Emmaberry's Pcc Countdown

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='Chiara Francesco' timestamp='1351886580' post='2503082']
The kind PCs and Carmelites wear: brown, flat, not fancy, ankle strap, not overly expensive. I've looked at the sites at the Nun Trunk site and none of those really are what I'm looking for.


DRATS! Just realized I'm hijacking this thread! Sorry Emma! Got lost on a tangent with shopping! Maybe a new thread or resurrect an old one? Is there one? With no search feature we might need to start a new one.
[/quote]

CF, you are fine!! Don't worry about it. I'd love for people to be able to come to this thread if they need things before entering the PCs, or even Carmel or any other community!

[emmaberry101]

Sorry for the dp, I ran out of time to put this in my previous post!

Concerning The List, I just bought 6 white blouses/dress shirts at the most incredible price! I can wear a large boy's shirt, and they had some for $8 at Walmart.com with a tie included-my brother gets 6 new ties and I get all my shirts for under 50.

[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif][size=4][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]More about beautiful Sister Maria José's First Profession! Mother told me it was at 8:30, but that was months ago, so I put it in my reminder book as 9:30 since that is my local time equivalent, and over time I guess I began to think 9:30 was the original Roswell time of the ceremony! So silly on my part. Those time changes are dangerous if you lack common sense like me.. Anyway, we came in just before she pronounced her vows, so we made it for the best part! It was lovely speaking to her in the parlor as well. She is a beautiful girl, and the black veil only added to this, as it really suited her! I was surprised by how much older she looked with the black veil... it really changed her 'presence.' I assumed the white to black veil transition was just a color change, but it is amazing how much difference that black veil makes!

It was also really nice meeting Sister's family. She left UT 2 years in, and her dad told her, "Prove to me you have a vocation by finishing school." She left school and entered anyway. I am in almost the exact situation, so it was wonderful speaking with her mom and dad, who are very happy with her decision today. "She has proven it to me now," he said in reference to her profession. I thought that was beautiful!

If anyone is looking into the Poor Clares or another Franciscan community, I highly recommend Candle In Umbria, which is a play on Saint Clare by Mother Francis. It is only 25 pages long and gives a good beginner's foundation to what made St Francis and St Clare 'tick'-namely, Lady Poverty. I loved it, more than I thought I would! I am toying with the idea of uploading it.. I may upload one act as a teaser for those of you who may buy it from the Roswell Poor Clares. I also bought the Rule of Saint Clare on my visit, and it has the Constitutions Mother Francis wrote in the back. These are very good and I recommend reading these as well if you are looking into the PCs-especially since you will be studying it in the novitiate, do doubt!

Speaking of the play, I asked the Portress if they were doing a scene for the occasion, and she said that they don't do plays as much now that Mother Francis has gone to her reward, but that they did have a special program planned in Sister Maria José's honor. They are going to dance to a reading of one of Mother Francis' poems-and those poems are lovely. She said that their dancing is not modern or anything like that, but very classic. Much like the Benedictines of Mary saying that singing 'comes naturally because we are so close in the heart of Jesus,' Sister said that dancing is just a natural overflow of their contemplative life, and that it is much easier for a contemplative to dance because their mind is filled with God and not the hustle and bustle of the world. I told Sister that my mom was a ballerina in her day, and she remarked that the dancing was really brought about under Mother Francis because she had two dreams growing up: to be a ballerina or a brain surgeon. The irony! She said that Mother Francis was very graceful, and I told her that to us lay people/PCC enthusiasts they all seem graceful. She was pleased to hear that, with their bare feet, it often looks (to us) as if they are floating on air. [/background][/size][/font][/color]

[background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]It was also very really sweet how the Portress (and all the nuns) call the future postulant's family by their family titles, so they call my mom 'Mom' and so on. My mom loves this, though she says (hopefully jokingly!), "How sad for the nuns that [i]I[/i] am their mom!" [/background]

[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif][size=4][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]I can't imagine how beautiful the program was! I am sure it made Sister Maria José emotional to have them do that in her honor-she was so emotional during the ceremony..it was beautiful to see! Her voice was so passionate when she said the "Christ has set a seal upon my face that I should admit no other lover but Him." I am kicking myself that I did not record her saying that!! Also, please forgive me for the lack of pictures concerning the actual ceremony. The family was mostly blocking Sister (they deserved the best view in the house! ), but it also had to do with my tardiness. [/background][/size][/font][/color]

[color=#222222][font=Helvetica Neue', Arial, Verdana, sans-serif][size=4][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]I will not lie, I am aching to be back at the Monastery. Literally aching. I know it's silly, as hopefully I'll have my whole life to spend there, but it is so hard being back at home. I really hope these next months fly by, and I am sure they will with the holidays coming up. Luckily, we will be back at the Monastery soon (Mother was very gracious in letting me know that the custom of abstaining from parlor visits during Advent does not apply to future postulants) and my mom wants to get a picture of me in the full postulant garb for our Christmas card, so I will post that eventually. [/background][/size][/font][/color]

Edited November 3, 2012 by emmaberry101

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='emmaberry101' timestamp='1351907312' post='2503271']

[color=#222222][size=4][background=rgb(255, 255, 255)]I will not lie, I am aching to be back at the Monastery. Literally aching. I know it's silly, as hopefully I'll have my whole life to spend there, but it is so hard being back at home. I really hope these next months fly by, and I am sure they will with the holidays coming up. Luckily, we will be back at the Monastery soon (Mother was very gracious in letting me know that the custom of abstaining from parlor visits during Advent does not apply to future postulants) and my mom wants to get a picture of me in the full postulant garb for our Christmas card, so I will post that eventually. [/background][/size][/color]
[/quote]

I understand this feeling completely emma. I am so grateful to be here with my sister and we have a lot of fun together, but there is an ache inside as well, as if some part of me is missing. The longer I am away from the monastery, the harder it seems to get for me, even though it also means that the time is getting closer until I return. I think there is just some unacknowledged fear inside me that something might happen to make it impossible for me to go back, so I try not to think about it too much. I am still working on their website, and although this brings me closer to them, it also makes me feel a loss because I am not with them.

Your happiness is so evident. And I think about your Mom who must be going through so much herself, happy to see you happy, but also fearing the day when you actually enter and leave her. Love her a lot right now.

[emmaberry101]

[img]http://www.ofm.org/ofm/wp-content/gallery/2012/20120704_professioneClarisse/DSC_6465a.jpg[/img]

Just wanted to post this picture as Sister Maria José (the recently 1st professed in Roswell) looks remarkably similar to the nun pictured above.

[quote name='Chiquitunga' timestamp='1351899315' post='2503175']
^ replied to this [url="http://www.phatmass.com/phorum/topic/125049-alpargata-or-espadrille-sandals/#entry2503169"]here[/url] Of course, PCCs wear no sandals :j although they would outside. Have they asked you to buy some Emma? forgive me if they're on the list & I didn't see. I noticed in the Belleville videos that they seem to wear flip-flops outside. Do they do this in Roswell too? It definitely is being faithful to poverty!
[/quote]
Sorry Chiqui, I passed over this when I was reading through the footwear posts! No, the PCC list only includes canvas shoes, old running shoes, and flat sandals of a subdued color. I think the Sisters wear flip-flops or some type of sandals outside, as I have seen the Portress put on socks and then sandals over them (It's so cute!), but the postulants are living a mitigated form of the life and do not ever go barefoot, and so they are allowed to wear closed toed shoes for garden work. If there is a risk, the professed nuns might do this on occasion as well, but I am unsure!

[quote name='nunsense' timestamp='1351913690' post='2503317']
I understand this feeling completely emma. I am so grateful to be here with my sister and we have a lot of fun together, but there is an ache inside as well, as if some part of me is missing. The longer I am away from the monastery, the harder it seems to get for me, even though it also means that the time is getting closer until I return. I think there is just some unacknowledged fear inside me that something might happen to make it impossible for me to go back, so I try not to think about it too much. I am still working on their website, and although this brings me closer to them, it also makes me feel a loss because I am not with them.

Your happiness is so evident. And I think about your Mom who must be going through so much herself, happy to see you happy, but also fearing the day when you actually enter and leave her. Love her a lot right now.
[/quote]
Ah, nunsense. When you posted that you were coming back temporarily, I knew that you would miss your Sisters, but now that I feel this ache I can't imagine how yours must feel. Godspeed back to them! Best wishes on the website as well-those sites are hard work, as the novitiate Sister (1st professed) designed the new Roswell site and it was a lot for her. I am sure your Sister, and especially your Prioress, appreciate it very much. I can understand wanting to help your Sisters as much as you can while you are on the 'outside,' as I feel this very often as well!

Great advice concerning my mom nunsense-my family is really supportive (Mom always has been, the rest of the family has had a recent change of heart. Praise God!) My mom is so supportive, in fact, that sometimes I forget this is hard on her, and I get too candid with her, I am afraid, in talking about the Sisters or how much I miss the Monastery and cannot wait to enter. I will cherish her while I can.
[quote name='EmilyAnn' timestamp='1351729001' post='2501541']
I know the feeling. Mother Mistress taught at a university in the US before she entered. One of the juniors has a PHD! I remember in lessons I was just going "Woah, how do they know so much?" But then they all go through the novitiate lessons for years, in one of our classes even one of the recently solemn professed sisters was there because the course is so long she hadn't finished it yet. That sister never went to university, she entered at 19. There will be sisters from all kinds of backgrounds, some intellectual some not. I remember when I first met Mother Mistress she was telling me about the two juniors and how wonderfully different they are. I do also think contemplation breeds an atmosphere where learning is perhaps easier than in the outside world because your mind is less taken up with distractions. The structure of religious life may well make it easier to study. But I definitely don't think you have to be super smart to enter!
[/quote]

Emily, I wanted to get back to this great post! Please forgive me for the delay. Your community sounds brilliant, and I think you hit the nail on the head concerning the novitiate classes and their duration! Even if they didn't move at an intellectually stimulating pace, it would still feel quite 'over the head' of a newcomer, I would guess. I saw the (Solemn?) Profession pictures of one of your Sisters and she looked really smart, if that makes sense.




I'm going to try to start posting daily (more like whenever I think about it!) poems from Mother Francis.. Some of them are lovely and really emit the Franciscan spirit, and when you find something that is so beautiful you desire to share it with others! The poems are from her book [i]Summon Spirit's Cry[/i] published by Ignatius Press.

The Sisters tell me that they have boxes and boxes of all her unpublished works, and begged her to publish them all, but "Mother only published books when there was a need." I wish they would publish all the boxed work but can understand wanting to honor Mother's wishes. Perhaps I will get to read these unpublished works someday in the Monastery!


[center][size=4]A Short Walk around the World at Evening[/size][/center]

[center][i]The Lord is robed in majesty and glory, [/i][/center]
[center][i]His bride's resplendent in her poverty.[/i][/center]

[center]Forward, each step in step[/center]
[center](And His feet wounded),[/center]
[center]In measured love unmeasured[/center]
[center]Mark the miles[/center]
[center]Where trees reach to embrace the feminine clouds[/center]
[center]And scrivening birds write down that lyric-ed love[/center]
[center]In flourishes across wide tablet skies.[/center]

[center][i]The Lord is robed in majesty and glory, [/i][/center]
[center][i]His bride's resplendent in her poverty.[/i][/center]

[center]And farther, past the summer, gloaming, onward,[/center]
[center]Out and over the curve of the continents,[/center]
[center]Clearing with song through a path through oceans, gaining[/center]
[center]Speed on evening walk till steps are dance[/center]
[center]And flowers lift their heads in bright amaze[/center]

[center][i]The Lord is robed in majesty and glory, [/i][/center]
[center][i]His bride's resplendent in her poverty.[/i][/center]

[center]That was a pair to circle[/center]
[center](His hands wounded)[/center]
[center]The dwindled cosmos and to count its members[/center]
[center]One by one in careful love and tending,[/center]
[center]With each face known, with each cry heard and heeded.[/center]

[center][i]The Lord is robed in majesty and glory, [/i][/center]
[center][i]His bride's resplendent in her poverty.[/i][/center]

[center]Oh, small the world! Oh, dear to hold[/center]
[center]On a short walk around the world in the evening.[/center]

Edited November 3, 2012 by emmaberry101

[EmilyAnn]

[quote name='emmaberry101' timestamp='1351976389' post='2503576']
Emily, I wanted to get back to this great post! Please forgive me for the delay. Your community sounds brilliant, and I think you hit the nail on the head concerning the novitiate classes and their duration! Even if they didn't move at an intellectually stimulating pace, it would still feel quite 'over the head' of a newcomer, I would guess. I saw the (Solemn?) Profession pictures of one of your Sisters and she looked really smart, if that makes sense.[/quote]

The hardest part of novitiate classes was how out of the habit of note-taking I am. In college all my lecturers put the class slides online so my notes are fairly sparse a lot of the time. And then I type them later. Not so much an option in the abbey! The sisters teaching us would give us enough time to make notes but I was just so out of the habit my notes are more like scrawls. The actual subjects were all so fascinating. Even in three weeks I learnt loads. I'm sure Roswell will be the same.

The most recent Profession was Sister E, I posted some of the pictures here. She is [i]so [/i]sweet. I often worked with her in the garden. She was the sister who was still in one of our classes, I can't remember which one. She managed to ask some tricky questions that Mother Mistress couldn't answer. Sisters may be smart but even Mother Mistress can be stumped!

Edited November 3, 2012 by EmilyAnn

[emmaAntigonos]

[url="http://www.tevanaot.co.il/en/women/itemlist/category/95-sandals"]These [/url]are not the cheapest sandals I've ever seen,but I can tell you from personal experience that they are the most comfortable, and immensely long-wearing [becoming more comfortable the more they are worn]. I have several pairs which I've had for over 30 years and still look good. Scroll down and you'll see classic styles suitable for the convent among dressier items. Naot Teva sells in the US.

[Feankie]

I have several pairs of NAOT sandals and shoes and can second the fact that they wear like iron.
Very comfortable. very sturdy, and yes, a bit pricey. But....if you amortize them out, they more than pay for themselves considering you would most likely have to replace other sandals at least once if not twice.

[emmaberry101]

The NM told me during the monastic Advent they need cookies, so I thought it would be fun to make a Poor Clare shaped cookie cutter:
[img]https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-rIhVxRpbzew/UJcEasC6L6I/AAAAAAAAAes/bRu1MduNLj4/s160/actual%20cookie%20cutter.jpg[/img]

If anyone is curious, I printed out the image I wanted, and cut a soda can into strips to make the actual 'cutter.' Then just hot glue it to your image!


New post at the Barhamsville Fb/blog:
[size=2]
[size=4] It has been an eventful week at Bethlehem Monastery! Hurricane Sandy was due to arrive here on Tuesday, so we had all our array of battery operated hurricane lamps, flashlights and extension cords ready to keep our 21st century lives going should our electrical power be blown away. Thank God we do have a generator which gives us light and outlets in our hallways plus keeps our mechanical room and kitchens in operation. The rest is left to our ingenuity and experience of many power outages over the years since we moved to Mt. St. Francis. Since it looked as if Sandy was determined to disrupt that very significant, bi-monthly event in our feminine monastery known as “Washday”, my own ingenuity was working overtime. Delaying washday creates havoc in our domestic scheduling, so I had determined to take my life into my hands in order to save the situation.[/size][/size]
[size=2]
[size=4]When we rose at midnight for our usual prayers and office of Matins on Tuesday, the power was out. So afterwards, I went down to the laundry, and although most of the equipment had warning tags on their electrical cords threatening me with personal injury or death if I dared to attach an extension cord, I did so anyway. At least I was prudent enough to choose two older model washing machines that did not have the warning tags. But I could not help wondering if there was some intrinsic evil I was committing. However, by morning, (wonder of wonders!) the power had been restored and I could remove the forbidden extension cords. Not trusting in the permanency of the miracle, I washed everything (and dried it too) before our 9AM Mass.[/size][/size]
[size=2]
[size=4][img]http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/600_523019061059401_1763157482_a.jpg[/img][/size][/size]
[size=2]
[size=4]By Thursday we had lovely autumn weather to celebrate the great feast of All Saints. This was also the day set for our novice, Sister Marie Elise, to make her Sacred Promises and to receive the black veil of a professed Sister. She is a finally professed Sister from an active congregation, so instead of professing temporary vows, she simply promised to observe her vows according to our Holy Rule. She also made a vow of enclosure which is unique to our Poor Clare Order. The ceremony took place during Holy Mass and we were so happy that Sister Elise’s own blood sister, Mia, was able to attend. We love having another black veil among us! [img]http://photos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/545525_523019231059384_1106153780_a.jpg[/img][/size][/size]




[size=2]
[size=4]Friday, the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed, we visited our cemetery where three of our Sisters are buried. There we offered our Rosary and other prayers for the repose of their souls. The whole day was also one of prayer for the souls in Purgatory. Indeed, the entire month of November is dedicated to that intention. It is also the month when we begin our “monastic advent”, a preparation for the great Advent of the Church. In spirit we join with Mother Nature in her slow and glorious dying, and that waiting for new life which is the coming of the Lord. Most particularly we set our sights now on election day, praying that our new leaders will guide our nation and local governments on the path of life.[/size][/size]


Good to see that Sister made her profession on the same day as Sister Maria José in Roswell, and that the nuns are doing well post-Sandy!


New blog post and poem coming up shortly.

[emmaberry101]

New blog post: [url="http://entitledtopoverty.blogspot.com/"]http://entitledtopoverty.blogspot.com/[/url]


[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif][size=4]Dialogue

I am glad I thought of philosophers,
God said.
Their strenuous efforts swear in public confession
How my thoughts are not the thoughts of men.

Engineers to pan all stuff of earth
Are good
For witness of my ways' meandering
With casual mirth the sweat of all invention

Artists to keep my archives in good
Order,
Poets to epic major enterprises
Of mine, spread out my glory everlasting.

The whole arrangement I have made,
God said,
Has worth. I like that race of theologians
Turning my diamond, face by face, on men.

Only I wish someone would chance
Along
To marvel at a candle through a window,
Slosh bare-ankled in the dew, and laugh

Because my ballerina gnats annoy
Some larger, graver creatures
No one saw, I fear, (God said)
The mint blade in the gravel.

I know men are so busy telling
The story of me (even if unknowing).
I shall not regret the captains, thinkers,
Doers, talkers, workers,
Even makers. I only wish
(God said)
There could be someone now to notice things
I do just for your pleasure.

And I said:
Lord, take me![/size][/font]

[font=tahoma,geneva,sans-serif][size=4]EDIT: -Mother Francis, PCC[/size][/font]

Edited November 5, 2012 by emmaberry101

[AnneLine]

Seems terrible to follow Mother Francis with something this mundane...

but if you can have microfiber tights, these wear FOREVER. I have a few I have had for YEARS and I wash them in the machine....

[url="http://www.silkies.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=70ZC&Cat"]http://www.silkies.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=70ZC&Cat[/url]=


If anyone can use brown, cream and black, they have a 3 pack for 40% off....

[url="http://www.silkies.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=9439&Cat"]http://www.silkies.c...asp?T1=9439[/url]=

Edited November 5, 2012 by AnneLine

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='AnneLine' timestamp='1352104509' post='2504407']
[b]Seems terrible to follow Mother Francis with something this mundane...[/b]

but if you can have microfiber tights, these wear FOREVER. I have a few I have had for YEARS and I wash them in the machine....

[url="http://www.silkies.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=70ZC&Cat"]http://www.silkies.c...asp?T1=70ZC[/url]=


If anyone can use brown, cream and black, they have a 3 pack for 40% off....

[url="http://www.silkies.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=9439&Cat"]http://www.silkies.c...asp?T1=9439[/url]=
[/quote]

AnneLine, you crack me up! It is funny, but also kind of profound.. That religious life is both romance and poetry but at the same time it is the mundane and what might seem like inanity..

Now might be a good time to post that in the Poor Clare application it asked how you felt about poetry and things of that nature. I don't know if this is the case in other contemplative community's applications, but it really brought home to me how much poetry is a part of their life. And then, of course, the Portress said for special occasions they will usually do something involving one of Mother's poems.. A heart devoid of poetry is not a Poor Clare heart, I believe she said at one point, and for that matter it would probably not be a contemplative heart either! I don't think any VSers suffer from this affliction though.

And, now:



[left]Autobiography[/left]


[left]Part I:[/left]

[left]While swallows dipped through my heart,[/left]
[left]I tilted handfuls of sunlight over my hems:[/left]
[left]Braid of fantastic gold. I told the doves[/left]
[left]Poised on my shoulder: to be loved is to be lovely![/left]

[left]I sat and awaited Him,[/left]
[left]Songs chasing down my veins;[/left]
[left]Sat and awaited my death,[/left]
[left]My skirts like waterfalls around me,[/left]
[left]Morning in my hair[/left]
[left]And all my bracelets waking[/left]
[left]Into flowers,[/left]

[left]Until He came. The low knock,[/left]
[left]Oh, the moment! I did not sing, I was song.[/left]
[left]The song was: Lover, Lover, it is I![/left]
[left]But the latch was not lifted. The footsteps[/left]
[left]Drifted back like a sigh.[/left]


[left]Part II:[/left]

[left]A raven sits on my heart,[/left]
[left]Listens to winds cry at the marrow of me.[/left]
[left]My fingers stroke the unreality[/left]
[left]Of air on which my lonely vigil feeds.[/left]

[left]I kneel and await Him,[/left]
[left]Tears rutting all my songs,[/left]
[left]Kneel and await my death,[/left]
[left]And rue my skirts which climbing torn,[/left]
[left]Night lapping at my ankles.[/left]

[left]My bracelets pawned to buy me faith,[/left]
[left]Deliberate destiny burns beneath[/left]
[left]My eyelids. Listen, raven, listen![/left]
[left]All that I cannot understand, I [i]know[/i]![/left]

[left]And this is the moment; fingers on the latch[/left]
[left]Of me, He asks who dwells here. Hoarsely comes[/left]
[left]The final whisper: Lover, it is Thou![/left]

[left]Latch lifts. Footfalls, footfalls,[/left]
[left]He enters in.[/left]

[OnlySunshine]

[quote name='emmaberry101' timestamp='1352145127' post='2504629']
AnneLine, you crack me up! It is funny, but also kind of profound.. That religious life is both romance and poetry but at the same time it is the mundane and what might seem like inanity..

Now might be a good time to post that in the Poor Clare application it asked how you felt about poetry and things of that nature. I don't know if this is the case in other contemplative community's applications, but it really brought home to me how much poetry is a part of their life. And then, of course, the Portress said for special occasions they will usually do something involving one of Mother's poems.. A heart devoid of poetry is not a Poor Clare heart, I believe she said at one point, and for that matter it would probably not be a contemplative heart either! I don't think any VSers suffer from this affliction though.
[/quote]

I guess I'd make a good Poor Clare then! I used to write poetry and I hope to get back into it one day.

[Rosa immaculata]

Dear Emmaberry,
congratulations for your entrance! I saw the site of your sisters: MARVELLOUS! I just (impatient to read it entirely!) ordered the book A right to be merry, but I could read the beginning on the internet; The Mother said that a good PCC sleeps deeply everynight and does not have problems to sleep in spite of the Matins and the straw mattress; so when she saw her babay niece sleeping, she sais to herself: hum, perhaps a future Poor Clare! I found it so cute! I loved too when she relates that a worker in the new monastery was in the enclosure just after the end of the works and that she did not know what to do because the rule of the enclosure was just reestablished!! aha!
So I wish you the best thing on this earth: be the Brid of Christ and above all to be happy, and sleep well (ahaha!!!) before and after the Matins (my favourite Office, God's presence is so particular and peaceful the night!!).

Prayers for you!
Ave Maria!

[Eowyn]

[quote name='Rosa immaculata' timestamp='1352148096' post='2504650']
Dear Emmaberry,
congratulations for your entrance! I saw the site of your sisters: MARVELLOUS! I just (impatient to read it entirely!) ordered the book A right to be merry, but I could read the beginning on the internet; The Mother said that a good PCC sleeps deeply everynight and does not have problems to sleep in spite of the Matins and the straw mattress; so when she saw her babay niece sleeping, she sais to herself: hum, perhaps a future Poor Clare! I found it so cute! I loved too when she relates that a worker in the new monastery was in the enclosure just after the end of the works and that she did not know what to do because the rule of the enclosure was just reestablished!! aha!
So I wish you the best thing on this earth: be the Brid of Christ and above all to be happy, and sleep well (ahaha!!!) before and after the Matins (my favourite Office, God's presence is so particular and peaceful the night!!).

Prayers for you!
Ave Maria!
[/quote]

[u]A Right to be Merry[/u] is a really [b]good[/b] book. Just sayin... .

[emmaberry101]

My parents just surprised me and told me that we are going to Assisi two weeks before my entrance!! I would love any advice from any of you who have visited.. I am so thankful. I do hope that I persevere though-I would be so embarrassed if my family went through all this trouble for me and then I just came right out of the convent. I obviously desire to persevere for more virtuous and upstanding reasons, but this adds a bit of triviality to that hope.

Edit: Concerning my plea for advice, I specifically mean about the basic traveling (where to go, what time is best for which places, what to wear/weather, etc) and also about what would be best to bring back for my Sisters that they would appreciate having. Thanks in advance!

[quote name='Rosa immaculata' timestamp='1352148096' post='2504650']
Dear Emmaberry,
congratulations for your entrance! I saw the site of your sisters: MARVELLOUS! I just (impatient to read it entirely!) ordered the book A right to be merry, but I could read the beginning on the internet; The Mother said that a good PCC sleeps deeply everynight and does not have problems to sleep in spite of the Matins and the straw mattress; so when she saw her babay niece sleeping, she sais to herself: hum, perhaps a future Poor Clare! I found it so cute! I loved too when she relates that a worker in the new monastery was in the enclosure just after the end of the works and that she did not know what to do because the rule of the enclosure was just reestablished!! aha!
So I wish you the best thing on this earth: be the Brid of Christ and above all to be happy, and sleep well (ahaha!!!) before and after the Matins (my favourite Office, God's presence is so particular and peaceful the night!!).

Prayers for you!
Ave Maria!
[/quote]

May God reward you for your encouragement and kindness, Immaculate Rose! Thank you for the great advice as well. Yes, the site is lovely. An updated site (even more marvelous if you can believe it! ) will be up very shortly. Mother Francis (author of A Right to Be Merry) said that the nun who goes back to her cell after Matins is tired, but she is also the happiest person in the world. Looking forward to that particular time of prayer-you are right, God's presence is just [i]there[/i]. I think it is the PCC's favorite Office as well by unanimous vote.

I am sorry I do not know more French. It is so good to have you on VS, and your English is very good!

Edited November 6, 2012 by emmaberry101