Sunday, August 15, 2010

My life as a Novice here in Ferdinand

I entered the novitiate on April 24. It was a beautiful ceremony that took place in the dining room here at the monastery. I stood in the enterance way while everyone went in and sat down. Then I had a brief dialouge with Sister Kristine Anne our prioress. She asked me what my intention was and I answered her by saying that I wanted to learn the monastic way of life and follow the Gospels every day of my life. Then I slowly entered the dining room. When I got to Sister Kristine Anne, I stopped and stood in front of her. My director, Sister Rose, was standing next to her. I was presented with my own copy of the Rule of Benedict and the documents of our federation. Then Sister Rose agreed to accompany me on this next step of formation. The community then blessed Sister Rose and I. My parents came into town for the ceremony which made it all the more special!

This summer has been very busy! I have been doing various tasks! I have worked in the kitchen, worked in housekeeping, worked in the infermary, the dining room, and the laundry! I also was on a directed retreat the week of July 9-16. The retreat was a silent retreat, and I had a director that I met with every day. She gave me scripture passages that I meditated on each day and then when we met, we talked about them. I also spent a lot of time out in nature drawing. This is a very meaningful way of prayer for me. After retreat, I felt very renewed and refreshed!

I will be starting classes soon here at the monastery. I will be continuing the class on the Rule of St. Benedict/Lectio Divina. I will also take Monastic History and a class on Monastic Profession. It will be fun for me to learn all of this new information. I am looking forward to every minute of it!

It is so hard to believe that come August 23, I will have been here for one year already! Where does time go? The only one who knows the answer to that is God, because it is God's time!

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