Going away

I have to go to the US tomorrow for a week. I probably won't be blogging again till Monday 18 March - though you never know, if I can get the technology to work on my mobile phone, I might try it. My visit will take in Dallas, and I find that there is a Convent of Discalced nuns there - the Monastery of the Infant Jesus of Prague and St Joseph. Looking at their website, I discover a Holy Face Confraternity, offering 'devotion and reparation to the Holy Face of our Lord Jesus Christ for all the insults and indignities committed against His Holy Face and for the blasphemies and profanation of Holy Days'. This reminds me of Therese of Lisieux, whose full name in religion was 'Therese of the Child Jesus and of the Holy Face'.

I like what the Dallas nuns say about themselves on their website, I think it is a rather beautiful summary:

We are a cloistered contemplative community. Our way of life follows the reform of Saint Teresa of Jesus (Avila), a joyful expression of total dedication to Christ in a community atmosphere of unity and constant prayer. Our daily life is centered around the Eucharistic Sacrifice of Jesus - daily mass, from which we receive the grace to live up to our calling. The hours pass in an alternating rhythm between prayer and manual labor. Simplicity of life, the silence and solitude of a hermit,  & the support of a loving community all help us as we "journey onto heaven."