“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.
Read MoreThe Institute on Religious Life (IRL) recently rolled out a redesigned version of their website devoted to promotion of contemplative vocations, CloisteredLife.com.
Read MoreOn May 15, 2018, the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life issued Cor Orans, the long-awaited implementing instruction on Pope Francis' 2016 Apostolic Constitution Vultum Dei quaerere.
Read MoreThe cloistered life is very important in the world, even today, because cloistered nuns are meant to be signs pointing to the life of the world to come, to remind humanity that this present world is passing away and we are all meant to be journeying to the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Read MoreAfter four graced days of retreat (Nov. 17-20), the nuns of our community renewed their vows during the Holy Mass commemorating the Presentation of Mary in the Temple. As we renew our self-offering to God on this feast each year, we ask her intercession help us persevere in faithfulness as handmaids of the Lord and His work of redemption.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreWhat 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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