Rejoice and Give Thanks

The past few days have been filled with many activities:  Community meetings, celebrations, and a festive meal.  The monks of Conception Abbey have many things for which we are thankful.

Below:  Abbot Gregory leads the community in a series of meetings and discussions.

Below:  Fr. Macario keeps his head warm with an interesting looking hat as he makes his way to the community meeting held in St. Gabriel Hall.

Below:  Br. Bernard walks over to St. Gabriel Hall on a day that was cool, but otherwise pleasant.

Below: Novice Eric and Fr. Sebastian visit outside during one of the break times.

Wednesday evening after Compline we had our “Gaudeamus” (Let us rejoice).  It is the social time dedicated to honoring our four jubilarians.  The novices, Br. David, and I organized the evening entertainment.  We had some friendly Jubilarian team competition.

The first game featured a PowerPoint presentation entitled, “Spot the Difference.”  Competitors were show two side by side seemingly identical pictures, except that the picture on the right was modified in one way or another.  The first person to ring the bell and identify the picture alteration earned one point for his team.

Can you “Spot the Difference” in the pictures below?

   

Below:  All Jubilarians, like Fr. Kenneth pictured here, were given paper crowns (Benedictine medals were printed over the Burger King logos)

The second part of the entertainment featured a quiz about information related to the four different Jubilarians.  Each table formed a team and could work on it together.

 

It was an evening of entertainment and thanksgiving for everyone!