Volume 3 Issue 3
Our Lady of the Mississippi Abbey
September 2002
Dubuque, Iowa
We = re in! August 13-14 were the Big Days when our candy machinery and inventory, and most of the furniture and equipment, were moved from the old candy house to the new. After several days of unpacking, cleaning, setting up, and praying, we were ready to roll.
Or, almost ready. In addition to the wear-and-tear of the moving process on precision machinery, we also have new arrangements and several new pieces of equipment, and not surprisingly, ran into snags which kept postponing the First Cooking Day.
First of all, we have new cookers for the caramel. They are far more efficient than the old cookers, and throw less heat and humidity into the air; they also are safer and physically easier to use. The candy is cooked in large open copper kettles, and after it is cooked, we move a hydraulic lift around the cooker and take the kettle out, wheel the lift into the pouring room, lift the kettle, and pour the boiling hot caramel. Well, when we tried to use our old lift on the new cookers, we found it would not fit. So we had to order a new lift.
Then, we have a wonderful A new @ corn syrup tank (actually we bought it used, but it looks new!). It can hold a whole truck-load of corn syrup, 6,000 gallons (almost 60,000 pounds), which pleases our corn syrup supplier immensely. The tank is so large it had to be put in the building before the roof went on. It has its very own room, just a bit larger than the tank, which will be kept at 100
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F so the corn syrup will flow quickly out of the tank. Sr Rebecca had cleaned and sanitized the tank, and taken a few hours to set up the spout. Just before the first shipment of corn syrup was scheduled to arrive, we realized there is no emergency valve. If the main valve of the tank malfunctioned, there would be nothing to stop 30 tons of corn syrup from flowing into the new candy house. So, apart came the pouring mechanism for more work.
Finally, on August 24, after several days of tinkering with the new cookers to work out further glitches, we cooked our first two batches of candy. The last week of August we spent adjusting the batch size to optimize our new cookers, and testing - and tinkering with! - all our other machinery. As we go to press, we expect to start full production on Labor Day.
The new candy house is simply beautiful, both inside and outside. We were anxious that it not mar the contemplative atmosphere of our monastery, but be designed to fit in with the natural beauty of its surroundings; and we believe it does that admirably. But even greater marvels are on the inside. It is spacious and full of light, which we hope will not only greatly facilitate our work, but also help our constant effort to keep God always in our hearts and minds.
Another wonderful feature of the new building is a geothermal heating and cooling system, which uses the constant 55
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temperature of the earth = s crust as the primary energy source. We sank over 30 wells 200' deep, each with a closed pipe circulating water down and back up. The water picks up the temperature of the earth, and then uses the same kind of heat-exchange process as a refrigerator does to convert this energy to heat or cool rooms. Not only is this a

much more environmentally sound method than using fossil fuels, but it is also much cheaper in the long run.
Although this has certainly been the most important outward event since we last wrote you, even externally our life has not been all candy. April was a month of extraordinary Encounters.
In 1977 the Vatican asked Benedictine and Cistercian monastics to establish a forum for dialoguing with monastics of other religions. Six years ago this Monastic Interreligous Dialogue
Board held a meeting at Gethsemani attended by the Christian members of the board and by a number of Hindu or Buddhist monastics, including the Dalai Lama. This April our Sr Kathy presented a paper at the second Gethsemani Encounter, which included lay as well as monastic participants. There were times of quiet meditation together, times of Buddhist chanting rituals, and various Catholic rites such as Benediction, and the group also participated in Gethsemani = s liturgy. Sr Kathy came home glowing with the experience of meeting people of other religions at such a deep and peaceful level. (More information is available at www.monasticdialog.com)
Two weeks later came another International Encounter, this one for Lay Cistercians, at our monastery in Conyers, GA. Several of us attended, to translate, moderate sessions, etc. Although there had been an international meeting 3 years ago in Chile, it was quite small and paved the way for this much larger meeting, which brought together 100 people from 4 continents - including a Norwegian woman from our Tautra sisters = Support Group! It is amazing to all of us to see what the Holy Spirit has been doing in our Order around the world in recent years, calling lay men and women to follow Christ more closely by a special association with Trappist monasteries and their tradition. We immediately sensed the common bond among all of us, of whatever language or nationality. One of the fruits of this Encounter was the establishment of ongoing communication among the groups, including a new website, www.cistercianfamily.org.
We are grateful to all of you, our larger A Cistercian family, @ for your help and encouragement.
On Saturday Oct 5 and Saturday Oct 12 from 2:30 to 4 PM we will open the new candy house to the public for tours. We very much hope you will be able to see it and rejoice and praise God with us.
On Sunday, August 18, we invited all who worked on our building and their families for an open house at our new candy house. What follows is taken from Mother Gail = s talk to the community at Chapter that morning.
When I was thinking of what to speak at in Chapter this morning, I said to myself, > Go to where your heart is: just maybe, that = s where grace is, too.
Well, my heart is in gratitude . I = m not alone in this, I know.
We look at our new candy house almost with disbelief: it is beautiful; it is functional (we hope!)

and it is adaptable B there = s room to move and grow.
This state of something like awe and gratitude is a very good place to be. It is a godly state in that we are close to the disposition most true in our relationship with God. As Jacob exclaimed: truly this is a holy place, the gate of heaven. His heart was opened by awe, and turned toward
God in gratitude. That is our reality also. Our hearts are opened by awe, and turned toward God in gratitude.
In one sense we might say that we have worked hard for this moment. It = s true: we have, all of us:
- worked for a long time in less than comfortable or even very safe conditions;
- then, worked very hard to raise the money to build it;
- then labored long and hard to plan and replan and re-re-plan.
But none of that earned us the right to this wonderful gift. It is pure gift.
Recently I read a story of a seminarian in Canada in a hospital ward. Another patient had had surgery and was groaning in a lot of pain all during the night. A nurse came in regularly to attend to him, and as she left he always said A thank you @ even in his agonizing pain. Finally, the nurse said, > Sir, this is my job; you don = t need to thank me.
= He replied, > Ma = am, it = s nobody = s job to take care of me. Nobody owes me that. I want to thank you!
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Sometimes we can act as though people owe us something. The reality is: no one owes us anything. In community you = ll find your relationships better if you respond with a certain awe and gratitude for any kindness or service done for you. Be quick to thank others, from a heart that truly sees the miracle of love and goodness around us.
Today we have the opportunity to personally thank the workers who come with their families. Let them know how grateful we are for their work.
On Tuesday of this week, we will thank our brothers of New Melleray for their many contributions, including the labor of making the new benches and coat hooks for our new candy house.
On October 2 we thank our benefactors: all who have given us the money for the new building.
We have so much to be grateful for! It is right to give thanks.