Emmaberry's Pcc Countdown

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='Christina Thérèse' timestamp='1352752282' post='2508684']
Or you could just post poems you like.... Y'know, redefine "favorite poems" to mean "spam with poems I like"....
[/quote]

Alright Christina, but you asked for it!

We are leaving for Assisi on November 26th-far sooner than I thought. So I have:[list]
[*]A visit to the Monastery
[*]Another stay with the Missionaries of Charity
[*]Thanksgiving
[*]Assisi
[*]Christmas
[*]ENTRANCE.
[/list]


Oh my.

[emmaberry101]

I posted about Shelly Pennefather before on this thread, but I came across a [url="http://archive.apsportseditors.org/contest/2003/writing/over250/over250.features.third.html"]new article[/url] on her that was nice and long (long=wonderful in my book ). Edit: She is with the Alexandria, VA PCCs. I posted a link about them in post #194.

[img]http://www.catholiceducation.org/images/miscellaneous/pennefather2.JPG[/img]




[indent=1][size=4]The Gossamer Gate[/size][/indent]

[indent=1][size=4](The single silken strand woven by the spider stretched across the path leading to the great Crucifix.)[/size][/indent]

[indent=1][size=4]It was only a gossamer gate[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]Barred passage to His beyond[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]To over and up[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]And leaving behind.[/size][/indent]
[indent=2][size=4]There was only a gossamer gate...[/size][/indent]
[indent=2][size=4]But God said: Wait![/size][/indent]

[indent=1][size=4]Only finger needed to break[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]Such a filigree lock as could spring[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]Me forth and abroad[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]And out into God.[/size][/indent]
[indent=2][size=4]I’ll unlock the gossamer gate![/size][/indent]
[indent=2][size=4]But God said: Wait![/size][/indent]

[indent=1][size=4]My eyes roved the gossamer gate[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]To assess it as heart’s good prize[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]For ticket toward bliss,[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]And earth dropped away.[/size][/indent]
[indent=2][size=4]Easy-opened, such gossamer gate![/size][/indent]
[indent=2][size=4]But God said: Wait![/size][/indent]

[indent=1][size=4]So I pledge You, Beloved, to wait[/size][/indent]
[indent=1][size=4]At silk bar of Your gossamer gate[/size][/indent]
[indent=2][size=4]Today or forever or early or late[/size][/indent]
[indent=2][size=4]Til [i]You[/i] open that gossamer gate.[/size][/indent]

Edited November 12, 2012 by emmaberry101

[emmaberry101]

[size=4]Choreography for Angels[/size]

[size=4]"I say to you, that there is joy among the angels in heaven upon one sinner doing penance." Luke 15:10[/size]

[size=4]Who spun these angels into dance[/size]
[size=4]When wars are needing all artillery[/size]
[size=4]Of spirits' cannonading. Armistice[/size]
[size=4]Wants first the over-powering wings, and they[/size]
[size=4]Are occupied with pirouettes! Who did this?[/size]

[indent=2][size=4]Gone penitent, I caused it. I confess it.[/size][/indent]

[size=4]Who tilted flames of Seraphim[/size]
[size=4]In arabesques of pure delightedness?[/size]
[size=4]Is not the cosmic crisis begging fire[/size]
[size=4]For full destruction of hate's hazarding![/size]
[size=4]Why Seraphs swirling flames on floors of heaven?[/size]

[indent=2][size=4]I lit the heavens, when I bent my head.[/size][/indent]

[size=4]Who lined mystic corps de ballet[/size]
[size=4]Of Cherubim. Who set in pas de deux[/size]
[size=4]This Power with this Principality?[/size]
[size=4]Why these Archangels not on mission sent[/size]
[size=4]Today, but waltzing on the stars, and singing?[/size]

[indent=2][size=4]I am the one who did this. I confess it.[/size][/indent]
[indent=2][size=4]I smote my errant heart, and Angels danced[/size][/indent]

[TheresaThoma]

I love that one Emma!

[nikita92]

Forgive my ignorance...what is " ready cell" @ 6:00 I know the cell part...does ready mean make your bed??

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='nikita92' timestamp='1352860589' post='2509593']
Forgive my ignorance...what is " ready cell" @ 6:00 I know the cell part...does ready mean make your bed??
[/quote]

Hi Nikita! Order cells in the horarium probably refers to cleaning the cell-not a full sweep or anything but just tidying up. This is done in the morning because, for Poor Clares (perhaps all religious) it is a great grace to be the first one in choir in the morning! So I assume the Sisters don their day habits and day veils (they sleep in a modified habit and veil and wear this to the Midnight Office) with great speed and most likely do not fold their night clothes and put them away when they rise, or make their bed!

Sorry for the rambling.. It will be interesting to find out the real answer once inside!

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='emmaberry101' timestamp='1352861149' post='2509604']
Hi Nikita! Order cells in the horarium probably refers to cleaning the cell-not a full sweep or anything but just tidying up. This is done in the morning because, for Poor Clares (perhaps all religious) it is a great grace to be the first one in choir in the morning! So I assume the Sisters don their day habits and day veils (they sleep in a modified habit and veil and wear this to the Midnight Office) with great speed and most likely do not fold their night clothes and put them away when they rise, or make their bed!

Sorry for the rambling.. It will be interesting to find out the real answer once inside!
[/quote]


I think you might be right here. In Carmel we don't make our beds before going down to choir though - almost the opposite in fact, we air them out by opening the blankets. We 'do our cells' in the time between Lauds and Mass and that's when we make our beds and tidy up. Then once a week we do the 'sweep' of our cells which is a full cleaning, including sweeping and mopping and dusting. During this time we even take our stool and work basket outside the cell and put everything else on the bed and turn the blankets up over the sides so we can get under the bed to sweep and mop - it's very thorough. I think one of the reasons that we don't do the cells before Lauds is because if a sister in the cell next to ours has 'late call' that day, we might disturb her by our cleaning. And yes, it is nice to be the first in choir too!

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='nunsense' timestamp='1352862599' post='2509620']
I think you might be right here. In Carmel we don't make our beds before going down to choir though - almost the opposite in fact, we air them out by opening the blankets. We 'do our cells' in the time between Lauds and Mass and that's when we make our beds and tidy up. Then once a week we do the 'sweep' of our cells which is a full cleaning, including sweeping and mopping and dusting. During this time we even take our stool and work basket outside the cell and put everything else on the bed and turn the blankets up over the sides so we can get under the bed to sweep and mop - it's very thorough. [b]I think one of the reasons that we don't do the cells before Lauds is because if a sister in the cell next to ours has 'late call' that day, we might disturb her by our cleaning. And yes, it is nice to be the first in choir too![/b]
[/quote]

Thanks nunsense! There is only so much educated guessing I can do from outside the cloister; it is always so refreshing to have the 'inside scoop' from those who know and aren't just guessing! I had never thought of the bolded bit.. I am reminded every day by little things like what you said about how..I don't know the right word..selfless you have to be to live in the cloister. It just never would have occured to me to think that "Oh the neighboring cell dweller might be lying in today." I have such a long way to go in that sense! I wonder how long it takes of cloister-living before you mentally shift from 'me' to 'my neighbor.' I am sure some saintly types go in already thinking of others before themselves in all things, but I hope for someone like me it is hammered out in a timely manner!

Edited November 14, 2012 by emmaberry101

[AccountDeleted]

[quote name='emmaberry101' timestamp='1352882398' post='2509788']
Thanks nunsense! There is only so much educated guessing I can do from outside the cloister; it is always so refreshing to have the 'inside scoop' from those who know and aren't just guessing! I had never thought of the bolded bit.. I am reminded every day by little things like what you said about how..I don't know the right word..selfless you have to be to live in the cloister. It just never would have occured to me to think that "Oh the neighboring cell dweller might be lying in today." I have such a long way to go in that sense! I wonder how long it takes of living in the cloister before you mentally shift from 'me' to 'my neighbor.' I am sure some go in already always thinking of others, but I hope for someone like me it is hammered out in a timely manner!
[/quote]

Sometimes I think I worry too much about little things like that but I would rather err on the side of charity than not. The sister next to me is always very quiet so I guess I just try to be as considerate as she is. Anytime you live with someone in close proximity though, it is nice to be thoughtful about them. I am at my sister's house now, and once she and her husband go to bed, I try to move around very quietly so I don't disturb them (I tend to stay up later than they do). I think being from a big family helps when you go into a convent because you are used to living with others.

[emmaberry101]

[indent=2][size=4]Role Reversal[/size][/indent]

[indent=1][size=4](Song for a Church in schism)[/size][/indent]

[size=4]All-Provident Mother[/size]
[size=4]Grown learn with hard nursing, [/size]
[size=4]Take now my little raisin cake of love.[/size]

[size=4]Forever singing Mother[/size]
[size=4]Hoarse from futile[/size]
[size=4]Lyrics, for parched throat[/size]
[size=4]Take my cup of tears.[/size]

[size=4]All-beautiful Mother[/size]
[size=4]Shabby in torn garment,[/size]
[size=4]I come to mend your vesture[/size]
[size=4]Whole again.[/size]

[size=4]Accept, all-holy one, [/size]
[size=4]A daughter's tending.[/size]
[size=4]Mother, be gathered[/size]
[size=4]In your child’s embrace.[/size]

Edited November 15, 2012 by emmaberry101

[DameAgnes]

[quote name='Christina Thérèse' timestamp='1352698366' post='2508498']
She's entering on January 13, if I remember rightly.
[/quote]

Thank you !

[emmaberry101]

[quote name='DameAgnes' timestamp='1352945648' post='2510235']
Thank you !
[/quote]

Yes, thank you Christina Therese. Dame Agnes: I am sorry it is such a long thread! I was wondering why I was not smart enough to put the date in the OP, but remembered that I did not have a date until a short time after acceptance.

[the171]

only a little time longer, my dear!

[emmaberry101]

[size=4]Examination of Conscience[/size]

[size=4]I hiss at the uncomely cat[/size]
[size=4]To go and leave me Sunday in this grass,[/size]
[size=4](how did the creature slip past his Creator[/size]
[size=4]Without receiving dowry of that grace[/size]
[size=4]To cats peculiar?) So unfortunate,[/size]
[size=4]He bears his low-slung self on awkward legs[/size]
[size=4]Ridiculously thick.[/size]

[size=4]The clipped coat is[/size]
[size=4]Unstrokable black cotton. Stricken calls[/size]
[size=4]Of everlasting hunger are his song.[/size]

[size=4]There on the piered enclosure gates he sprawls,[/size]
[size=4]Mimicking the lions of St. Mark’s,[/size]
[size=4]Crying that I admire him, fetch him milk,[/size]
[size=4]Sure I find him fetching as a kitten.[/size]

[size=4]I hiss again. I’ll not resort to hose[/size]
[size=4](it’s out of reach), but I fiercely clap my hands[/size]
[size=4]In sharp dismissal which he thinks applause[/size]
[size=4]And pays me with two clownish leaps.[/size]

[size=4]Oh, that[/size]
[size=4]Slack string of tail! Cat, help me to forgive[/size]
[size=4]Meows that swear me better than I am![/size]



[size=4][quote name='the171' timestamp='1353001654' post='2510613']
only a little time longer, my dear!
[/quote][/size]

[size=4]Thanks the171! Hard to believe-less than two months! And with holidays and travel, it will fly by, I am sure..[/size]

[emmaberry101]

Sorry about the poem (or lack thereof..) My computer is down and I have the poems on there.. If you are feeling generous, feel free to say a quick prayer for my MacBook-I don't care all that much about it since I'll be gone soon, but my family is not electronic-friendly, and I worry about them trying to deal with it once I am gone. If its not clear, I am the go-to gal for electronics within my family. May God reward you!