Remember Where You Belong

As part of our Salesian Spirituality class with Sr. B, we recently took a field trip to visit the Dominican Nuns of Summit, NJ. You might find this strange that a Sister would take us to visit another order, but it really was a great opportunity for us.  Some of us, myself included, didn't really look a lot of other orders during our discernment so our knowledge of other congregations' spirituality is very limited. The purpose of the trip was for us to interview the Sisters and then compare and contrast the differences between our Salesian charism and their Dominican charism.

It was very enlightening.  Going in Sr. B had prepped us a bit telling us that we would be sitting in a room with a wall in the middle and windows, the Dominicans would be one side and we would be on the other with the windows opened for interaction.  Other than than that all I knew about this particular cloister of Dominicans I learned from a five minute YouTube video we watched in class.

In my mind, cloistered nuns were quiet and super prayerful.  I figured they would be reserved and the conversation might be a little awkward just because of how reserved they were.  I was quickly proved wrong.  The Sisters came in and were super cheerful, one opening up the windows while another rolled in a cart with homemade hot chocolate and biscotti for us to snack on.  They were laughing and joking with each other and were super welcoming of us.  Sr. B and the Prioress (their Superior) exchanged little gifts and then we all sat down.  Each of us had prepared questions for them and after a round of introductions, we started asking. My first question was if they took some form of a vow of silence.  They don't and they were quick to inform us that although they have times during the day where they do observe silence, they never formally take a vow of silence and it's actually a very inaccurate stereotype of cloistered nuns.  Throughout the rest of the interview, I was surprised by several moments where I realized there were similarities to Salesians. Obviously, there were major differences as well because they're cloistered so their ministry is mostly contemplation and sharing the fruits of their contemplation through praying for others.  However, I noticed a joy the Sisters had that I have come to realize is present from doing God's will and living to serve Him.  They also had a real family like spirit.  After talking to them, it makes a lot of sense because unlike with the Salesians where we are moved from one house to another depending on ministry needs, once they enter the cloister that's their community for life.

The time for conversation passed very quickly and honestly I think I might have left with more questions than I came with, at the same time possessing a better idea of what cloistered life could be like.  We had already planned on staying for evening prayer, just participating on the public side of the chapel, but the Prioress invited us to join the Sisters in their side of the chapel.  It was a beautiful experience. The Sisters' chapel, instead of regular pews, has choir stalls since the Sisters sing the Divine Office. All of the choir stalls were made of very beautifully carved woodwork.

No worries though. I won't be jumping ship to enter the cloister. Before leaving on our field trip Sr. TK told each of us have fun but remember where we belong.  Coming back I told her the Dominicans were nice, but they just weren't the Salesians.

You can kind of see the wall and windows which were separating us during our visit. 

Convent Q & A

Thanks for your responses.  

Mrs. had a great question.  What exactly will I be doing over the next few years?  

Answer:  After finishing the school year out, I'll be coming back to 7th Heaven for another home visit.  After that, I'll return to the house I'm at now to help with the summer camp here. When camp is over we'll have a few weeks to get our stuff together and then my companions and I will head to a suburb of LA to start our year as postulants.  As postulants, we will be doing many of the same things we do here.  The classes however, will be a more direct preparation for the following two years of novitiate.  Around May/June 2017 we will all head home for a brief home visit before returning once again to New Jersey for summer camp.  When camp is over, this time we will head an hour north of where we are now to begin our first year in the novitiate.  During the two years as novices we will be taking college courses in theology so that at the end of the two years we receive a certificate in theology that allows us to teach theology courses or serve as a director of religious education.  Besides that our main ministry will be helping run a retreat center on the weekends.  As first year novices, we will be completing what is called our canonical year.  This means we will be cloistered for the year. Cloistered for us however is different than cloistered for other communities.  Although we won't be leaving the house for home visits or things like that, we will still be leaving the house to go teach religious education and attend college classes.  After spending a full calendar year in the novitiate, we will go home on a two week home visit. Upon return we will complete our novitiate taking more college classes and preparing for vows.  Then, God willing on August 5, 2019 we will be making our first vows. 

Convent Q & A

Hello?  Everybody still there?  I know it's been a while.  Like everywhere else, the convent becomes a very busy place during the Christmas season with parties, Christmas programs, and last minute things before going on a home visit.  Once I got back to 7th Heaven the busy pace kept up and I was too busy soaking up every second of it to take a moment and blog.  Now after an entirely too short, but much needed two weeks spent at home I'm back at the convent.   With the New Year, I'm hoping maybe I'll get a little bit more of a routine in the posting, but we'll see what happens.  One thing I've learned in the last 4 months of convent life is nothing is set in stone, ever.

Today's question comes from Page Turner: Do you watch TV? Do you go to bed super early?

Answers:  Yes we do watch TV.  Every night after recreation we congregate in our study and either watch or listen to the news while doing other work.   On weekends, periodically we'll watch a movie. If you consider 10 early, then yes I do go to bed early. Bed time sort of fluctuates depending on the person.  Personally I try to be in bed by 10, some of my companions on the other hand are usually cramming in last minute homework at that time.   Sr. TK leaves it up to us to a point because she told us we need to be able to handle that sort of thing for ourselves so that we are getting enough rest to be able to function during the day.


And with answering Page Turner's questions, I believe I have gotten to everybody's questions from the last Reader Poll.  Once again, I ask you what you would like to know about life here in the convent? (I know some people had some questions they asked while I was home, but I've managed to forget them so if you could post them in the comments that would be fantastic. :) )

Convent Q & A

Sorry for the delay in posting, life has been very busy around here.  After returning from Thanksgiving on Saturday we helped decorate the house for Christmas.  It was an all day process that included most of the residents of our house and about 20 of the high school students.  On the plus side the house looks great and very ready for Christmas. Then since we were gone for two and a half days I had homework and stuff to catch up on. 

Our next round of questions again comes from the Mrs.

Question: Do you regret not getting the Jesus Homeboy tattoo? (There's still time, if you do)
Answer: I can't say that I do. I'll keep in mind that there's still time.

Question: Is the food good?
Answer: Yes.  We have a nice Peruvian lady who comes during the week and cooks our food since everyone is so busy, and she does a very nice job.  On weekends we get to taste a little more variety because whoever is cooking generally cooks food from the culture she grew up in.  You can tell that my family doesn't necessarily stick to any particular culture when it comes to food since the two times I've cooked once we had Italian and the other time we had Mexican....

Question: What has been the most outstanding/memorable/fulfilling experience you've had to date?
Answer: This is a hard one. We have been very blessed in the three months we have been here because we've gotten to see the Pope, a Sister from the General Council visited to give a workshop, and the former Rector Major of the Salesians came for the day.  We've also been to Philadelphia, Indianapolis, and New York City.  So I can't pick one.  The top on there are Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular and the National Catholic Youth Conference.  The Spectacular was absolutely spectacular.  I'm pretty sure my mouth was open the entire time. Definitely put me in the Christmas mood.  National Catholic Youth Conference was very reassuring in the need for my vocation.  While there we got to see so many young people absolutely on fire with their faith and then to crown it all, they had adoration one night. 25,000 people dead silent as they adore Jesus.  Absolutely beautiful.  

On the Road Again

We're taking our show on the road again to help the vocations director at another event.  This time we're heading west to go to the National Catholic Youth Conference.  Three days surrounded by tens of thousands of teenagers hyped up by the Holy Spirit, it's going to be intense and totally awesome all at the same time.  Plus a true test of our relationships as aspirants since the trip begins and ends with driving 11 hours to get there.  

Before we head out though, I thought I'd answer the next couple of questions.  The next two come from the Mrs.

Question 1:  Is there a Sr. Mary Clarence in your convent?

Answer:  No, unfortunately there is not a Sr. Mary Clarence.  We do however have several Sr. Marys, Sr. Mary Ann, Sr. Maryann, Sr. Mary Louise, and Sr. Mary Bertha. (These are from all of our houses, not just the one I live in. I do live with one of the Sr. Marys and Sr. Mary Ann and down the hill are several more Sr. Marys and Sr. Mary Bertha.)

How often have you watched Sister Act (1 or 2) since being in NJ?

We haven't watched either of the Sister Acts at all since we've been here.  One night we watched a movie called Lillies of the Field which is movie about some Sisters who move to the U.S. from Germany.  It was pretty good.  Last weekend we watched The Sound of Music because one of my companions had never seen it.  Sad I know.  No worries she is now culturally in the loop. One of the Sisters found out I hadn't seen Troubles with Angels so that is on our to do list for Thanksgiving weekend.  Needless to say we do watch movies about nuns.  

Convent Q&A

I didn't realize I answered AL's question twice, sorry about that.  On to the next question. This question comes in from Anonymous: "What made you enter the convent."

Answer:  The short answer for this question would be to simply say God.  However it was a much more in depth process to get here.  God has a plan for each one of us and it is our job to discover what that is and then to live it out to the best of our ability.  I hadn't really put a lot of emphasis on allowing God to show me His plan for my life until I was at college.  At college I was surrounded by a lot of very devout young people and I opened myself up to listening to God.  During a retreat I felt God really nudging me towards religious life so I talked to the assistant spiritual director who just happened to be one of the Salesians.  She started accompanying me through the discernment process after that. A few months later, I had a very powerful moment in adoration and felt God calling me at that particular moment to leave college to enter the convent.  Although I was very happy at college and loved my life there, I knew that if I didn't follow what I was being called to I would never have peace.  When we are living the will of God we are filled with an inner peace from the Holy Spirit which helps us to become the best versions of ourselves and work for the glory of God. Entering the convent is me going into deeper discernment of my vocation and trying to find where it is that I may be filled with God's peace and therefore work all for His glory.

Convent Q & A

Next question on the list comes from AL "What other responsibilities do you have besides classes and prayers?"

Answer:  Our actual assigned tasks are called our "assistance."  These include being in the locker section of the high school in mornings to sell breakfast type snacks and be an adult presence, going to the cafeteria during lunch time to help organize the hot lunches, sell snacks, and wipe down tables, and go the the Provincial House for lunch time to eat with the elderly Sisters and then help with the heavier chores since many of them are no longer able to do things like mop or lift the larger dishes.

We also have chores around the house that are assigned on a weekly basis.  On Saturdays, the six aspirants take turns cleaning our study and classroom, cleaning the front entryway to the convent and helping one of the Sisters clean the chapel.  Each night after supper the whole community pitches in with kitchen clean up and each week we have different chores that range from sweeping and mopping the floor to putting away the leftovers.

The Sister who is in charge of the chapel is also taking one of us a month and teaching us the duties of sacristan.  This means we learn how to set up for Mass, clean the church linens, change out candles, and other general upkeep in the chapel.  The person who is the sacristan in training for the month has to be in chapel in plenty of time to make sure the lights and microphone are turned on and the candles are lit.

Each of us has a class or is a teacher's aide for CCD in parish programs near our house.  So each Sunday morning is spent teaching and attending mass with our students.  As an aide I don't have to do any planning and just show up each Sunday, but my companions who are the head teacher for a class spend a decent amount of time preparing their lessons for each week.

Beyond our assigned chores, at any given time we can be pulled from our study room to help with tasks around the house.  Our house is the largest in the Province so this means we often are hosting meetings, workshops and other gatherings of the Sisters.  After these are over, we help clean the rooms and get them ready for the next group.  The Sister in charge of the development of the Province has her office out of our house so when needed we help her get ready for different events and fundraisers.

Being involved in all the different types of ministries that are carried out by the Sisters we live with gives us exposure to the work we can be involved with after we take vows. It also keeps us very and active, giving us a sense of what life will be like as a Sister. The Salesians are contemplatives in action meaning we have our required prayer time but much of our life is spent out working with the young people.  This is not to say we aren't prayerful because as part of our formation process we are learning our work is a way to bring us to closer union with God by offering up all of our chores and duties to Him.

Convent Q & A

Question: What are your responsibilities besides classes and prayers?

Answer:  In writing, our other responsibilities include supervising the girls and selling the breakfast/snacks in the morning before school, handing out the high school lunches, selling snacks at lunch time, wiping down tables at lunch time, and helping clean up at the Provincial House after lunch.  We also have weekly assigned chores for after mealtimes and Saturday. These include things like washing dishes, setting up for breakfast, mopping, cleaning the classroom, cleaning the chapel, etc.  The six of us also teach CCD on Sundays at a couple local parishes. 

To be honest our other responsibilities are whatever the Sisters feel like having us do today.  Since our schedule is considered to be the most flexible in the whole house because we aren't specifically tied to classrooms or other jobs. We do anything from driving around some of the elderly Sisters to becoming moving crews for the Sister in charge of grounds keeping.  Everybody takes turns signing up to cook on Saturday and Sunday, so occasionally that is also something I do.