A Cloistered Christmas

Like many, we've been receiving greetings wishing us a Merry Christmas. These welcome cards and letters have updated us on the lives of family and friends, and have given us a deeper sense of connection to others who are celebrating the birth of Our Lord.

People 'out in the world' are not the only ones who offer Christmas updates. Click on the following lines to see what some of our monastic friends are up to during this holy, joyful time of year!

On Christmas eve, our Passionist friends in Kentucky shared a newsy Christmas letter.

Poor Clare Nuns of Perpetual Adoration wrote a beautiful article about 'wonder.'

Carmelite Monks of Wyoming had an Advent newsletter.
 
The Sisters of Toledo Visitation have shared some really fun photos on their Facebook page (here)!

The Benedictine Monks of Silverstream Priory published their Christmasstide schedule (their Vultus Christi website is a thing of beauty in itself)

The nuns at Tyringham Visitation gave us a "tour of (a miniature) Bethlehem!" 

And the Poor Clare Colettine Nuns in Cleveland offer a fun Facebook greeting.

And Give Him Thanks

'In all created things discern the providence 

and wisdom of God, and in all things give Him thanks.'

St. Teresa of Avila

Painting of Thanksgiving: Norman Rockwell
Painting of monks: Konstantin Stoitzner

A Thank You Note

Some years ago, I wrote the words below to a community of cloistered nuns. I was writing in thanksgiving for the Sisters' apostolate that had, over a number of years, been a steady beacon of God's love in my life.

Someone brought this letter to my attention again today, and it occurred to me: 

there may be someone in a cloister reading this very post. There might also be active Religious, or priests, whose entire lives are being used for the glory of God and the service of His people. If you happen to be one of those, I want to thank YOU for your prayer, your service, your constant witness to the love of Christ.

You will probably never know, this side of Heaven, how many lives you touch.
 
'It is good to be able to share with one another our commitment to God's will. My vocation as a laywoman committed to living Jesus in the world is strengthened by your vocation to live Jesus in the cloister. And this is the way it's supposed to work, of course. For in the body of Christ, some are hands, some are feet....'

Thank you.

Painting by Fra Angelico

TheCloisteredHeart.org

Who Needs It?

"'I'm not a monk,' you might say. 'I have a wife and children. I have to take care of  my household.'  But this is what ruins everything - your thinking that only monks need to read the divine Scriptures. You need it much more than they do. Those who live in the world and are wounded every day have the most need of medicines."

      St. John Chrysostom

Blessings of Your Holy Temple

'Blessed is he whom You choose to call to dwell in Your courts -

we are filled with the blessings of Your house, of Your holy temple.'

Psalm 65:5

Paintings in US public domain; right click on images for more information

Sing in the Secret Recesses

"O My dove in the clefts of the rock,
in the secret recesses of the cliff,
Let Me see you,
let Me hear your voice,
For your voice is sweet,
and you are lovely...."

Song of Songs 2:14









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public domain photo


To continue this 'retreat,' click this line

The Monastery Chapel

What is the absolute center of a monastery?  

The chapel.  The Tabernacle.  The Blessed Sacrament.

Why?  Because Jesus Christ is the absolute Center of monastic life.  It is as simple and profound as that.  Without Him, there really is no point to either spiritual or physical monasticism.

Mass itself is the center of the monastic day.  Other prayers prepare for, revolve around, highlight and underscore the Mass.  This is because "the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life...  In brief, the Eucharist is the sum and summary of our faith."  (Catechism of the Catholic Church 1324 and 1327

Before the great Wonder of the Eucharist, of Jesus with us in Flesh and Blood, I am speechless.  So I look to ones more eloquent than I as I pass along these words: 

"Do you realize that Jesus is there in the tabernacle expressly for you, for you alone?  He burns with the desire to come into your heart."  (St. Therese of Lisieux)

"Since Christ Himself has said 'this is My Body' - who shall dare to doubt that It is His Body?"  (St. Cyril of Jerusalem) 





"We must continually remind ourselves that the greatest need in the world today is to centre our lives more and more in the oblational aspect of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass; for today, when the whole world is galloping away from the very shadow of the Cross, we must embrace it and cling to it ever more firmly, in union with Jesus Christ...." (from The Living Pyx of Jesus by 'A Religious,' Pelligrini, 1941, p. 443) 

"As two pieces of wax fused together make one, so he who receives Holy Communion is so united with Christ that Christ is in him and he is in Christ."  (St. Cyril of Alexandria) 

"Although you feel tepid, approach with confidence; for the greater your infirmity, the more you stand in need of a Physician."  (St. Bonaventure)

Photo at top:  All Saints Sisters of the Poor, Cantonsville MD.  Photo © Connie Wells

To read about the chapel in our hearts, click this line

So, What do They DO all Day?

We have looked at some of the whys of monasticism, we've used analogies, we've considered ways in which the seed of monastic totality can grow in our lives.  We've even explored a couple of "monastic days" of our own.

As we do so, it is important to never lose sight of the real thing.  Life as lived by men or women who've left the world in order to more fully pray for it, men or women whose whole lives are spent in union with God. 

Today I came across something that captures, in a relatively brief nutshell, monastic life in the essence of its dailiness.  In spite of a few audio hiccups, when I found this video it was Love at First Sight.  From wake-up through Mass through meals through work through a joyful recreation through nightfall through the candlelit Salve Regina, I was delighted and intrigued.  I hope you are as well.

A hat tip to Connie Rossini for the lead toward this one.

Oh, and if you happen to know of Mystic Monk Coffee: why yes, these are those monks....


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The Sound of Eternity

'Song is the leap of mind in the eternal breaking out into sound.'

St. Thomas Aquinas

Painting:  Czigány, The Singing Monk


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