Miserere mei, Deus, et a delicto meo munda me; quia tibi soli peccavi

Have mercy upon me, O God, and cleanse me from my sin, for against Thee alone have I sinned
(Antiphon from Lauds, Septuagesima Sunday)



Spring 2014
Benedictine Sisters of Clear Creek
All set for Lent
Adoramus te, Christe
Dear Family and Friends of the Clear Creek Sisters,

Septuagesima Sunday! This begins the season of Septuagesima in the
Traditional Latin calendar. The word Septuagesima means seventy.
There are seventy days until Easter. This is the preparatory time for the
penitential season of Lent. Recently we heard in a recorded homily
where a priest likened Septuagesima season to the yellow light at a traffic
intersection. When we approach a traffic signal and the light is yellow,
we know it is a time for caution, a time to prepare (to stop or go forward).
Septuagesima is the time to prepare for the more sober time of the liturgi-
cal year Lent a time of penance, renunciation of inordinate desires, a
time for reparation of our personal sins and that of the world. The num-
ber seventy recalls the seventy years when the Jews were exiled in cap-
tivity in Babylon.

Liturgically, the time of Septuagesima season and Lent represent the time
of exile. Since Original sin we have been exiled from Heaven. Until the
Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, Jesus Christ, became incarnate,
lived on earth (like us in every way except sin), suffered, died a cruel
death and rose triumphant, we were barred from eternal happiness in
Heaven. Thus, Holy Mother Church reminds us every year of our exile
by the observation of the seventy days until Easter.

It is for this reason that the color of violet is visible in the priests vest-
ments and the Tabernacle veil the color of penance.
The joyous sounds of the organ and the Gloria in Excel-
sis at Mass will no longer be heard except on certain
feast days. The Allelluia is suppressed until Easter.

These next thirty days are in preparation for Lent forty
days of penance to make reparation. Why forty? St.
Jerome tells us that the number forty symbolize the pun-
ishment and affliction. God punished the sinful world by
a flood that lasted forty days and forty nights. Moses
prayed and fasted for forty days to prepare to approach
God to receive the Ten Commandments. Israel wandered
forty years in the desert before arriving at the Promised
Land. Our Lord fasted forty days before His public min-
istry.

Visitors from France:
Dom Abbot Michel Jorrot and Dom Patrice Mihieu
Queen of Angels Priory, 8513 W. St. Marthas Lane,
Hulbert, OK 74441
(918) 772 2170
Stabat Mater
Since the fall of Adam, our first father, we are born with Original sin.
While Baptism wipes away Original sin, we are still left with concupis-
cence a tendency to give in to our inordinate passions and appetites.
By fasting and abstinence we train our weakened wills to resist our evil
inclinations and the temptations of the devil.

Holy Mother Church encourages us to fast. Fasting helps us to grow in
the virtue of Temperance. This particular virtue helps us to mortify our
appetite for three of the Deadly Sins, namely, the sins of gluttony, lust
and anger. Pope Benedict XIV said Observation of Lent is the very
badge of Christian warfare.

Ash Wednesday marks the actual beginning of Lent. Blessed ashes are
put on our head to remind us of our mortality. Our earthly existence is
simply a preparation for eternal life. We have to choose seriously
where we wish to spend our eternity. If we desire eternal happiness
with the angels and saints singing praises to God in unending joy, we
have to prepare ourselves here on earth. Jesus warned us, .unless
and with flowers; organ music is heard again. This is the time to re-
joice with our risen Savior who has opened the gates of Heaven to us.
We celebrate on earth while anticipating our life in Heaven.

We sincerely thank all of you who remain faithful to us in your
prayers, sacrifices and gifts. You and all your intentions are remem-
bered in our daily prayers and sacrifices. May your Lent be a most
fruitful one, leading you to the glory of Easter.

In Conspectu Angelorum,



Sister Annuntiata,
Prioress
you shall do penance, you shall all likewise per-
ish. (Luke 13:5).

So, we gladly spend this time of Septuagesima season
and Lent to mortify ourselves, to pray, to fast and to give
alms to be ready for the joy of Easter. The days after
Easter reflect our future glory with Christ for all eternity
in Heaven. Once again holy Mother Church puts the
words of the angels and saints the Alleluia back
into the liturgy. The altar is decked in white (or gold)