Over the next few weeks, our Sisters will be taking turns making their annual 8-day personal retreats. Please keep “Marthas” and “Marys” alike in your prayers!
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We nuns hear many of the same misconceptions time and time again. More often than not, such “nun myths” are simply due to lack of knowledge; after all, for most people the world within the monastic enclosure seems just about as familiar and accessible as the surface of Mars!
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Few words are recorded of Christ during His Passion. Unjustly condemned, He does not speak out to defend Himself and argue His case. Mocked and abused, He does not return insult or protest the harsh treatment.
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Advent is undoubtedly a time for silence, even if the lived reality of the season is often far from this ideal. As the liturgy recounts for us the centuries of Israel's wait for the promised Messiah, we are invited to join the vigil. There is a sense of hush, of the silence and stillness of midnight while we long for the first blush of the "dawn from on high to break upon us" (Lk 1:78)
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From the early centuries of monasticism, 'ora et labora' (prayer and work) have been coupled together as representing a healthy balance in monastic life. Prayer is always primary, but prayer flows over into work. Work is love made visible.
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The primary "work" of a contemplative nun is prayer. This opus Dei, "work of God," as St. Benedict terms it in his Rule, takes many forms. Private prayer is the necessary complement to prayer in common. Times of deep immersion in God enable us to abide lovingly in His presence throughout the rest of the day, as we fulfill our daily tasks.
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What is the purpose of the cloistered vocation? What does it look like? What value do our hidden lives have for the Church and for the world? As implied by the adjective “contemplative”, cloistered contemplative nuns come to the cloister to enter into a contemplative prayer relationship with the Holy Trinity. This is our vocation in the Church.
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