A “Normal Day in Carmel

[graciandelamadrededios]

We rise early, at least what is considered early for most people, at the “crack of dawn,” as the saying goes. Or as one of our postulants once said, “Before dawn has even thought about cracking!” All are awakened by the clappers (two flat pieces of wood tied to a wood handle) and the call chanted by the bell Sister for that week: “Praised be Jesus Christ and the Virgin Mary, His Mother! Come to prayer, Sisters, come to praise the Lord!”

The first thing we do upon rising is to kiss the floor, an act of adoration and thanksgiving to God and a silent prayer for His aid and direction as we begin the day. With no makeup, hair or what-to-wear decisions, we don’t need long to get dressed and be downstairs: a mere fifteen minutes. We assemble in the Choir for an hour of silent mental prayer.

The mornings are especially sacred to us. All is quiet, still, and peaceful. It is still the time of the Great Silence which began the night before, a time dedicated especially and most formally to silence with, for and in God. Charitably, the nuns do not disturb one another, unless in case of great need or emergency, during this sacred time of prayerful, quiet communion with God.

After an hour of mental prayer, we begin recitation (simply sung on one note) of the Divine Office – Lauds, Prime, and Terce, followed by a short break. After this 10-minute break, we return to the Choir the last of the “Little Hours,” Sext and None, finishing at about 7 O’clock. Mass begins at about 7:20, and Thanksgiving after Mass is about 15 minutes. Following a small, short breakfast taken alone, we go about our daily duties.

How short the morning hours seem with all that we have to pack into them! Of course, all the Sisters need to be clothed and fed, and the Monastery grounds and building to be taken care of. We all take turns cooking in the kitchen. Though we eat simply, it is no small feat to put on a meal for fourteen Sisters in the space of a few hours. Moreover, there is one Sister who “heads” the “kitchen department,” monitoring leftovers and food so that nothing goes to waste, ordering groceries, and keeping our refrigerators, freezers and pantry stocked. Each morning, the Sister Cook gets her instructions with a brief meeting with the Kitchen Sister. A special liturgical feast day might mean a simple but scrumptious dessert to fit into the dinner preparations.

The “sewing department” keeps three of our Sisters employed full time, and the rest of us schedule our days to help wherever and whenever we can.  Even if you can’t sew a straight seam, you can always hold a seam ripper!  Besides our Community habits, we make linens and vestments for the altar, as you already are familiar with.  Of course, we also have a Sister Sacristan, who does the regular washing and ironing of the linens, as well as repair work.
 
Then there is “the website department,” the small website business which has evolved and grown with the Community, and has helped us to support so many Sisters.  We will be honest – sometimes it feels like riding an unruly, runaway horse!  How much we have had to learn, and how much we honestly do not know about the internet and e-commerce.  St. Joseph is our website manager – of this we are convinced.  There are always emails from customers to be answered, orders to pull, package and ship, items to be ordered, inventory to be updated – all of the things you would, of course, expect with a small business.  The “rosary department” employs several Sisters all by itself, keeping track of the hundreds of small, different rosary components there are to choose from, tracking down high quality beads – and then the actual work of making the rosaries.  In fact, nine Sisters are involved, at least part time, in this last and most beautiful part of the “rosary department” – the skill of beading and bending wire for the love of God and Our Lady!

With so much yet to do, the bell for Vespers at 12:30 rings all too soon.  But leaving our work behind, we all gather once more in the Choir for the Divine Office, followed by the few vocal prayers which we say every day together as Carmelites, including the Litany of Loreto. 

After Vespers, dinner is taken in the refectory.  It is our main meal of the day, and it is customary to read from some spiritual book while the Sisters are eating.  Then comes our “favorite” part of the day – clean up!  We sometimes say we would save so much time if we could just eliminate the cooking, eating, and especially clean up part of our day – but the body has its demands as well as the soul!  We have a large kitchen, lots of kitchen counters and cabinets, and many dishes – but also many hands to make short work.  With the kitchen spic-and-span at last, we go to gather for recreation.

Recreation is a happy time, when we share news of the day, give Community and family updates, and have a good deal of sisterly teasing and laughter.  While we recreate, our hands are always busy, making rosaries, crocheting relic badges, sewing scapulars.  Our Sacristan frequently sets up an ironing board along the side of our work tables to tackle some of her pressing.  Occasionally during recreation, the sound of small clappers stops conversation, and all the Sisters pause for a brief moment of silence and Spiritual Communion.  Recreation ended, we all kneel on the floor for a silent Our Father and then take an hour of siesta.  If Sisters do not/cannot sleep at that time of the day, they may read, pray or work, but strict silence is observed nonetheless – almost like a mid-day Great Silence.
 

Oh, how many postulants are a bit skeptical at first about this period of rest in the afternoon, which comes directly from Our Holy Mother St. Teresa.  But after only a few days of rising “before dawn even thinks about cracking,” most do accept it quite readily!  Our Holy Mother was quite the psychologist and carefully experimented in her community to see just how much recreation, work, sleep etc., the Sisters needed.  She was concerned that they maintain a balanced life, physically, mentally, and emotionally, as well as spiritually.  St. Teresa was a wise mother, teacher and governor!

Siesta is followed by a half hour of spiritual reading, then Matins and Compline. The Divine Office for the day completed, we usually have a good part of an hour to squeeze in a bit more work, before we meet for another hour of mental prayer at 6:30.

Supper (called “collation” during the Carmelite fast, September 14th until Easter) is at 7:30, after which we meet for the Community’s second recreation (also prescribed by St. Teresa).

Following the evening recreation, we meet in the Choir one last time for our examination of conscience and the night blessing from the Prioress.  Three strikes of the bell announce the beginning of the Great Silence, and the Sisters go about getting ready for bed and closing up the Monastery for the night.  The bell for “lights out” rings at 10:45. 

And so ends a “normal” day at Carmel.  As we have said before, our active duties and tasks throughout the day are not all that different from those that people perform out in the world – sewing, cooking, cleaning, working:  But we “find Our Lord among the pots and pans,” as St. Teresa would say.  The progress of these works and activities, as well as the adventures they sometimes bring about, often are the topics that fill our recreation conversations – and our newsletter Community news.  What we do not often speak of are the more important hours we spend in prayer – mental prayer, the Divine Office, and of course Holy Mass.  Who but God alone shares this part of the “conversation” – and the work of the Holy Spirit?   In these grave times that the whole world is now experiencing, how urgent are the prayers, the intentions, we bring before Our Lord.  Our Holy Mother the Church, the upheaval in society, the struggles in every one of our families and personal lives: here we see how high are the stakes, and the real battles being waged.  And it is these intentions that carry over into our daily works, so they become not just tasks being accomplished, but meritorious acts of love and obedience.  For us as consecrated religious, the vows make each thing we do an act of worship if done with love – even something as apparently insignificant as washing a pot.  But we would encourage all to this practice.  How often have we spoken of daily duty and of the importance of making great use of the smallest and most trivial acts?  In these days, we cannot afford to waste any of the spiritual weapons in our arsenal!  We have shared with you these words before, but encourage you again to “divinize your day.”

 

Carmelite Monastery of the Sacred Hearts

8540 Kenosha Drive

Colorado Springs, CO

80908

 

*This Carmel is very traditional and I am not sure of their current status with Rome

 

[Nunsuch]

This Carmel is not in union with Rome. I'm not sure if it should be discussed on this Phorum.