Shortly before they moved to Charlotte, I was blessed to live the cloistered life with the Poor Clares of Perpetual Adoration in Portsmouth, Ohio, for nine months. Little did I know upon discerning that I had no cloistered vocation that a decade later, I’d have a chance to put to use some of the life skills I learned there.
For those of you unaccustomed to social distancing, I offer these lessons from the cloistered life.
1. Set your alarm for a reasonable time and stick to it. In the cloister, one lucky sister got up before the others and walked the halls jingling a small bell, knocking each door, and calling “Adoremus in Aeternum!”
2. Shower daily. Your family will appreciate it. Mother Dolores required this of us daily as a discipline and an act of charity toward the other sisters. Even if you’ve done nothing and gone nowhere, shower and get dressed.
3. Pray daily. This is the first official order of business in the cloister, where throughout the day, there is a lot of prayer going on. But even at home, set aside a half hour to spend with the Lord before the children wake up. Make your Morning Offering, read the Daily Mass Readings, say the rosary, meditate on Scriptures, and offer up to God by name our leaders, each member of your family, and any other intentions on your heart.
4. Treasure those around you. I was very lucky that the community I was a part of had a great rapport. The sisters all loved one another and enjoyed each other’s company. In your own family, you may love or be annoyed with those around you. Strive to love, even if you don’t like.
5. Be grateful for your food! When people would bring food to us in the cloister, Mother Dolores would pile it onto a cart and wheel it to the chapel with us at her heels. She rolled the cart in front of the altar where we would kneel in silent thanksgiving to God for providing for our needs. It was very humbling.
6. Be creative with meals. Mother Dolores encouraged “Sister Cook” to vary the meals, creatively using whatever was on hand. The variety of culinary delights does wonder to break monotony for both cook and consumer.
7. Clean daily! When everyone spends 24/7 in the same house, dust and dirt build up quicker. So set a time to clean it up – we had a 8:30-9 a.m. daily cleaning time. Mother assigned each sister her own zone and a rotation of chores. Setting something like this will keep you from being overwhelmed or feeling like you are constantly cleaning. This includes laundry.
8. Be occupied! Each sister had a job. There was “Sister Correspondence,” “Sister Cook,” “Sister Sacristan,” “Sister Seamstress” (that was me!) and others. In our current quarantine, some of us have been able to go virtual with our jobs. Everyone with school-age children is either homeschooling or supervising virtual schooling. For those finding yourself without an occupation, creatively consider what you could do daily. Begin working on your degree through online education. Draw. Write. Garden. Knit. Sew. Tackle the honey-do list. Potty train a little one. Exercise. If you can’t think of something that suits you, reach out to family for ideas.
9. Go outside daily. We all need fresh air and bright sunshine for our physical, spiritual and mental well-being. My favorite outdoor activity by far was gardening with Mother Dolores. While I thought we were just weeding the Swiss Chard, Mother would use it as a time to explain how gardening is a good allegory for the soul: as we pull out dandelions, we also can consider how we can pull the roots of sins from our soul.
10. Read! During my nine months in the cloister, I read many wonderful books from our monastery library. FORMED, your local public library’s virtual collection, or books buried in your attic can finally be read. Consider spiritual classics and other classics that provide wonderful food for thought.
11. Write a letter every Sunday… or every day. In the monastery, we wrote home on Sundays. You can do this more often. Go through your Christmas card list and focus on those who are elderly, sick or may be lonely. Write a cheery note and maybe color or draw something to enclose. Postage is available online from several places.
12. Laugh and be joyful! Perhaps the most striking and most memorable – and the most unexpected – aspect of cloistered life was the joy! Never in my life did I spend so much time laughing and smiling. Each night at recreation, we’d spend good quality time together, mostly just laughing and living God’s joy in our cloistered life.
May we all practice social distancing with grace and fun, and become holy in the process!
Mary Beth Richardson is a member of St. Ann Parish in Charlotte.