Abbey News
Sunday, November 2, 2008
All Souls Day
Yesterday we joyfully celebrated All Saints Day. Having done all our baking the day before we were able to celebrate it as a full solemnity. Today we are commemorating all of our departed brothers and sisters with the liturgy of All Souls Day displacing that of Sunday. In praying for all the deceased special attention is paid to our own departed including the blessing of their graves at the end of Mass. You'll find a list of those of who have gone on ahead of us to better things on our Deceased Page.
More Welcome Guests
This past week we were happy to have Fr. Bernard and Br. Juan Maria of the Friars of the Renewal making their retreat with us. The new editor of Cistercian Studies Quarterly, Fr. Mark Scott of Gethsemani, was with us too learning the ins and outs of editing from Fr. John Eudes whose term as editor ended with the recent Regional Meeting. They spent many hours going over the complex editing and publishing computer programs and Fr. Mark was seen departing with a car load of editing paraphernalia. We are all grateful to Fr. John Eudes for taking so much time out of his hermitage to accept the request to edit the journal this past year and we look forward to Fr. Mark's editorial expertise in the issues to come.
 Weston Appreciation Day
People often wonder how Monks' Bread comes to them in the various stores in our area. We, of course, bake the bread but we do not distribute it to stores. For that highly complex and specialized work we are dependent on local distributors.
During the past few years we have been in partnership with a large distribution firm, George Weston Bakeries, Inc. It is to them that we wholesale the bread and they distribute it throughout their territory.
As a community we appreciate very much all they do to help our little industry succeed making it possible for us to support ourselves by the labor of our own hands as St. Benedict bids us do. Rather than keep our appreciation the best  kept secret in town we decided to show it by celebrating a Weston Appreciation Day here last week.
All of the local distributors were invited for a tour of the monastery and bakery followed by a meeting with our Business Manager, Kevin Baker, our Abbot, Fr. John and members of the Bakery Committee. During the course of the meeting our DVD on monastic life was shown and gift boxes were presented to each of the 47 participants in token of our appreciation. The event concluded with lunch at the Yard of Ale in Piffard for all the participants.
Pictured here is Br. David pointing out the workings of the bread depanner to part of the group.
Enhanced On-Line Bakery Store
At long last we are able to offer you our enlarged on-line store in time for Thanksgiving and Christmas. In addition to offering a variety of jams, candies and several new gift items we are including our brand new 20 grain bread fast growing in popularity. Our 20 grain loaf has 4 seeds, is high in fiber, low in calories and carbs and
rich in flax seed. We have chosen grains from around the world, including the
ancient grains emmer, teff, quinoa, amaranth, spelt and millet. As with each of our breads it has zero trans fat and is cholesterol free. Be sure to visit our new store at Monks'Bread.com.
If you are wondering just how we go about baking Monks' Bread you might be interested in taking a virtual tour of our bakery at Bakery Tour. |
