A Closer Look at the HFW: Exercise Room
Now that the Holy Family Wing is becoming a part of daily life here at St. Joseph’s, we wanted to share with you a little more about the significance of these new community spaces - plus some “candid camera” shots of the different rooms in use!
To begin, let’s look at a section of the new wing that you might not expect to find in a monastery …
The Exercise Room
As human beings, we are body-soul composites, and we owe it to the Lord and to the community to keep both parts of our humanity healthy! Contrary to popular belief, nuns do not spend all day in chapel, but we do spend a lot of time in prayer. While prayer is certainly a spiritual “workout” at times, it typically doesn’t involve a lot of physical exercise. Many Sisters, especially those on the younger end of the community age spectrum, feel the need for some extra physical movement to keep their temples of the Spirit in good working order.
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?”
Formerly, our small supply of exercise equipment (a treadmill, some hand weights, a pair of ancient exercise bikes, etc.) was kept in a little room that also doubled as a storage closet. Besides its lack of space, the room had a single window that offered a less-than-inspiring view of the employee parking lot!
Thanks be to God, our new exercise room in the Holy Family Wing is much more spacious, has lots of windows looking out towards the lawn and woods, and — thanks to the generosity of one of our Sisters’ families — is well-stocked with new exercise equipment. It’s not uncommon now to see a Sister striding along on the elliptical (perhaps with a book or a Rosary in hand) or doing some resistance band exercises during her free time!
We are beyond grateful for this new space, and we trust that it will benefit the well-being of generations of Passionist Nuns to come. By staying in good physical health, after all, we will be better able live our vocation of prayer for the Church and the world!
“I will RUN in the way of Your commandments,
for You shall enlarge my heart!”
“ May the God of peace Himself make you perfectly holy,
and may you entirely,
SPIRIT, SOUL, AND BODY,
be preserved blameless
for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.”