Tag: franciscan

  • December Update

    Dear Friends, Families, and Benefactors,

    Ave Maria! We pray you are all in the midst of a very holy and grace-filled season of
    Advent. Work continues on our little convent chapel. We hope to have it ready within the
    next two weeks so that we may welcome the Infant Jesus, our God and Spouse, into our
    hearts, our souls, and our tabernacle at Christmas. What a joyful Christmas it will be to
    dwell with the King of Heaven!

    We now have a “Sister Carpenter”, who frequently calls upon St. Joseph to help her with
    work she never imagined herself doing in the convent: stripping and refinishing old wood,
    constructing chairs and kneelers, and learning the names of various tools and how they
    work. The early Franciscans, embracing Lady Poverty with great jealousy, worked in this
    same fashion, and we are learning just how spoiled we are in the modern world. While we
    are unable, due to small numbers in our beginning stages, to do everything by the labor of
    our own hands, we are attempting to do what we can.

    We are now also experiencing our first true Winter in Colorado. Coming from Texas, this
    has been very…well…cold! We laugh at our frailty and remind ourselves that the elements
    provide plenty of opportunity to save souls if we remain in the presence of God and keep
    always in front of us the reason we consecrated our lives to God. We give others plenty of
    opportunity to save souls too when they are forced to drive in the snow behind the nuns
    with the Texas license plate!

    Our appeal for your help continues, as we are now beginning to receive correspondence
    from young ladies around the country, and we have no room to receive them. We are
    praying a perpetual novena to St. Joseph to provide a permanent home where our
    foundation may grow and where we may truly live according to the spirit of St. Francis
    and our Capuchin customs. We live in a world that no longer understands religious life and
    the necessity of consecrated souls to pray and sacrifice for the conversion and salvation of
    sinners, for our country, for our world, and for the triumph of the Holy Catholic Church
    against her enemies within and without. We rely solely upon Divine Providence and the
    generosity of the faithful in order to live. We thank all of you for your generous support,
    and we assure you that we carry each and every one of you, with all of your intentions, in
    all of our prayers and sacrifices. In every Mass and at every holy Communion and, since
    we have a special claim on the Heart of Our Lord, we trust in Him with great confidence to
    repay you all the promised hundred-fold in this life and in eternity.

    May God bless you, and may Our Lady keep you close to her Immaculate Heart!

    The Capuchin Sisters of St. Joseph

    • Before the snowfall, the Sisters work to clear an area for Our Lady’s spring grotto.
    • Our first attempt at refurbishing an old table
    • We quickly discovered it was an outdoor job….
    • When power tools failed, we discovered it was a two person job!
    • One of our Capuchin customs is to kneel for collations during Advent.
    • The Sisters are learning many trades, including electrical work.

  • Sanctity is Within the Reach of All…

    Dear Family, Friends, and Benefactors,


    Pax et Bonum!  We pray you are all well and in the peace of Our Lord, Jesus Christ. Our community life here in Burlington continues on peacefully and quietly, as we are at long last able to follow the daily horarium of a Capuchin Sister. We have frequently been asked if life according to a schedule, day in and day out, is monotonous and…well…boring?  We laugh heartily at this idea, as we count ourselves among the most blessed in this world to have all of our daily acts blessed by the virtue and act of religious obedience. With each sound of the bell, we hear the voice of our beloved Spouse reminding us of His presence and calling us to His loving service. We live in the constant peace of knowing that if we simply keep our Rule faithfully, it will keep us unto eternal life.  Our seraphic father, St. Francis, left this testament at the end of the Rule:

    “And whoever observes these things, may he be blessed in heaven with the blessing of the Most High Father, and on earth with the blessing of His Beloved Son with the Most Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, and all the powers of heaven and with all the saints. And, as far as I can, I, little brother Francis, your servant, confirm for you, both within and without, this holy blessing. ” 


    We live each day in the presence of God, ever longing after and aspiring towards that which is the only purpose for the short breath of this life: eternal happiness with God in heaven. It is our fervent prayer that each of you, most of whom must work and live amidst the chaos of a world that falls daily further into apostasy, may find this same joy. It is attainable for each and all, and in every situation. Many of the greatest saints lived in the world. Two excellent examples from the Third Order of St. Francis come to mind. On August 23rd, we celebrated the feast of Queen Blanche. Despite the numerous duties incumbent upon her as the Queen of France, and though she was surrounded by luxury, she practiced a life of prayer, penance, and love for the poor. She reared her son, the future King, St. Louis IX of France, whose feast is celebrated two days after hers, to prefer death rather than to ever commit a deliberate sin. Her example and solicitousness for his eternal salvation gave to the world a great saint, who would become the patron of the Third Order of St. Francis, to which both he and his mother belonged. Truly, in this example, it is made manifest that a form of religious life can be lived even amidst the busy occupations of the world and that sanctity is within the reach of all.


    In close, we wish to thank all who continue to help us raise the money needed for a permanent convent. Our first aspirant will arrive sometime in September, and others hope to follow her, so we continue to beg the charity of your prayers that Divine Providence will provide for those who long so ardently to consecrate their lives to Him. Be assured of our continued prayers for all of your intentions, and please pray for us!


    In the Hearts of Jesus and Mary,
    Your Capuchin Sisters of St. Joseph

    NB:  Tax deductible donations can be made by following the donate link on our website. God bless you!

    Sister Seamstress stays very busy these days with sewing and mending tasks.

    Thanks be to God for our sisters, the hens, who provide Sister Cook with an abundance of eggs.