we reflect deeply upon the life and grace which has pulsated from the Holy Eucharist into our lives from the first hours of our coming to Chicago. We have often recalled that moment when our Eucharistic King was placed in the tabernacle in our temporary convent on South Austin Avenue, and Father's words to us: "Now Jesus is here. Now you are safe." It was that same moment after the Dedication Mass of our permanent monastery that remains engraved upon our hearts, and as we lift up your intentions in prayer on your behalf each day, we know that you are being sustained by the grace and life pulsating from the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus.
Our Spring newsletter concluded with the sharing of the special Indulgence granted by Pope John Paul II for this Year of the Eucharist Little did we anticipate at that time that before the Octave of our Lord's resurrection would be completed, our beloved Holy Father would have entered into his heavenly Father's house. Through our cloistered contemplative life, situated at the heart of the Church, we were deeply united with all the events surrounding his death and funeral. We kept vigilant watch in prayer as the Cardinals entered into conclave, and we were filled with overflowing joy and thanksgiving for the gift of Pope Benedict XVI, already long beloved by us.
As our new Holy Father has continued with great fervor the observances for the Year of the Eucharist begun by his predecessor, so we, too, advance, looking forward to the novena of our Mother St. Clare. She was a true woman of the Eucharist, giving her life in adoration of her Lord present in the Blessed Sacrament, and so it seems most fitting that we should initiate her novena with our first-ever Eucharist Procession on Tuesday, August 2, which will follow the 9:00 am. Holy Mass with Auxiliary Bishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller as the main celebrant. Each evening from August 2-10 at 7:30 p.m., the solemn novena in honor of St Clare will take place with Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament We invite you to join us for the novena service or to send us your intentions which you would like remembered in our novena prayers.
The August 11 feastday Mass will be offered by Retired Bishop John Gorman at 8:00 a.m., and again we invite you to join us. During the novena and in these final months of the Year of the Eucharist, we pray that you and your loved ones will experience the beating Heart of love, the beating Heart of peace, joy and consolation ever present with us in the Blessed Sacrament, and know that in our prayers before our Eucharistic Lord, you are held close in our own hearts.
Devotedly, in our Holy Mother St. Clare,