News From Nunsense

[Lil'Nun]

Initial experiences of enclosure and how the Sisters adapted to it would be wonderful. I am sure a lot of discerners wonder how they would feel about this and worry that they may not adapt well to it.
Good to see you online!

[Lil'Nun]

Initial experiences of enclosure and how the Sisters adapted to it would be wonderful. I am sure a lot of discerners wonder how they would feel about this and worry that they may not adapt well to it.
Good to see you online!

[maximillion]

Yes, reactions to Enclosure. I was used to striding about over the length and breadth of the Northumberland moors and our Enclosure grounds were [size=1]very small[size=3]! [/size][/size]However, by contrast the house was humongous and it took me an age to find my way round it! I was constantly 'lost' in the first few weeks!

[beatitude]

[quote name='maximillion' timestamp='1348766653' post='2487269']
Yes, reactions to Enclosure. I was used to striding about over the length and breadth of the Northumberland moors and our Enclosure grounds were [size=1]very small[size=3]! [/size][/size]However, by contrast the house was humongous and it took me an age to find my way round it! I was constantly 'lost' in the first few weeks!
[/quote]

Northumberland! I used to live in Settlingstones (I'll be very surprised and excited if you know it, as hardly anyone does) which is a little hamlet not far from Newbrough and about a six-mile walk from Haydon Bridge. i loved roaming those moors, especially around Sinderhope and Allendale. There's a lovely little church in Allendale Town. Sometimes I'd go further north. I also have fond memories of cheese and pickle baguettes in Corbridge. Sometimes I think about returning to live there again. I wasn't born or brought up there, but if I'm honest it feels more like home to me than the town I was born in.

/digression over

[VeniJesuAmorMi]

Praised be Jesus Christ! Now and forever.

I have followed your journey Nunsense for some time and this is very exciting. I am thankful that this has come to be for you, and I hope also, Lord willing, that this will be your home. It sounds wonderful so far and you must be so thrilled and thankful that this has turned out this way! I don't think I have any ideas for a website, but pictures are always great and anything that you could put on there about the life.

Please say a little prayer for me as I continue my discernment with Carmel.

[AccountDeleted]

I know I am always showing up and saying I don't have any time to post but I should be able to post more on Saturday since it is a Little Feast (that's the word this Carmel uses for 'holiday' basically). A Little Feast is usually in honour of some special Saints day and especially a Solemnity, so even though Saturday is only a Feast of the Archangels and not a Solemnity (here anyway), we give it the honour of a Little Feast day. What that means is that we do no remunerative work on that day, and no 'sweeps' (our word for a thorough clean and sweep of some area that we are assigned once a week). On a Little Feast we only do the necessities like preparing meals (poor cook), Sacristy (poor Sacristan - oh yeah, that includes me! ) and caring for elderly etc. Of course we still do the Office and we usually add a hymn or two to the Mass as well. So although Saturday is usually a major sweep day (we all do our cells and other areas like the choir or passageways etc) - this Saturday we get that time as free time and are asked to try to so a quick sweep on another day this week when we can. We also won't be doing altar bread distribution or greeting cards etc. The funny thing is that for some people, these special days are actually extra work. On our last Little Feast, the cook decided we were going to have a picnic at the table outside under the covered passageway, so that meant a lot of extra work for her, but for things like that we all pitch in and help and Mother lets us have Recreation during the meal, so we can talk to each other too - and we laugh a lot. The other person who works really hard is the Sacristan, because there is always extra work on Feasts and Solemnities. Last time I was here, I had to work in the kitchen and the Sacristy so I got no time off on these days! But it was nice to feel useful and needed too.

Sometimes what one sacrifices is more than made up for by what one gains. For example, on Sunday evenings we have Benediction, which means extra work for the Sacristry, but the privilege of being able to handle sacred things is such a grace. And since the Sacristan is going away for two days, I even get to clean the chalices and ciboriums when they come back into the Sacristy after Mass (yes, Father cleans them, but we do it again using hot water). And the first thing I have to check is that the Tabernacle key has come back through the Sacristy Turn with the chalice tray. And I get to prepare the chalices and ciborium again for Mass the next day. Until recently, Sister has reserved this task for herself, but this week she has been letting me do it in preparation for her absence. I don't blame her because the first time I prepared the chalice tray, I forgot to fill up the water cruet! She has been double checking everything for me and she gave me a checklist to use which really helps. There are just so many little details each day, depending on whether it is Feria, Memoria, Feast or Solemnity - and that doesn't take into account Mass for the Dead or other special ones! And on Saturday evening, Father joins us for Vespers and likes to incense the altar during the Magnificat, which means I have to do that on Saturday since Sister is away Friday and Saturday! And on Sunday there is a lot of extra work for Mass in the morning and then Vespers and Benediction in the evening so praise God that Sister will be back then and can assist her again.

We also lock up the foyer door after Mass (any guests then have to come through the main monastery door) and once when I was here last time, I found a piece of the host on the floor after Mass, so we had to call Father back to ask him what to do with it, and he consumed it and told us that is what we do if we find anything in future. It's kind of like being guardians of holy things.I just feel so blessed.

Tonight it was my job to lock up the chapel door after our last guest had left following Compline. Being alone in the chapel and seeing the vigil lamp glowing - too beautiful for words. So any free time I might lose because of this office, I am more than happy to do so. for those who have read In This House of Brede, you will remember how happy she was to have been put into the Sacristy to work, and it truly is an amazing place to work in the monastery. Sister Sacristan told me I am trying to take her job but I laughed and said that I was happy to be her assistant until she became Prioress (she is Sub Prioress now) and then I could inherit it from her!

So this short post turned out longer than I thought and I really must go. But I am taking note of your suggestions and will pass them all by Mother and see what we can do to incorporate your ideas. I know that one picture is worth a thousand words, but you have no idea how hard it is to get a good photo that is suitable for the website. There have been many lovely ones taken but some of them will have to be for our family photo album (so to speak) since they are lovely but hardly something we want to public to see! I am thinking that candid shots aren't going to work and that I will have take some posed shots of the sisters to get what I am looking for. You would laugh at some of the ones that have been taken but I doubt I would get permission to use them, so we just have to keep trying until we get something that reflects Carmel and the way this community lives out its charism.

Thank you for all your input and good wishes. Here is a photo that isn't a good enough quality for the website but I like it so I will try to take another one with better lighting.

[img]http://i860.photobucket.com/albums/ab166/nunsense/Website004.jpg[/img]

[ChristinaTherese]

Ah.... Your work in the Sacristy sounds [i]lovely[/i].

Edited September 29, 2012 by Christina Thérèse

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='Christina Thérèse' timestamp='1348896957' post='2487912']
Ah.... Your work in the Sacristy sounds [i]lovely[/i].
[/quote]


Agreed! It sounds just lovely, and you are so gracious not to be complaining about having to work extra on the 'holiday!'

As Mother Mary Francis would have said, your work consists in "seeing about the accessories for the Lord's next public appearance."

[AccountDeleted]

Well, I survived as temporary Sacristan while ours was away. She gets back home tonight and I told her I would be like a puppy dog waiting for its owner to return - so joyful.

Today was the hardest because in addition to preparing for the archangels Mass this morning, and Sunday Mass this afternoon with hymn boards in chapel and choir as well as all the usual trappings; this evening I had to light the candles in the ante-choir for the Salve Procession, prepare and light the thurible for Father, who likes to attend our Vespers on Saturday and Sunday (and he likes to incense the altar during the Magnificat). But as soon as I had done the thurible and put it through the Sacristy Turn, I then had to dash back down the corridor to the ante-choir again to light and hand out Salve candles for the nuns to carry in the procession, then grab my own candle and get into line to lead the procession (youngest in religious life go first), and once the Salve was over, go to each sister and collect her candles and holders and put them away before Vespers started (split second timing). Then as soon as Vespers was over and we had said the Veni Sanctus Spiritus before mental prayer was due to start; I then had to dash back to the Sacristy and wait for Father to leave so I could go into the outer Sacristy (where he vests and where the Turn is) to lock up and make sure the thurible was safe and not burning the place down!

By this time I was hot and flushed but so glad I had (by God's grace) survived, so instead of doing mental prayer in the choir, I took advantage of the pleasant weather (for a change - lately we have had a lot of rain) and went outside to pray on a bench under a tree. Mother lets us do this in the afternoon if the weather is nice. Finally I was able to slow down and just 'be' with God. I know that over time I will get used to what has to be done and when, and will be able to pray as I do the work, but today all the prayer was before and after all the work and I must have seemed like a real Martha - all fussed over so many things when only one thing matters. But I know that God was smiling at my efforts anyway and truth to tell, it was a lot of fun - once it was all over.

Tomorrow is a lot of work too because of Sunday Mass and then sung Vespers and Benediction in the evening (and we have a congregation who come to our Sunday Vespers just before Benediction), but I won't be working alone, I will be assisting the Sacristan again, so it will seem so much easier for me. I truly admire how hard the Sacristan works now. And for everyone else all seemed to be smooth and prayerful - which is as it should be. So if I had to get a little flushed to make things flow smoothly for the community, then its a very little thing to have to go through to know that I am contributing to them in some small way.

I might have some news coming up very soon but will save it til I have the go ahead from Mother. It won't be what you think probably but I like teasing anyway. More later.......

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

PRAYERS!!! I haven't been in VS for a while, but when I saw this I had to read it. God bless you.

[inperpetuity]

Your visit there, Nunsense sounds so grace-filled. I never realized the job of the sacristan can be so busy, wow. I always dreamed about being able to work in the sacristy. It really sounds as though you are fitting right in, all you need now is your postulant garb. Pictures are always good, even of the outside buildings, gardens, etc. and the public chapel, of course, and oh what about pets? lol. Praying that Our Lord continues to keep the light on your path and that His will is accomplished in you.

Edited September 29, 2012 by inperpetuity

[Chiquitunga]

Nunsense, so about the website, something I always love to see is when they give the history of their foundation and trace it back to St. Joseph's in Avila! Well, you don't have to give the specifics going back that far but it is always wonderful to read some of the history, like this part - [url="http://www.poorclarecolettines-cleveland.org/roots.htm"]Monastery Roots[/url] - of the PCCs in Cleveland's site. There are four parts which you get to through the thing on the bottom. I really love the forth page with the flow chart

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='Chiquitunga' timestamp='1348979958' post='2488336']
Nunsense, so about the website, something I always love to see is when they give the history of their foundation and trace it back to St. Joseph's in Avila! Well, you don't have to give the specifics going back that far but it is always wonderful to read some of the history, like this part - [url="http://www.poorclarecolettines-cleveland.org/roots.htm"]Monastery Roots[/url] - of the PCCs in Cleveland's site. There are four parts which you get to through the thing on the bottom. I really love the forth page with the flow chart
[/quote]

I was reading your post and my head was bobbing up and down, enthusiastically nodding. That is my favorite section of any PCC site, besides the Roswell one of course, which is 'the top.'

[VeniJesuAmorMi]

[quote name='nunsense' timestamp='1348949579' post='2488143']
I might have some news coming up very soon but will save it til I have the go ahead from Mother. It won't be what you think probably but I like teasing anyway. More later.......
[/quote]

It sounds exciting anyway! I hope all is well there. It must have been great being at the monastery for the feast of St. Therese, and our Holy Mother St. Teresa's feast day is coming soon also. Your time there just happened to be around so many beautiful feast days in Carmel. What a blessing.

[BarbTherese]

[size=5][sub]Thank you for the updates, nunsense - all looks good and that you are really fitting in happily. Following the thread and keeping you and your intentions in prayer.[/sub][/size]
[size=5][sub]Reading your posts - and then recalling the first time I read something about "What do nuns do all day?" and had a gigle at memories at what indeed nuns do get done in a day.[/sub][/size]