BLESSED AND MERRY CHRISTMAS

It is Christmas day and we have just finished our 11:00 AM day Mass on Christmas and enjoyed a delicious Christmas brunch. I am including a picture of the church which I just took a few minutes ago without any lights on in the church. I want to wish all of you readers of this blog a Blessed and Merry Christmas. It's a beautiful feast and I pray you have each had an opportunity to pray and give thanks to God for sending his Son to bring us salvation.

Yesterday we had first vespers of Christmas at 4:45 PM. Then at 6:00 PM we had our Christmas dinner, a banquet. At 7:45 PM we had Vigils and then at midnight we had Mass. I myself did not attend the midnight Mass here as I went to Clyde Monastery and had Mass for the Benedictine Sisters at 9:00 PM. That is when they have their Christmas Mass. When I got back it was about 11:00 PM so I went to bed. This morning we had Lauds at 9:00 AM and then most of the monks went to the infirmary as the monks who live there opened their gifts. At 11:00 AM we had a second Christmas Mass. This afternoon at 5:00 PM we have vespers and then at 7:00 PM Compline or night prayer.

It's a beautiful sunny day and it is a white Christmas as we have probably 4-5 inches of snow on the ground.

Many blessings to each of you on this holy feast.

Guest from Switzerland

This Christmas we have a guest from Einsiedeln Abbey in Switzerland. He came with Brothers Guerric and Macario who are studying theology at St. Meinrad Archabbey. Einsiedeln is the Mother House of St. Meinrad and Brother Aaron was sent there to study this year. He is spending Christmas with us. Conception Abbey of course is also from an Abbey in Switzerland, Engelberg Abbey.

Most of the ice from the ice storm is now melted although there is still some ice on a few of the trees and some places the sidewalks are still slick. However we still do not have heat in the Basilica, the kitchen or St. Joseph Hall. Something on the four boilers that serve these buildings got frozen during the time the electricity was off and they are waiting for parts to repair the boilers.

All the monks who are away for school have arrived home for the Christmas feast--as mentioned above Brothers Guerric and Macario have come from St. Meinrad Archabbey and Seminary, Brother Pachomius has come from Mount Angel Abbey and Seminary in Oregon and Brother Anselm has arrived from Washington, DC where he is studying philosophy at Catholic University of America.

Ice Storm

This must be the ice storm of the century. At least I do not remember any ice storm that was worse. The rain began and ice began forming the night of December 10 and it rained throughout the day on Tuesday, December 11. Our electricity went off Tuesday morning and it was not fully restored until Saturday evening. And then the rural water company that furnishes our water from Maryville, MO, could not pump water for their water tower. So we simply had to move out. No lights, no heat and very little water. So on Tuesday at noon the students were told they could begin their Christmas break early. They were due to leave on Thursday but were mostly gone by Wednesday evening. Fortunately the roads were not too bad. Then on Wednesday the monks moved out with about 23-24 going to Clyde monastery, about 8-10 to the parish at Stanberry and four to the home of Herb and Beverly VanVactor in Stanberry (Beverly works in our business office). All these places had electricity. Clyde has a generator that will run most of their plant. We had to stay at these places until Saturday. Sometime after midnight on Friday they got the electricity on for the south part of campus, including the infirmary. On Saturday then they spent the entire day connecting the remainder of the campus. Aquila Electric which furnishes our electricity had their men working long hours and far into the night. There are still many in the county who do not have electricity. It seems the worst ice was from about St. Joseph, MO and then north into southern Iowa.

Now we are trying to get everything up and running. Unfortunately it seems that the boilers for heating St. Joseph Hall and the Basilica were frozen and so broken and now need to be replaced before we can use the Basilica. And of course we are worrying about other pipes freezing now in St. Joseph Hall. There is also no heat in the kitchen but the lights do work there and the stoves all work so they cooking there.

I have included one picture of the ice but you can see others by going to the following web site:
http://kennethosb.smugmug.com/gallery/4002919/1

So much for this edition.

Sad news

I just received word this afternoon from some relatives in Omaha that a cousin of mine was killed in the shooting incident at a shopping mall in Omaha this past week. I had of course read about this but little did I realize that someone I knew was involved. Her name was Dianne (Clavin) Trent. Her Dad (deceased) and I were first cousins. She worked in the customer service department at the Von Maur store where the shooting took place. It came as quite a shock when I heard the news. Having survived the shooting incident here at Conception in 2002, news of such things happening have an effect on me and make me feel a lot of sympathy for the families involved.

Other than that this has been a cold and slick weekend. We have had mist and freezing mist and fog for the past two days, after receiving about 4-5 inches of snow on Thursday. More freezing rain is forecast for tomorrow night. The roads I understand are in fairly good shape but sidewalks and side streets are slick.

This is the last week of school for this semester. The students will be leaving on Thursday.

More windmills

As you can see from this photo, just taken this afternoon, more windmills have been set up just to the north of the Abbey, more or less between Conception and Clyde. They are just getting ready in this picture to lift up the propellor blades to be attached at the top. On some of the pictures you can see a couple workers at the very top who will attach the propellors.

For more photos of the windmills go to:
http://kennethosb.smugmug.com/gallery/3736027

More winter weather

Yesterday, December 1, we awoke in the morning to freezing rain and sleet. Roads and sidewalks were very slick, but then early in the morning it began to warm up and by late morning, although we were still getting rain, most of the ice had disappeared.
We had a little trouble staffing the infirmary due to slick roads but managed to have someone on duty at all shifts.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent so the beginning of a new year of grace in the Church. I was celebrant for the conventual Mass today. We had rather large group of young people on campus for the weekend for a confirmation retreat. Groups were here from both St. Joseph Parish and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Springfield, MO.

Work continues on the windmills. The one over closest to the Clyde monastery is all assembled and they are now working on the two just to the northeast of the Abbey.