A Day Within the Walls: Cistercians

At the Valley of Our Lady Monastery, Prairie Du Sac, WIsconsin

Rising and Keeping Watch

The rising bell sounds throughout the dormitory cloisters at 3:30 AM, and the monastery day has begun. Sister Maria, not gifted with the charism of early rising, dresses with heavy eyes but devout heart. “My eyes sleep but my heart watches,” she might say with the Bride in the Song of Songs. Throughout the monastery, lights go on, doors open and close, and footsteps shuffle down the hall, manifesting the silent haste with which sisters prepare to go to chapel for Matins [or Vigils], the first of the Offices of the Work of God. “Let the monks arise without delay when the signal is given; let each hasten to arrive at the Work of God before the others, yet with all gravity and modesty.” [RB 22:6]

“Domine, labia mea aperies…O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare Your praise.” The first words of the nun’s day are the beginning words of Matins, sung in beautiful Latin chant. Though normally in melody in the other Offices of the day, for Matins all is mercifully sung on a single note only, as each sister’s voice slowly warms up in the course of the hour-long Office. Sung while much of the world still sleeps, it signifies the watchfulness spoken of in Our Lord’s parable of the wise virgins, who keep watch for when the Bridegroom will return.

Armor of Light

After a short break, the Office of Lauds begins and for about half an hour Sister Maria lifts up her voice in unison with her sisters, chanting the praises of God on behalf of all creation. “The night is far advanced, and now the daylight approaches. Let us cast off, therefore, the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light!” Thus invigorated, Sister Maria is prepared to meet the Lord and His graces in whatever form they come in this day.

Lauds is finished around 5:40, and Sister Maria knows she has a two hour time period until Terce, the next Office of the day. While some of her more matutinal sisters remain in the now-darkened chapel to pray, she makes her way along with some others to the refectory and breakfast room to procure a much-appreciated cup of coffee and a light breakfast. Breakfast is the one meal of the day to which the community does not all sit down together. After breakfast, Sister Maria takes her laundry to the washroom, thanking her guardian angel for reminding her that it is her laundry day. After a few more such small personal tasks, she betakes herself to chapel, Bible in hand, to settle down for lectio divina on
the Gospel of the day.

Source and Summit

Her meditation is brought to a close by the sound of the bell for Terce, the first of the three “Little Hours”—so called because of their shortness—at 7:40. Mass follows immediately: the high point of the day. Here the nuns encounter and receive their Lord and Spouse, and from Him receive the graces needed to be faithful to His calling.

The Rule

After a short thanksgiving in silence, the sisters proceed to the Chapter Room for Morning Chapter, which begins with the chanting of some of the saints whose feast day is the next day. Then follows a reading from the Rule of St. Benedict. This Rule is broken into parts so that each day a section is read, and throughout the year, the entire Rule is read three times. Sister Maria has only been here for a couple years, but even in this short of a time, she can sense that in thus hearing this Rule read day after day its wisdom and teaching is becoming a part of the fabric of her being.

After the chapter from the Rule, there follow any necessary announcements or practical questions [“Does anyone know where the blue vacuum cleaner is?”]; this is also the time when sisters may ask permissions to speak to other sisters about necessary work matters. In an effort to remain interiorly connected with the Lord, the community strives to maintain a minimum of speaking, outside of recreation. Necessary communication is carried out via note, or, if in-person communication is needed, permission for this may be obtained from the superior. After all announcements are finished, there follows a short commemoration of the faithful departed, and the community disperses to its various tasks for the morning work period.

Work of Our Hands

For Benedictine/Cistercian spirituality, manual labor is an integral part. St Benedict says in his Rule, “They are truly monks when they live by the work of their hands.” Sister Maria, like many of the sisters, is assigned to the altar bread production room, and is learning how to use the packaging machine: challenging, but she is catching on. Most of the morning she spends cutting the altar breads and sorting out the defective ones: more peaceful work, allowing her to meditate on spiritual matters, or to commune with the Lord. She reflects how privileged her community is, to have as their main source of income the making of what will someday become the Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of the Lord. But every work in the monastery has meaning and significance, no matter how tiny, if it is done with love and for the Lord. Thus the morning passes until the bell for Sext rings at 5 to noon.

Body and Soul

After this short Office, the community assembles in the refectory for the main meal of the day. This is eaten in silence, as indeed all the meals are, accompanied by listening to some edifying reading. Thus both body and soul are nourished. When the meal is finished and the prayers have been said, Sister Maria helps with the dishes, after which she goes to spend an hour in prayer and study. As a novice, she has several classes for which she must study: Vows, Sacraments, Doctrine,... Later today, she will have Vows class, and so she applies herself with some urgency to the homework for that class, which up until today she has procrastinated.

At 2:15, the bell rings for None—the third “Little Hour”, after which Sister Maria heads to the kitchen with the rest of her noviciate sisters and the Novice Mistress, for a half hour of “KP” [Kitchen Patrol] recreation. Today it’s KP; tomorrow it might be a baking day recreation in the altar bread room; the next day perhaps outside to rake some leaves.

Prayer and Study

After Recreation, it’s back to work for another hour. Sister Maria is in charge of the fireplace this year, and so she uses the time to get some more wood from the shed and bring it to the community room where the fireplace is. After this, she heads back to the altar bread room to help with the end-of-the-day cleanup, until the bell rings at 4:05.

The half hour before Vespers is given to private prayer and study; but for sisters in formation, it is often used for a class. Having used the time after lunch well, Sister Maria is prepared for her Vows class today, and joins energetically in the discussion on the Vow of Stability, until the bell rings for Vespers. “Let my prayer come before Your presence like incense, O Lord!” sing the sisters at this Office.

Evening Chapter

After Vespers is the evening meal, again in silence, while listening to lectures on CD. After supper, Sister Maria is free for recreational activity for a half hour until the bell for Compline. This half hour is “free recreation,” meaning that sisters can use it however they choose: either to gather and recreate, or for personal things, or for prayer/reading in the cell or chapel. Sister Maria normally likes to go outside for a walk in this time, but since it’s cold today, she goes to the arts and crafts room where there are usually a couple of other sisters, and they share jokes and stories, or converse on something interesting they read.

When the bell sounds at 6:15, sisters assemble in the Chapter room to listen to a short reading from a spiritual book. This is followed by a short “Chapter of Faults,” a wonderful monastic custom putting into practice the idea of “making peace before the sun goes down.” After this, the sisters process to the chapel to pray Compline, the last Office of the day. “Visit, we beseech You, O Lord, this house, and repel far from it all insidious enemies; let Your holy angels dwell in it and may they keep us in peace; and let Your blessing remain on us always.” The last prayer of the day is the Salve Regina, in the solemn melody. After this, the sisters file out, each bowing to receive the superior’s blessing with holy water as she goes out.

Grand Silence

After Compline begins the “Grand Silence,” which will last until Chapter the next morning. Sisters must be in their cells for the night by 8:30, which leaves about an hour and 45 minutes to be used however the sisters see fit. Some go to bed immediately; others use the time to write notes to others; others to things like showering or getting another tube of toothpaste from the common supply. And most of the sisters use at least some of the time for personal prayer and communion with God. Sister Maria treasures this time and spends a half hour or so in the darkened chapel before the Blessed Sacrament, handing over into His hands her day, in adoration, contrition, gratitude, and supplication for all people, before making her way to her cell for the night.

At-A-Glance

3:30 AM Rise
3:50-4:50 Matins
Short break
5:10-5:40 Lauds
Silence; prayer, breakfast, etc.
7:45 Terce
8:00 Mass
9:00-9:15 Morning Chapter
9:15-12:00 Work period
12:00-12:15 Sext
Lunch
1:15-2:15 Prayer/Study
2:15 None
2:30-3:00 Recreation
3:00-4:10 Work
4:10-4:40 Prayer/Study/Class
4:45-5:15 Vespers
Dinner
6:15 Evening Chapter
6:30 Compline
6:45-8:30 Grand silence
8:30 Retire