Renewal after catastrophe

Looking back on the years before the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, it is wonderful to see the great things that have happened in Eastern Europe since then. I came across this entry on the net by accident under the rubric of the 'Monastery of the Barefoot Carmelites of St. Joseph and St. Teresa of the Infant Jesus':

'The order of the Barefoot Carmelites was established in Spain in 1562 and operated in Lithuania from 1638. After the Soviet occupation, it was closed. After the reestablishment of independence, several women approached Archbishop of Kaunas, Cardinal Vincentas Sladkevičius and a senior of the Order of the Barefoot Carmelites with a request to restore it in Lithuania. Nuns who came over from abroad in 1994 to restore the monastery settled down temporarily in the former Paštuva presbytery. A new monastery was designed by architect Regimantas Andriuškevičius. The building of unusual shapes symbolizes a centre of monastic life – Christ and His Church. Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevičius consecrated the corner stone of the monastery in 1996 and the new monastery in 2000. Currently, the monastery is open to everyone willing to stay in silence and to pray. Visitors are accommodated in designated rooms and together with the sisters participate in the Holy Mass and the Liturgy of the Hours.'

Intercessions: for the soul of J, who has died too soon