My mom came to visit! I was so glad to be able to share with her this monastic life here at the hermitage.
I was especially glad that she could experience life here at the hermitage given that, before she met my dad, she was a nun for three years. She was a Discalced Carmelite, in the tradition of Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross and Saint Therese of Lisieux.
Discalced Carmelite nuns are strictly cloistered: they are separated from the public. Thus they remain inside the walls of the cloister, the boundary of the monastery, for more silence and solitude, to facilitate communion with God; they live a predominantly contemplative life. They leave the monastery only for unavoidable necessities such as a doctor's appointment or a dentist's appointment. Consequently, it has not been uncommon for Discalced Carmelite nuns to stay inside the cloister for years at a time.
Simultaneously, adding to the spiritual rigor inherent in a life of being so separated from the world, often they also do not have contact with those who come to their monasteries. Thus when guests come to such a monastery to pray in the chapel, the nuns are not speaking with them. Often such a community will have an extern nun who regularly goes out to run errands, but such a person might be the only such person within such a strictly cloistered community.
Some Discalced Carmelite communities have lessened the degree to which they are separated from the world. Others remain strictly cloistered. Each community lives out its faith depending on the spiritual life they feel called by God to lead.
So, my mom was coming here to the hermitage, viewing and assessing the life here, from her previous consecrated religious life as a strictly cloistered Discalced Carmelite. In contrast, the life here at the hermitage is not as stringent.
It is true that the monks and I are generally here at the hermitage. However, the monks and I leave the hermitage when we go on an outing of some sort as part of our monthly recreation day. Any of us might leave now and then to get things done in town, that is, Carmel or Monterey or Salinas or elsewhere. There is a particular monk here who, every week, drives to these towns and gets things done. But any of us might go to town perhaps once a month to go to doctors' appointments, purchase things we need, or pick up or drop off an arriving or departing guest or traveling monk.
Thus I drove to San Jose to pick up my mom when she landed in San Jose. Since Casa de Clara, the Catholic Worker House where I lived and worked for a few months in the latter half of last year, is so close to the airport, I got to take her to Casa de Clara. She met my friends who are the Catholic Workers there, as well as the women who, rather than being homeless, live there as they earn and save money in preparation to move out into their own apartments. My mom was glad that she got to visit Casa de Clara, since she is familiar with the biography and writings of Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker movement. I was happy that I was able to take my mom there after picking her up from the airport, a benefit of the particular approach to the contemplative life which we follow here at the hermitage.
Just as life here at the hermitage does not entail staying here as much as my mom stayed in the monastery when she was a nun, so too the lifestyle of this hermitage involves more contact with visitors than she had as a Discalced Carmelite. People come and stay here overnight. They might ask us questions in the church or in the bookstore or in the retreat house, which is one place where they stay here. Even longer than that, guests here sometimes receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, that is, Confession, from one of the monks who, of course, is also a priest. A guest might also choose to receive spiritual direction from a monk when she or he is here. Other guests spend even more time with the monks when such guests attend preached retreats here: over a weekend, such guests attend a series of a few seminars and/or workshops on various spiritual topics. These preached retreats are given by monks and also by oblates, who are lay people belonging to the Camaldolese Congregation who have vowed to follow the spiritual practices of the Camaldolese.
Additionally, at the hermitage, employees not only work here, but many of them live here. Consequently, we not only have daily contact with, but much more importantly, receive indispensable support from, friends and loved ones here who are not monks and who are not on the path to becoming monks.
With all this contact with those who are not monks, my mom found this lifestyle here to be feasible, in comparison with the lifestyle she led as a strictly cloistered Discalced Carmelite. I cherished hearing her perceptions of life here.
I was also glad that she was able to come here on Mother's Day! It was marvelous to have her here at all, and her visit became even more special given that she was able to be here on Mother's Day. I am so blessed by God, including through my mother's visit here. I am looking forward to my family and friends visiting again as I spend more time here.
I was especially glad that she could experience life here at the hermitage given that, before she met my dad, she was a nun for three years. She was a Discalced Carmelite, in the tradition of Saint Teresa of Avila, Saint John of the Cross and Saint Therese of Lisieux.
Discalced Carmelite nuns are strictly cloistered: they are separated from the public. Thus they remain inside the walls of the cloister, the boundary of the monastery, for more silence and solitude, to facilitate communion with God; they live a predominantly contemplative life. They leave the monastery only for unavoidable necessities such as a doctor's appointment or a dentist's appointment. Consequently, it has not been uncommon for Discalced Carmelite nuns to stay inside the cloister for years at a time.
Simultaneously, adding to the spiritual rigor inherent in a life of being so separated from the world, often they also do not have contact with those who come to their monasteries. Thus when guests come to such a monastery to pray in the chapel, the nuns are not speaking with them. Often such a community will have an extern nun who regularly goes out to run errands, but such a person might be the only such person within such a strictly cloistered community.
Some Discalced Carmelite communities have lessened the degree to which they are separated from the world. Others remain strictly cloistered. Each community lives out its faith depending on the spiritual life they feel called by God to lead.
So, my mom was coming here to the hermitage, viewing and assessing the life here, from her previous consecrated religious life as a strictly cloistered Discalced Carmelite. In contrast, the life here at the hermitage is not as stringent.
It is true that the monks and I are generally here at the hermitage. However, the monks and I leave the hermitage when we go on an outing of some sort as part of our monthly recreation day. Any of us might leave now and then to get things done in town, that is, Carmel or Monterey or Salinas or elsewhere. There is a particular monk here who, every week, drives to these towns and gets things done. But any of us might go to town perhaps once a month to go to doctors' appointments, purchase things we need, or pick up or drop off an arriving or departing guest or traveling monk.
Thus I drove to San Jose to pick up my mom when she landed in San Jose. Since Casa de Clara, the Catholic Worker House where I lived and worked for a few months in the latter half of last year, is so close to the airport, I got to take her to Casa de Clara. She met my friends who are the Catholic Workers there, as well as the women who, rather than being homeless, live there as they earn and save money in preparation to move out into their own apartments. My mom was glad that she got to visit Casa de Clara, since she is familiar with the biography and writings of Dorothy Day, who founded the Catholic Worker movement. I was happy that I was able to take my mom there after picking her up from the airport, a benefit of the particular approach to the contemplative life which we follow here at the hermitage.
Just as life here at the hermitage does not entail staying here as much as my mom stayed in the monastery when she was a nun, so too the lifestyle of this hermitage involves more contact with visitors than she had as a Discalced Carmelite. People come and stay here overnight. They might ask us questions in the church or in the bookstore or in the retreat house, which is one place where they stay here. Even longer than that, guests here sometimes receive the Sacrament of Reconciliation, that is, Confession, from one of the monks who, of course, is also a priest. A guest might also choose to receive spiritual direction from a monk when she or he is here. Other guests spend even more time with the monks when such guests attend preached retreats here: over a weekend, such guests attend a series of a few seminars and/or workshops on various spiritual topics. These preached retreats are given by monks and also by oblates, who are lay people belonging to the Camaldolese Congregation who have vowed to follow the spiritual practices of the Camaldolese.
Additionally, at the hermitage, employees not only work here, but many of them live here. Consequently, we not only have daily contact with, but much more importantly, receive indispensable support from, friends and loved ones here who are not monks and who are not on the path to becoming monks.
With all this contact with those who are not monks, my mom found this lifestyle here to be feasible, in comparison with the lifestyle she led as a strictly cloistered Discalced Carmelite. I cherished hearing her perceptions of life here.
I was also glad that she was able to come here on Mother's Day! It was marvelous to have her here at all, and her visit became even more special given that she was able to be here on Mother's Day. I am so blessed by God, including through my mother's visit here. I am looking forward to my family and friends visiting again as I spend more time here.
I'm sure it was also very special for your mother to spend Mother's Day with "you" at the hermitage...
ReplyDelete