Common Myths about Cloistered Life
1. Cloistered Nuns “Pray All Day”
As contemplatives, our whole life is harmoniously ordered to preserving the continual remembrance of God. Yet those who come imagining a life of languid prayer, of kneeling in the chapel indulging in a litany of private devotions, are in for a shock. We not only chant the seven hours* of the Divine Office daily and have our allotted times for meditation, Eucharistic Adoration and Rosary, but we clean, cook, do nursing, secretarial, and maintenance work, study, practice chant, enjoy community time, and more! We rise early and go to bed late—all in the course of the normal household duties of a cloistered Dominican nun, whose heart is free for God alone.
* An “hour” of the Divine Office (or Liturgy of the Hours) means one of the seven times a day the Office is prayed. Each is not 60 minutes long.
2. Don’t Bury Your Talents in the Cloister
“Use your talents for God in the apostolate—don’t bury them in the cloister!” Many of our Sisters heard these words when discerning this vocation. If all young women followed this advice, who would enter the cloister? Only those “good for nothing but prayer”? Contemplatives are Christ’s chosen spouses, imaging in a radical way the exclusive union of the Church as Bride with her Lord. Doesn’t Our Lord deserve the best? The greatest “talent” of all is the gift of His Life given us in sanctifying grace, a gift which the cloistered nun returns directly to Him in the gift of herself, so that it may bear fruit a hundredfold for the life of His Mystical Body. The many other talents a young woman brings to the cloister will also be put to good use, either in service of the community (perhaps as teacher, bursar, artist, or writer of leaflets like this one!) or as the highest gift, a sacrifice to God.
3. The Cloister Is for Introverts
The life of contemplation involves a solitude of heart, a loneliness with God, which leads to deeper union with Him. The cloistered Dominican life, however, also involves intense community: we live in the enclosure with our same Sisters 24/7, 365 days a year, and desire to grow each day in unity of mind and heart rooted in the knowledge and love of God. We pray together, day in and day out, we work together (in monastic silence), and we share recreation together twice each day. Is the cloister for introverts? Or extroverts? We think that a balance is best. Each has different strengths and challenges which must be transformed by grace; both have served God in our community.
4. Cloistered Nuns Never Talk
“You’ll never make it—you talk too much!” In discernment, the question is not “Do I like to talk?” but “Am I able to keep silence?” Silence is an ancient monastic observance which helps the nun keep “enclosure of heart,” directing her thoughts and affections towards God rather than dispersing them in unnecessary and distracting chatter. Our monastic silence, however, is not absolute: during work hours we speak in a low voice to another Sister when necessary, and talk normally for community meetings, classes, and of course for recreation, when it is our joy to share with our Sisters.
5. Unfit for Active Life? Try the Cloister
A surprising number of people whose physical, mental, or emotional health poses a challenge to active life turn to the cloister seeking a less strenuous vocation. We hope that our answers above have shown that the life of a cloistered Dominican nun is in its own way just as demanding, although not as distracting, as that of a student, a mother, or an active religious. Normal good health is an essential requirement to enter upon our life of total dedication, of complete self-gift to Jesus through Mary for the salvation of souls, lived in and through the monastic life of the community.