A Place of Delight and Rest

All are Welcome in 

this Place

Click on the image above to hear the song.

Let us build a house where love can dwell

And all can safely live.

A place where saints and children tell

How hearts learn to forgive.

Built of hopes and dreams and visions,

Rock of faith and vault of grace;

Here's the love of Christ shall end divisions:

     Ref: All are welcome, all are welcome, 
all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where prophets speak,

And words are strong and true,

Where all God's children dare to seek

To dream God's reign anew.

Here the cross shall stand as witness

And as symbol of God's grace;

Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:

     Ref: All are welcome, all are welcome, 
all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where love is found

In water, wine and wheat:

A banquet hall on holy ground,

Were peace and justice meet.

Here the love of God, through Jesus,

Is revealed in time and space;

As we share in Christ the feast that frees us.
       Ref: All are welcome, all are welcome, 
all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where hands will reach 

Beyond the wood and stone

To heal and strengthen, serve and teach.

And live the word they've known.
Here the outcast and the stranger

Ber the image of God's face;

Let us bring an end to fear and danger:

     Ref: All are welcome, all are welcome, 
all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where all are named,

"I baptize you in the name of . . . "

Their songs and visions heard

And loved and treasured, taught and claimed

As words within the the Word.

Built of tears and cries and laughter,

Prayers of faith and songs of grace.

Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter:

     Ref: All are welcome, all are welcome, 
all are welcome in this place.

Text: Marty Haugen, ©1950

In my now 5 months of living with the Sisters of Visitation Monastery in Minneapolis, the one thing that has impressed me more than anything else is the fact that in this place truly all are welcome. All kinds of people come here: priests, professionals, and homeless people. Families who have comfortable lives. Families who live in great deprivation. All are treated, not only with respect, but as incarnations of Jesus. It is humbling to live in such a way. I remember hearing that "God is no respecter of persons," when I was a child, and being told that that meant God loves everybody the same. And I would have thought myself an inclusive and accepting person until I came here. I know better now. I have made distinctions between persons without even realizing it. And I have been afraid of people who were very different from me. Being here is changing me. I have a long way to go to get to the place where I would like to be. But I realize again that I want to be like the Visitation Sisters of N. Minneapolis. I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't come here for their "monastic immersion experience."

- - 

Last Saturday there was a baptism at the monastery - a relative of one of the Sisters.

Fr. Michael anointing the baby.

A neighbor coming in to see and greet the baby and parents.

And while the reception was going on, one of the neighbors dropped by and was introduced. The Sisters speak of these occasions as "bridging." I loved seeing the parallels in these two images - of the priest bending over the baby to anoint her - and the neighbor bending in almost identical posture to gesture to the baby as parents were opening gifts.

Thanksgiving week has been quite a busy time! Every day has had so much going on! Turkey Tuesday, for instance, when friends from out at Mendota Heights at the Visitation Academy there arrived with huge cardboard boxes the size of laundry baskets, filled with food - enough for 150 families! And each box of food came with a turkey and a pan to bake it in. A team of neighbors had made up maps showing where the 150 families lived: a group of Vis girls and a couple of the neighbors would pile into a car with all the fixings for 3 or 4 Thanksgiving dinners and head out to deliver them. A prayer card was placed in each basket - so when the girls and their helpers arrived, they were ready for a visit with the family and they all shared a prayer together. In between assignments, they'd come into the house for hot apple cider and a couple of cookies, pick up the next set of addresses and head out again! It was something to see!

This is what it looked like
when they were more than
half done!

Our VIP Anna was one of the
workers on Turkey Tuesday.

The chapel set up for Morning Prayer the
day of Renewal of Vows. That's the
Constitution containing their "rule" at the
base of the cruciform Christ.

Getting set up for Thanksgiving
morning mass.

Thanksgiving morning there was Morning Prayer, followed by another mass - this time relatives of some of the Sisters and Anna's family joined us - and another brunch to follow. And then an open house at Girard for another Sister's family. And then Evening Prayer followed by Thanksgiving Dinner at 5 PM - we had 14 places set.

Lingering over dessert.

Whew! These Sisters have stamina - and hospitality is at the heart of their life.

St. Jane de Chantal wrote on the wall of the first Visitation Monastery, 
this is a place of delight and rest . . . 

and it's true! 
It's a place of delight and rest for the heart, 
no matter how hard you work at it.

All are welcome . . . in this place!

Be sure to read the Visitation Monastery blog!

Meeting Jesus at Visitation Monastery in North Minneapolis - in Eucharist, in scripture, and in his people

A vignette captured as we prepared for mass
in our living room the other day.             

These words from a David Hass hymn speak to me

of the life we share here.

We come to share our story,

we come to break the bread,

we come to know our rising

from the dead . . . 

We are called to heal the broken

to be hope for the poor,

we are called to feed the hungry 

at our door.

You will lead and we will follow

you will be the breath of life

living water, we are thirsting 

for your light.    

The living room at Girard
house is ready for mass.

Eucharist: the "source and summit" of our lives -
Eucharist is the very center of life at Visitation Monastery in North Minneapolis. We have mass at the house at least three times a week. On other days - and on Sundays - we go out to one of several nearby parishes.

On Saturday mornings we have a Communion Service. So every day is centered around the Eucharist.

The Blessed Sacrament is reserved in the chapel in each of the two houses. We pray the Divine Office in one of these chapels four times every day - and as each sister enters, she makes a profound bow to the Real Presence in the reserved Sacrament in the tabernacle. On Sundays and other major feast days, incense is burned during the office - and all present are blessed with that incense.

The slightly larger chapel
at Fremont decorated for last Easter.

The small chapel at Girard.

Holy Mass: our central act of worship as Catholics.

Father Michael O'Connell
at Ascension Church one Sunday
morning recently.

In the liturgy, we experience the Real Presence of Christ in three ways: in the Word of God (the Holy Scriptures), in the assembly present, and in the Eucharist.

The priest says the words of institution, and holds up first the consecrated host, and then the chalice.  We each acknowledge the central belief of Catholics: that bread and wine have become, in fact and faith, the body and blood of the crucified Christ." We pray, "Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof, but only say the word, and my soul shall be healed."

All prayer services and liturgies are open to our neighbors and friends. Before we begin, one of the Sisters puts this sign on the front and back doors: The Sisters are at prayer now. If you would like to join us, please ring the doorbell. And they do - neighbors and people in search of help, friends and patrons - all are welcomed into the worshipping circle.

The Blessed Sacrament displayed in the Monstrance
at the Fremont Chapel.

On First Fridays we have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament - where the consecrated host is placed into a small monstrance and displayed while we pray in silence before Christ present in the Sacrament. Neighbors and friends join us here, also.

We meet Christ in our daily work and ministry as well as in the liturgy.

Neighborhood Ice Cream party
at Girard

Outside of the chapel, as the work of the day proceeds, I see a deep courtesy, mutual love and respect in the interactions of the Sisters with one another - they treat each other with the same reverence given to the Real Presence in the Eucharist. That's because they recognize and honor Christ in one another.

This young woman grew up in the
Windsock ministry - the Sisters
would hang up a windsock at a
given time in the afternoon, and
all the children would come to play
with toys and games. She stopped by
to show the Sisters her new baby.

When visitors come to the door, they also are greeted with that same reverence and respect; the Sisters - and I - go to meet Christ on the doorstep, go to be Christ to that person.  Jesus said that as we feed the hungry, clothe the naked,  meet the needs of even the least of his brothers and sisters, we do it for Him.







So at Visitation Monastery one meets Jesus in one guise or another all day long -  Christ lives in and among us. The Kingdom of Heaven is present to us.

Praying with people who came looking for some help.
Sometimes all we can do is pray together. This
was one of those times.

That is at the core of my life here in the "monastic immersion experience," at Visitation Monastery in North Minneapolis. I am living Eucharist intensely and intentionally - all day. Every day. Every day I meet Jesus in the sacrament, in the Word, and in his people.




I told the Sisters the other day, it seems to me, that this is the very threshold of Heaven.


I do love the life here! What an adventure!