I'm here today, absorbing the silence in the hallways that is as thick as jam and just as delicious.
As one might expect, it's very easy to spend time in this place, where life moves forward linearly, without the sense of attention deficit I usually experience in my normal, scattered day to day craziness.
The All Saints Sisters of the Poor are a wonderful group of women. As a priory, they are part of the Catholic church but retain complete financial independence, and run the priory as they see fit. With 13 Sisters, 2 cats, a visiting Weimaraner and a revolving door of guests, there is always something going on at the convent, and the Sisters carry it all with grace and dignity.
I often bring Linus (our dog) along with me, as most of the nuns are animal lovers and really enjoy seeing him. Things can get a little crazy when 2 or 3 Sisters, Linus, Gracie the Weimaraner and the cats are in a room together. The grace and dignity part I mentioned above goes out the window a bit when the Sisters are getting their party on.
This is one of my favorite places on earth and I always hate to leave. As for finding a time in my day to connect with my soul, it's a no brainer. Almost every moment of my day here reminds me that life is an internal journey.
Looks to me like they spend all their time CLEANING. Maybe that's why I never became a 'Sister of the Poor' nun.
ReplyDeleteSnort! Linus hates trying to walk in the hallways,it's like slip and slide. But the nuns ain't stupid. They've got two cleaning persons and a kitchen staff. All those alms, dontcha know.
DeleteI have visited this convent once and also visited the Georgian orthodox convent of St. Nina in Libertytown/New Windsor, MD area which is about 40 minutes from Catonsville. They shared many important similarities, such as level of orthodoxy and traditional things once expects of nuns are pretty much all there. All Saints Sisters of the Poor exudes a great level of calm and peace which reminds one of some of the late medieval priories/converts to be found in England and western europe today, very late medieval in spirit (this is excellent!). One of the differences I noticed is that the St. Nina appears to clean the monastery themselves and when needed they find lay people to do it for them (in fact I was one of those lay people!). St. Nina's also appears to have greater emphasis on the nuns themselves singing, whereas All Saints Sisters of the Poor seemed to have more silent lauds/vespers/low mass. Part of the reason for that differences may lie in the ages of the nuns, the average age of the St. Nina's is about 20 or 30 years younger than All Saints. However, i can testify that both respective groups of nuns do in fact have very beautiful voices, when all saints did sing an Alleleuia it was a brief moment of glory. Anyways, I am glad they exist and I hope they continue to be a beacon for authentic tradition within the Roman Catholic Church and help it move away from the post-vat II "novus ordo" modernism it has long been stuck in. Even with the low mass and low office of the All Saints, they do it in a way that is truly unique and profoundly spiritual, I feel certain that they WILL attract novices. However I think also that the level of involvement lay people often have in the Eastern Orthodox monasteries can be an advantage for them. I do not know why this difference exists, but the Roman Catholic Church needs to maintain a similar level of devotion and pilgrimage from lay people toward their monasteries so as to remain as spritually vibrant as possible. Ad multos annos to the All Saints sisters!
ReplyDeleteI have visited this convent once and also visited the Georgian orthodox convent of St. Nina in Libertytown/New Windsor, MD area which is about 40 minutes from Catonsville. They shared many important similarities, such as level of orthodoxy and traditional things once expects of nuns are pretty much all there. All Saints Sisters of the Poor exudes a great level of calm and peace which reminds one of some of the late medieval priories/converts to be found in England and western europe today, very late medieval in spirit (this is excellent!). One of the differences I noticed is that the St. Nina appears to clean the monastery themselves and when needed they find lay people to do it for them (in fact I was one of those lay people!). St. Nina's also appears to have greater emphasis on the nuns themselves singing, whereas All Saints Sisters of the Poor seemed to have more silent lauds/vespers/low mass. Part of the reason for that differences may lie in the ages of the nuns, the average age of the St. Nina's is about 20 or 30 years younger than All Saints. However, i can testify that both respective groups of nuns do in fact have very beautiful voices, when all saints did sing an Alleleuia it was a brief moment of glory. Anyways, I am glad they exist and I hope they continue to be a beacon for authentic tradition within the Roman Catholic Church and help it move away from the post-vat II "novus ordo" modernism it has long been stuck in. Even with the low mass and low office of the All Saints, they do it in a way that is truly unique and profoundly spiritual, I feel certain that they WILL attract novices. However I think also that the level of involvement lay people often have in the Eastern Orthodox monasteries can be an advantage for them. I do not know why this difference exists, but the Roman Catholic Church needs to maintain a similar level of devotion and pilgrimage from lay people toward their monasteries so as to remain as spritually vibrant as possible. Ad multos annos to the All Saints sisters!
ReplyDelete