Some of our younger Sisters were out on a walk recently and were delighted to discover these little signs of an early spring. Perhaps nowhere in the world are crocuses so thoroughly appreciated as here at St. Joseph’s Monastery … the first yellow and purple blooms are always heralded with great excitement.
Read MoreSome months ago, a young woman named Madeline contacted us to ask if we’d be willing to do an interview for her new podcast, Consecrated. She shared about her love for the religious life and her eagerness to make this beautiful vocation better known and appreciated in the Church.
Read MoreAmong the most colorful “nun myths” are those that have to do with our lives of penance and self-denial. Popular imagination throughout the ages has painted a grim picture of the deprivations in store for any young woman unfortunate enough to find herself in a monastery.
Read MoreOver 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!
Read MoreMany a young woman who is feeling the call to religious life has struggled with the thought of giving up marriage and children. Very often she feels torn between a deep desire to belong to God and an equally deep desire to be a wife and mother. Can the two possibly be reconciled?
Read MoreWith the Christmas season coming around, worry about this “Nun Myth” may be on the mind of many parents and family members of cloistered religious. While most people are making plans to travel home for the holidays, the families of nuns know that they will always be missing one member around the table.
Read More“Sisters, you sounded like angels at Mass today. Do you need a music degree to enter here??”
“I don’t think I could be a nun… I can’t carry a tune in a bucket!”
“Is there a vocal audition as part of the application process?”
Perhaps the most pithy refutation comes from one of our Sisters shortly before she entered the monastery in the early 1960s. In response to the young man who told her “You’re too cute to be a nun,” she shot back, “Do you think God only deserves ugly ones??”
Read MoreWhile most people would not phrase it so bluntly, this assumption lies at the root of many critiques of contemplative life. After all, isn’t it like being on a “perpetual retreat,” detached from the cares of the world, dreamily unconcerned about anything but one’s own growth in holiness?
Read More“Are you sure you want to enter a monastery? You have so much to offer the Church and the world!”
“How could someone as beautiful and intelligent as yourself want to lock yourself away for life?”
“What a waste!”
This third “nun myth” is more than just a myth — it can actually be one of the Devil’s insidious ways of blocking a religious vocation! Like many other misconceptions, it seems quite reasonable at first glance: the religious life, especially the cloistered contemplative life, is a very high calling, and it would seem that only those who have reached a considerable degree of holiness should even be allowed to consider such a vocation.
Read More“I don’t know … you just don’t seem like the ‘nun type.’ You’re so outgoing! Isn’t it the quiet, shy, pious girls that usually enter a cloister?” This very common myth sounds at first like a “no-brainer.” It seems quite reasonable to assume that those who are called to a life of silence, solitude, and prayer would all be introverts.
Read MoreWe 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!
Read MoreOne of the special graces of our 8-day retreats is the chance to be more attentive to the little things, to the small and ordinary, yet beautiful and amazing, ways that God shows His love for us. One of the Sisters on our first retreat tried to capture this “retreat-vision” by taking a camera with her on one of her Sunday afternoon walks and snapping photos of the details that caught her attention.
Read MoreThe other day at recreation, several of us nuns were commenting to each other about how struck we’ve been, during this extraordinary time when Masses are cancelled throughout the world, by the core of our vocation as contemplative nuns.
Read MoreToday we share with you an interesting article on contemplative life by Br. Cyril Stola, OP.
Read MoreSo we are like the heart pumping life-blood throughout the Mystical Body of Christ. If this love is extinguished, if more vocations to contemplative life are not forthcoming, the life of the whole Church will experience immense loss. Contemplatives give public witness and powerful expression to the prayer of Christ, and the unceasing prayer of Mother Church all over the world.
Read MoreSr. Frances Marie was featured earlier this month in an issue of Our Sunday Visitor highlighting vocations. Read on for her thoughts on the surprising, joyful adventure of contemplative life!
Read MoreWe were recently blessed to have a seminarian on retreat here, and were touched when he shared a poem he wrote as he reflected upon the Passionist contemplative life. With his permission, we share those musings with you!
Read MoreSigns are all around us, communicating information and meaning. A monastery too, is a silent sign. I have witnessed over the years an amazing communication of the Holy Spirit that happens in the minds and hearts of people who drive onto this property, this holy ground.
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