St. Ann's

If you're visiting these days, you may see celebratory activities going on: we're thanking our nurses for their work and dedication, as part of National Nurses Week.
Join in with your thanks, too!

Sending thanks to Stuart Leitch for his relaxing, inspiring, and passionate performance for our residents this week. Bravo!

Our Carmelite Sisters rejoiced at this recent news:

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1HCdPNrqNB/

Thanks be to God for His great grace! Today our Holy Father Leo XIV signed in Rome the decree about the heroic virtues of Sr. Maria Theresia of the Most Holy Trinity and she can be called "Venerable"! In the Netherlands we celebreate today the Kings birthday and we rejoice about our Dutch Sister Venerable who can be a great example and intercesser for the country where she was born in 1897. Later she went as a missionary to America where she died and the American Pope confermed her heroic suffering in union with Jesus. Thank you, Lord!

Local and national entertainer - Jim Cruise, aka, Spoon Man - performed and thrilled residents this week.
Thanks for the show!

Happy and Blessed Easter!
The Carmelite Sisters send prayers and blessings to all staff, family members and friends of St. Ann's.

They also share words of peace from Pope Leo XIV, who used his first Easter address as pontiff to renew pleas for peace and dialogue, and to condemn violence.

“On this day of celebration, let us abandon every desire for conflict, domination and power, and implore the Lord to grant his peace to a world ravaged by wars and marked by a hatred and indifference that make us feel powerless in the face of evil,” Pope Leo said on Sunday to tens of thousands of faithful gathered in St. Peter’s Square.

He added that the “true strength that brings peace to humanity” fostered “respectful relationships at every level: among individuals, families, social groups, and nations.”

“We cannot continue to be indifferent,” he said. “And we cannot resign ourselves to evil.”

There is a sense of quiet and contemplation in the Chapel at St. Ann's today, as the Carmelite Sisters prepare for this afternoon's Good Friday service. The Sisters also share some Good Friday messaging from the Vatican, as the words apply to so many:

As Pope Leo XIV leads the Way of the Cross on Good Friday evening, Christians gathered at the Colosseum and spread across the globe will be led in spirit by the reflections of Fr. Francesco Patton, former Custos of the Holy Land, OFM.

At each of the fourteen stations of the Via Crucis, Fr. Patton’s words explore different aspects of Christian life in light of the Gospel readings and excerpts from the writings of St. Francis, as the Church marks 800 years since his death.

In his meditations, released by the Holy See Press Office earlier on Friday, Fr. Patton takes us along Jesus’ original path through the narrow streets of Jerusalem up to Golgotha for His crucifixion and burial.

“This route is not reserved for the devout or those seeking a quiet space for prayer,” he says in his introduction. “Rather, as in the time of Jesus, we find ourselves walking through a chaotic, distracting, and noisy environment, surrounded by people who share our faith in Him, but also by those who deride or insult Him. Such is the reality of our daily life.”

“The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life,” says Fr. Patton. “Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world”.

Family & friends of St. Ann's, we remind you the Carmelite Sisters will celebrate the Holy Thursday Mass at 4 p.m. today in the Chapel.

The Sisters also share one passage from the message Pope Leo XIV conveyed today, "Jesus’ journey reveals to us that the willingness to lose oneself, to empty oneself, is not an end in itself, but a condition for encounter and intimacy. Love is true only when it is unguarded; it requires little fuss, no ostentation, and gently cherishes weakness and vulnerability."

Friends,

Today, our Carmelite Sisters celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph, a patron of St. Ann's Home.

The Roman Catholic Church has always venerated St. Joseph, and St. Joseph’s feast day has been celebrated for over a thousand years. Numerous saints had special devotion to St. Joseph (including St. Thomas Aquinas, and Teresa of Avila) and St. Joseph was declared the Patron (from Latin, patris, meaning “father”, “protector”) of the Church in 1847; he is also the patron of fathers, families and the unborn.

If you happen to see the Sisters today, pass along your own special greeting to them. Or take a moment to pray for the Sisters on this special day:

O Good St. Joseph, we consecrate ourselves to you, that you may always be our Protector and Guide in the way of Salvation. Obtain for us a great purity of heart and a fervent love of the interior life. After your example may we do all our actions for the greater glory of God, in union with the Divine Heart of
Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. O Blessed St. Joseph, pray for us, that we may share in the peace and joy of your holy death.

FYI friends - we found a cellphone in the parking lot early Monday morning. If you feel it is yours, please check with the Receptionist during business hours. Thank you.

Our residents this week celebrated in Mardi Gras style then began a quiet spiritual journey into Lent on Ash Wednesday.
We hold our relatives and friends close to our hearts during this sacred season.