THESE MYSTERIOUS NUNS (Conclusion)

(This is the last installment of this pamphlet written by Mother Marie Rosaria, O.P.)

Would you now consider such a life a waste of energy and talent? But, you ask, what do these nuns do all day? How do they support themselves? To begin with, contrary to popular belief, there is no monotony in the monastery! Their days are balanced in a rhythm of prayer and work, with all their activity flowing out of the celebration of the Eucharist and its continuation in the chanting of the Divine Office. Work is subordinated to their primary mission of prayer. In addition to the usual housework in the monastery, the nuns are engaged in such diverse activities as paying the bills, answering the phones and doorbells, making rosaries, composing music, typing up mass enrollments, weaving, and gardening, sacristy work, and in-house desktop publishing, There are clerical tasks which include answering requests for prayers, thanking their good benefactors who see to their needs by gifts of money or in kind. There is also the usual and unusual round of daily choirs?housekeeping, cooking, mending, washing, and ironing.

Still you wonder. Aren't these nuns by their solitude and silence out of touch with the women of today?women's emergence into prominence in the governance of society, for instance? Not at all! Nuns are the world's most liberated women! By their baptism, they are liberated like you and me from the bondage of the devil, which is the only true liberation. By their prayer they sustain and take part in the world's work being guided by Truth.

And by a special gift of God, these nuns are themselves deeply sustained in this liberation by their vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. They are further liberated from the cares of a particular family to dedicate themselves entirely to God and His family?whole human race, and thus exercise a powerful spiritual motherhood. They are liberated from undue attachment to this world’s goods by their vow of poverty and life in common; they are liberated from destructive self-will by their vow of obedience in doing His Will. By wearing the Dominican habit, they are liberated from fashion and the passing show. By contemplation of the Eternal Truth and by their enclosure, they are even liberated from time and place to await the coming of the Lord.

They are all equal in the bonds of charity and by profession, however much they different in natural dispositions and gifts. They each receive their portion from the Lord. Male oppression is no problem now or in the life to come. They are even liberated from the pressures of being “perfect” women, knowing that are called to a “greater perfection” in following Jesus. They are gloriously free and ready with trimmed and burning lamps to go out to meet Christ the Bridegroom however long He delays.

We hope our readers have found both enlightenment and enjoyment in these postings. Although we "mysterious nuns" can never fully dispel the "mystery" of our lives (which, in same ways, are even mysterious to us!) , we can evangelize others about our vocation and mission in the heart of the Church, in the heart of the "Holy Preaching." We hope your hearts will be strengthened by the knowledge of our intercession and even (for the young women out there discerning a vocation to religious life!) quickened and attracted by the beauty of our life.