Fcc And The Carmelites...

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

So, as some of you read on the thread Lil'Mon started, I was blessed to visit the Carmelite Monastery I have been discerning with for about the past 6 months. Here is what happened:

So, we got there a bit early for Mass, and so we waited around, and then we went into the Chapel and sat down in the back. The Chapel was pretty simple, not the most ornate, but they decorated it very nicely with icons and the like. One of the first things I noticed was that the tabernacle was in the center. I love that!! I wondered where the nuns where going to sit. My mom told me to go sit closer to the front. I went closer to the front and on the right side of the altar, I saw a transept that was separated from the rest of the chapel by the grille. In that transept there were the nuns. I was amazed. So, Mass was nice, it just a nice Mass, there was music, the nuns sang, etc. My friend who is basically interviewing convents at this point (she is past old enough to enter, and she knows she's called to the religious life, but she's trying to find the convent that's right for her) got there during the Homily because she was running late.

Anywho, after Mass we walked slowly over the Monastery entrance, we went in and directly in front of us was this door about 12 feet away, and to our left there was the bathroom and a gift shop (we went to the gift shop after the visit with Sister), and to our right there was a set of double doors. Right beside the original door we saw when we came in, there was a door and and a window kind of thing and a table with some pamphlets and prayer cards. Everything was wood paneled, it was gorgeous. So, that part that we had seen was the place where people are allowed to go about doing whatever business they might like. By the window and the table, there was a buzzer thing, so we called in and Sister (who is the Novice Mistress) told us she was coming. She opened the window thing only for us to see her behind a grille and she passed us the keys to the room with the double doors that was to our right as we came in. She marveled at my age and was very confused that I was only 13, she was very surprised! [img]https://s-static.ak.facebook.com/images/blank.gif[/img]

She met us the room with the double doors which turned out to be the grille parlor. We sat down on our side of the grille and she sat down in hers, and so begins a two hour talk session. Sister had a great sense of humor, she was hilarious! And all my questions I had brought were answered, and my friend asked questions of course as well. This is when I found out how perfect this place was for me. There are only 8 sisters and she said for herself that they need vocations, but God will send them when He is ready (as she looked lovingly at me). I learned how flexible this convent is about leaving for an ill family member or family death or any extraordinary situation, you can pretty much do anything like that as long as you get the permission. Now, the three normal instances that they would leave the enclosure are going to the doctor, the dentist, or to vote. And when a sister has a doctor's appointment, she is usually sent with a grocery list and goes to the store as well. [img]https://s-static.ak.facebook.com/images/blank.gif[/img] These of course don't happen every day, so they are in the convent for the vast majority of their lives and they are cloistered and everything, which is everything I wanted.

They are really a middle of the road convent, and I absolutely love it. It was an amazing experience, and I had the best day ever. I can't wait to go back!!! [img]https://s-static.ak.facebook.com/images/blank.gif[/img] I am planning on contacting several other orders as well so that I can continue the discernment process. This was truly something wonderful for me.

Pray for me!
FCC

[Lil'Monster]

prayers!

[marigold]

She sounds great! I'm so happy it was a good experience. Will be glad to hear developments if/when they come...

[Strictlyinkblot]

All sounds wonderful. What does your friend think of them? Would she consider discerning with them?

[Jennifer]

[i]What a wonderful visit for you and your friend. My prayers are for you both.[/i]

[Immanuel]

Wonderful! you have all my prayers.

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

[quote name='Strictlyinkblot' timestamp='1327657371' post='2376094']
All sounds wonderful. What does your friend think of them? Would she consider discerning with them?
[/quote]
It was not what she is looking for. She is looking for a convent where they do the 1 weeks cycle of the Hours in Latin, and this one chants the four week cycle in English. The only thing I was disappointed about is the lack of Latin in the Mass, but it was a very nice N.O. Mass, I have to say. But the English in the Mass could easily change with a bold young nun to do the job. Anywho, my friend is more in the Benedictine/Dominican family where I am more in the Carmelite/PC family.

[i<3LSOP]

I'm so overjoyed for you Claire!

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

[quote name='i<3LSOP' timestamp='1327677670' post='2376135']
I'm so overjoyed for you Claire!
[/quote]
Thanks! Me too... :D I am so happy.

[InPersonaChriste]

It sounds wonderful Claire!

[Lisa]

Praised be Jesus Christ! He is sooo good, isn't He?

[FutureCarmeliteClaire]

[quote name='Lisa' timestamp='1327686119' post='2376216']
Praised be Jesus Christ! He is sooo good, isn't He?
[/quote]
OH YES!!

[the171]

YAYYYYY

[Chiquitunga]

[quote name='FutureCarmeliteClaire' timestamp='1327677267' post='2376132']
It was not what she is looking for. She is looking for a convent where they do the 1 weeks cycle of the Hours in Latin, and this one chants the four week cycle in English.[/quote]

That would be the Tridentine/Extraordinary (not sure if that's the right wording here) form of the Office, if I'm not mistaken - [url="http://www.baroniuspress.com/forthcoming_titles.php?wid=12"]Breviarium Romanum[/url] <-- one with English translation set to be released soon. So that will narrow down her search quite a bit .. in other words a community with the Extraordinary Form of Mass (the Office goes along with the Mass). Of course whatever God wants, not our personal preferences, though He can work through our desires

Congrats on your first visit to Carmel!!!

[berenike]

[i]the 1 weeks cycle of the Hours in Latin, [/i]



[quote name='Chiquitunga' timestamp='1327723639' post='2376453']
That would be the Tridentine/Extraordinary (not sure if that's the right wording here) form of the Office, if I'm not mistaken - [url="http://www.baroniuspress.com/forthcoming_titles.php?wid=12"]Breviarium Romanum[/url] <-- one with English translation set to be released soon. So that will narrow down her search quite a bit .. in other words a community with the Extraordinary Form of Mass (the Office goes along with the Mass).

[/quote]

Don't confuse language and rite or "form" of rite! The "ordinary" way of saying the Ordinary Form should really be Latin (cf. e.g. [i]Sacrosanctum Concilium[/i], the constitution of the Second Vatican Council on the liturgy). Equally, the Extraordinary Form would still be the Extraordinary Form even if it were celebrated in a vernacular translation - Slovenian or whatever.

Many congregations used to recite the Little Office of Our Lady, or some other form of prayer other than the Roman Breviary. I remember reading about the founding of a congregation of sisters in Canada who wanted to say the Breviary itself, as opposed to the Little Office used by the other congregations - they were quite puzzled when they first came across the first and second vespers of a feast, and wondered whether they were said straight after one another

Most of those congregations now use the Liturgy of the Hours, whether the "full" version, or the one without the Office of Readings, in the vernacular. Likewise, most new non-contemplative communities. The LH has a four week cycle of psalms. The Salesian sisters in my parish, for example, use the LH without the office of readings (the one-volume edition), the [url="http://www.sistersop.com/"]Dominicans of the Immaculate Conception[/url], at least in Poland, say the whole thing (iIrc).


The monastic office (offices, because e.g. the Carthusians had a different one from the Benedictines) and the Roman Breviary, before the Big Rearragement, both went through the entire psalter in one week, but with a different arrangement of psalms.

The "new" monastic office as worked out by the Benedictines, has [s]three (I think) arrangements of the psalter; a one week cycle, a fortnightly cycle, and a monthly one[/s]. Something along those lines. [b]Looks more like four; two weekly ones, and two fortnightly ones.[/b]


In Poland I have the impression that most contemplative communities have switched to the two-week psalter. Some use Latin, some use Polish. The Carthusians still have [url="http://chartreux.org/fr/textes/textes-liturgiques.php"]the weekly one[/url], as do the Solesmes Benedictines at least, but I think the OCart have stuck to their own arrangement of the psalms through the week (not sure). There is one Cistercian monastery in Germany that has gone back to its pre-Great-Rearrangement liturgy. The [url="http://monastere-la-consolation.org/wordpress/"]Petites Soeurs de la Consolation [/url]use the new monastic office, but with the old Latin translation of the psalms (the old Vulgate, not the new one), and have the Ordinary Form of the Mass in Latin, facing East. The Benedictines at [url="http://www.benedictinenuns.org.uk/"]Hendred[/url] and [url="http://www.minsterabbeynuns.org/"]Minster[/url] use some combination of Latin and English in the modern monastic office, though I don't know which psalter they use. Etc.

Oh, and a friend of mine visited some Poor Clares somewhere in the German-speaking world that use one of the new forms of the divine office (don't know which one) bit have Mass in the EF. I don't know how they square the difference in calendars, but there you go, just to top off the madness!

Hope this helps .

[url="http://www.kellerbook.com/SCHEMA~1.HTM"]Lots of psalter schemes[/url].

Edited January 28, 2012 by berenike