Visitors to our monastery have long admired the huge cross in front of our chapel — 100 feet of stainless steel, proclaiming to the world that Jesus Crucified is our very life. Recently, however, our giant cross has acquired a smaller — but no less striking! — companion. Joe Helming, our roofing contractor and good friend, has gifted us with a beautiful new High Polish Stainless Steel Cross to top our bell tower. It is a meticulously and lovingly crafted scale model of our chapel cross, and it is visible from both the cloistered and the public areas of the monastery.

To show Joe our gratitude for this gift, we had the idea of holding an informal blessing ceremony one afternoon. Our chaplain, Fr. Lou, and our faithful daily Mass server, Mike, readily agreed to hop into the lift with Joe and get an “up close and personal” view of the cross. From that vantage point, Father offered a blessing prayer, sprinkled the cross (and the roof, for good measure!) with holy water, and then returned to earth for a candle-lighting and a song in honor of St. Joseph.

We are so thankful to Joe for this lovely addition to our monastery — and to all those whose hard work and generosity have made this entire new roof possible! Once the whole Cherish the Flame project is completed, we plan to invite all our work crews and benefactors to a more official blessing of the roof, walkways, and new wing. Hopefully that day is not too far off … we are making plans to begin construction of the walkways this summer!

Click any picture below to enlarge and read captions!