21 July 2019 - Cistercian Sisters of St. Mary's Abbey, Glencairn, Co. Waterford (Part I)

On this week's programme, we are broadcasting a repeat of one of our popular programme's which was originally broadcast on July 21st 2013. We are replaying part one of a two part special programme on the Cistercian nuns of St Mary's Abbey, Glencairn Co Waterford. Lorraine had a discussion about the Cistercian life and what it means to be an enclosed nun in Ireland today with Sr Sarah Branigan (Vocation Directoress) and Sr Michelle Slattery (Novice Mistress).

You can listen to the podcast of the programme HERE.

The Abbey's website is HERE and Facebook page HERE.

St Mary's Abbey - Glencairn

(Most of!) The community gather in our new refectory wing of the Abbey for a photo by Dan Linehan (Irish Examiner) - Taken from the Abbey website (glencairnabbey.org)

St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn is the only Cistercian monastery for women in Ireland.  The monastery is located in the Blackwater Valley, about 3 miles upstream from Lismore, County Waterford.

"At the heart of the monastic life is the search for God; here at Glencairn, we seek God and follow Christ in a life of prayer and community, solitude and simplicity, work and hospitality. We follow the Rule of St Benedict, an ancient source of monastic wisdom that continues to guide many people in search of an authentic spiritual path in today’s world."

As the sisters outline the Cistercian Order arose as a reform movement within the Benedictine tradition in the 12th century who were seeking for a simpler way of life - a return to the deserts of the world to seek a space for God. 

The first Cistercian monastery was established in Citeaux, France in 1098 by Saints Robert, Alberic and Stephen and Sr Sarah tells us of the history of the early foundations. Early in the Cistercian tradition, women sought the Cistercian way of life and the first Cistercian monastery for women was in Tart, France, a daughter house of Citeaux, founded by St Stephen in 1125. St Malachy brought the Cistercians to Ireland in 1142, to Mellifont, County Louth. St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn is the first Cistercian monastery for women in Ireland since the Reformation, founded in 1932 by Holy Cross Abbey, Stapehill, England. Today, there are 37 Cistercian nuns in the community of St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn.

The life of the Cistercians is under pinned by a number of foundations including 

• a zeal for the Opus Dei (the Work of God) which is the Liturgy of the Hours (a.k.a. the Divine Office) which is one of the focus' of St Benedict
• the ethos of simplicity which defined Citeax with its emphasis on poverty, simplicity in liturgy, manual work and a guarded interaction with the secular world so as not to displace the main focus of their lives as being a constant search for God.
• St Bernard and other writers of the Cistercian tradition have emphasised experiential quality of monastic life; effective spirituality stressing relationship with Christ; stressing fraternal communion and also a strong Marian devotion with the order and each abbey of the order under the patronage of Mary.

Sr Michelle takes us through the life of a novice as women discern whether they are called to the life of a cistercian nun with the community in Glencairn including what daily life is like, the study and prayer life undertaken. Sr Sarah then continues to share with is the meaning of the monastic vows stability, obedience and conversion of life as well as the day to day life at the abbey.

From the Abbey's website:

What is Cistercian Spirituality?

“Cistercian nuns seek God and follow Christ under a rule and an abbess in a stable community which is a school of mutual love”. These words, from the Constitutions of our Order, point to some key elements in our spirituality. 

Cistercian: “Cistercian” comes from the word Cîteaux, in Latin Cistercium, which means “marshy place” or “swampy place”. Cîteaux, in France, is where the Cistercian movement began in 1098, as a reform within the Benedictine monastic tradition.

Nuns and monks: there are both men and women Cistercians. We live in single-sex communities, but the two branches form one Order. There are Cistercian communities on all five continents: they follow the same lifestyle, adapted to local situations.

Seek God: the heart of monastic life is seeking God. From earliest times, some Christians have felt called to go apart to lead a life more intensely focused on God. They separated themselves from the distractions of regular society, and went away to a remote or isolated place more conducive to prayer and consciousness of God. There they devoted themselves to seeking God and union with God. The first people to practise this kind of lifestyle went literally into the desert, in Egypt. We follow in their footsteps, and so do not engage in any outside apostolate. The purpose of a Cistercian is to seek God.

Follow Christ: Cistercian life is a way of living the Gospel. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is fundamental in each sister’s heart. Christ is our model: we strive to be conformed to him in his obedience, humility, patience and poverty. He is our King, whom we try to serve. And he is our Beloved: we seek intimate union with him in prayer.

Under a Rule…: this means the Rule of St Benedict, as interpreted by Cistercian tradition and contemporary understanding. There are three key elements in the monastic day according to this Rule:

(1) Liturgy: Seven times a day we meet in the church to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours, consisting of psalms, Scripture readings, and prayers. By this we offer praise to God, we ourselves are sanctified, and we intercede for all people. We celebrate the Eucharist daily; it is the source of our communion with Jesus Christ and with one another.

(2) Lectio divina: quiet, meditative reading of the Word of God in Scripture, which leads to contemplative prayer and shapes us to live by the Gospel.

(3) Work: Through our work we support ourselves, and have something to share with the poor. In Glencairn we produce eucharist bread and greeting cards for sale, and we have a farm which is now mostly dedicated to tillage (barley) with some cattle. Other work includes care of the sick and guests, the upkeep of the monastery, administration and formation work, gardening, and many other tasks.
Living “under a Rule” means that our life is disciplined. The purpose of this discipline is to make us free: free from selfishness and unhealthy desires, free from things that do not help us on our journey to God; free to have hearts open to give and receive genuine love.

…and an abbess: the abbess is a central figure in the monastery. She is believed to act as Christ’s representative, and so ministers to the whole community with pastoral care, teaching the sisters by word and example, and encouraging them in their monastic vocation.

Community: Cistercians maintain a balance between solitude on the one hand, and community living on the other. Solitude and silence provide us with a climate for prayer and encounter with God. Community relationships are the place where love is put into action. Unity of spirit, sharing of goods, and bearing one another’s burdens are hallmarks of a Spirit-filled community.

Stability: we make a vow of stability, which means that we commit ourselves to live always in this particular community, and will not normally move to another one. Stability is the “for better, for worse” of monastic life. Our other vows are fidelity to monastic life, and obedience.

School of love: St Benedict called the monastery a “school of the Lord’s service.” The early Cistercians called it a “school of love”. On our spiritual journey we are always pupils. Learning to love with the heart and mind of Christ is an ongoing task, which will occupy us all the days of our life.

********

Some external Youtube videos on Glencairn.



An investigation by U.S. television producer Phil O'Connor into the decline of the Irish Church brought him, together with the Religion and Ethics team and camera crew to Ireland in late May of this year where they made a further television feature on contemporary monastic life as lived here at St Mary's Abbey.

Originally broadcast in the U.S. Sunday a.m. 24 July 2011 on PBS television on Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.

An audio slideshow by Irish Times photographer Bryan O'Brien featuring images of Theresa Kottayail from Kerala, India as she took her first vows as a junior professed sister in the enclosed Cistercian community of nuns at St Mary's Abbey, Glencairn, Lismore, Co.Waterford, Ireland in December 2011. She took the name Sr Robert and was the first sister from India to complete her novitiate in the rural Irish Abbey.

Gospel - Luke 10:38-42

Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Reflections on this week's Gospel:

Word on Fire
English Dominicans 
Centre for Liturgy
Sunday Reflections 

Liturgical odds & ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter Week 4

Saints of the Week
July 22nd - St. Mary Magdalene
July 23rd - St. Bridget of Sweden
July 24th - St. John Boste
July 25th - St. James the Greater, Apostle
July 26th - St. Joachim and St. Anne
July 27th - St. Pantaleon

School of Love - RTE WYB - Glencairn Abbey

The Cistercian Sisters of St Mary's Abbey, Glencairn, Co Waterford, in Ireland live an austere life based on the Rule of St Benedict, which has barely changed in over 1000 years. Rooted in community, work, prayer and silence, some may see it as a retreat from the world, but the nuns themselves believe this is the best contribution they can make to that world, and the best way for them to get close to God. Over the course of a year, they gave RTÉ's religious documentary series Would You Believe? unique access to film their way of life. This is the resulting film.

Several women and a man profess religious vows - CatholicIreland.net

“We are beginning to hear more stories like this throughout Ireland" among Catholic religious orders - Vocations Ireland.

Two first professions and the anniversary of the dedication of St Mary’s Abbey church have just been celebrated at Glencairn Abbey.

Last weekend, Sr Elizabeth Deasy’s First Profession took place on the 54th anniversary of the dedication of the Cistercian Abbey church in Co Waterford.

“This church stands as a visible sign of God and the beauty of the church points to the One who is Light and Beauty itself. Your own vowed life also will stand as a visible sign of God,” said Mother Marie Fahy, Abbess of St Mary’s in her chapter talk.

“Just as this church is a light-filled space, you also are called to be a light for people: by the honesty and integrity of your life, by the depth of your self-knowledge, by living in the truth.”

“As you worship in spirit and in truth, you are called to give light by your compassion for others and your willingness to share their concerns. You are called to give light through your union with God in liturgical and contemplative life.”

Earlier in the month on the Feast of St Bernard (20 August), Sr Angela Finegan made her First Profession marking the end of her formal novitiate period of formation, and initiating her as a junior professed member of the community.

She is now allowed to wear the black Cistercian Scapular and belt. She will continue her initial formation for a further three year period, renewing her vows on a yearly basis.

Continue reading here

20th October 2013 - 29th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C) - Cistercian Nuns of Glencairn (Part 2)

On this weeks programme, we have part two of a two part special programme on the Cistercian nuns of St Mary's Abbey, Glencairn Co Waterford. Lorraine has a discussion about the Cistercian life and what it means to be an enclosed nun in Ireland today with Mother Marie Fahy, Sr Mairead McDonagh and Sr Clothilde Anamizu.

You can listen to this weeks programme podcast HERE.
 
Cistercian Nuns of Glencairn

The Cistercian Community of St Mary's Abbey Glencairn

St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn is the only Cistercian monastery for women in Ireland.  The monastery is located in the Blackwater Valley, about 3 miles upstream from Lismore, County Waterford.

"At the heart of the monastic life is the search for God; here at Glencairn, we seek God and follow Christ in a life of prayer and community, solitude and simplicity, work and hospitality. We follow the Rule of St Benedict, an ancient source of monastic wisdom that continues to guide many people in search of an authentic spiritual path in today’s world."

We had part 1 of a two part interview with the nuns broadcast on 21st July and on this weeks programme we have the second part of that interview. Our blog post from 21 July had details of the Cistercian way of life and also some videos and photos as well which can all be viewed HERE.

Mother Marie Fahy reflects on her current role of abbess which is at the service of the community. She discusses the gift and challenge of monastic culture to our more secular culture holding out its gift of stability, witness, conversion and simplicity.

Sr Mairead tells us of her "late vocation" and the journey to Glencairn. She also tells us about the sisters work of producing a range of greeting cards for all occasions in both Irish and English are designed and produced in their Card Department here in Glencairn. Our range of cards also includes personalised cards and a selection of individually handcrafted cards with pressed flowers grown in our monastery gardens. Mortuary cards are also produced in a range of sizes designed to meet customer specifications.
  

Sr Clothilde Anamizu speaks to Lorraine of her journey and challenges to becoming a christian in Japan and then her further journey to joining the Cistercians in Japan and ultimately to joining the community in Glencairn.


You can listen to this weeks programmes podcast HERE.

The music on this weeks programme is taken from the Abbey's most recent CD Laudamus which  you can get HERE.
 
Gospel - Luke 18:1-8 - Mission Sunday

Today is Mission Sunday and we covered it on the programme a couple of weeks back with an interview with Fr Derek Leonard about mission and his experience of mission in Peru. You can see all our blog posts about mission HERE.
 

 
And he told them a parable, to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, "In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor regarded man; and there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, `Vindicate me against my adversary.' For a while he refused; but afterward he said to himself, `Though I neither fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will vindicate her, or she will wear me out by her continual coming.'" And the Lord said, "Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God vindicate his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will vindicate them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

 

 Pray without ceasing - don't lose heart! A simple poem today to aid your reflection on this Sundays Gospel. (H/t Limerick Diocese Weekly Newsletter)

 A life without purpose is barren indeed
There can't be a harvest unless you plant seeds
There can't be attainment unless there's a goal
A man's but a robot unless there's a soul

If we send no ships out
No ships will come in
and unless there's a contest
nobody can win

For games can't be won unless they are played,
and prayers can't be answered unless they are prayed.

So whatever is wrong with your life today,
you'll find a solution if you kneel down and pray.
Not just for pleasure, enjoyment and health,
Not just for honours, prestige and wealth

but pray for a purpose to make life worth living.
And pray for the joy of unselfish giving
for great is your gladness and rich is your reward
when you make your life's purpose the choice of the Lord

Reflections on this weeks gospel:

Sunday Reflections
Word on Fire
Centre for Liturgy
English Dominicans

Liturgical odds and ends

Liturgy of the Hours - Psalter Week 1 29th Week in Ordinary time

Saints of the Week

21 October - St Laura of St Catherin of Siena
22 October - Bl John Paul II
23 October - St John of Capistrano
24 October - St Anthony Mary Claret
25 October - Bl Thaddeus McCarthy (Martyr)
26 October - Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Come, follow me: forthcoming Monastic Experience Weekend

 

Are you looking for something deeper in your life? A way of life that is more God-centred? A way of greater simplicity and truthfulness? A way of life in a community of faith and prayer?

 

Then you might like to consider and pray about attending our next Monastic Experience Weekend taking place from 25 to 27 October, 2013.
 
This is an event for women aged 20-40 who would like to experience our Cistercian way of life at Glencairn.
Monastic Experience Weekends have been held twice a year at St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn since 2001.

What happens on a Monastic Experience Weekend?:
The weekend begins on Friday evening with welcomes and introductions, supper and Vespers. Participants stay in the Abbey guesthouse and join the community for the Liturgy of the Hours in choir.
 
Throughout the weekend our guests have the opportunity to experience something of the rhythm of liturgy, silence, meditation on scripture, monastic work and community life that together make up the essentials of a balanced monastic life.

There will be input on the Cistercian life, together with personal testimonies from some of our sisters on their own monastic journey and an opportunity to meet the community. We also offer guidance on how to discern one’s own religious vocation and an opportunity to talk one-to-one with one of the sisters.

The Monastic Experience Weekend ends on Sunday afternoon but participants are welcome to stay until Monday if they wish.

Contact Us:
If you would like more information, please contact our Vocation Director Sr Sarah here at the Abbey at: vocations@glencairnabbey.org or at 087 1909 830

Alternatively, if you would like to make a visit to the Abbey at another time for personal prayer and retreat to discern your vocation please contact Sr Sarah or the Guestmistress Mother Agnes at 058 56168 .

21st July 2013 - A chat with the Cistercian nuns of St Mary's Abbey, Glencairn Co Waterford - Part 1 of 2

On this weeks programme, we have part one of a two part special programme on the Cistercian nuns of St Mary's Abbey, Glencairn Co Waterford. Lorraine has a discussion about the Cistercian life and what it means to be an enclosed nun in Ireland today with Sr Sarah Branigan (Vocation Directoress) and Sr Michelle Slattery (Novice Mistress).

You can listen to the podcast of the programme HERE.

The Abbey's website is HERE and Facebook page HERE.


UPDATE: Part 2 was broadcast on 20 October 2013.

St Mary's Abbey - Glencairn

The Cistercian Community of St Mary's Abbey Glencairn

St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn is the only Cistercian monastery for women in Ireland.  The monastery is located in the Blackwater Valley, about 3 miles upstream from Lismore, County Waterford.

"At the heart of the monastic life is the search for God; here at Glencairn, we seek God and follow Christ in a life of prayer and community, solitude and simplicity, work and hospitality. We follow the Rule of St Benedict, an ancient source of monastic wisdom that continues to guide many people in search of an authentic spiritual path in today’s world."

As the sisters outline the Cistercian Order arose as a reform movement within the Benedictine tradition in the 12th century who were seeking for a simpler way of life - a return to the deserts of the world to seek a space for God. 

The first Cistercian monastery was established in Citeaux, France in 1098 by Saints Robert, Alberic and Stephen and Sr Sarah tells us of the history of the early foundations. Early in the Cistercian tradition, women sought the Cistercian way of life and the first Cistercian monastery for women was in Tart, France, a daughter house of Citeaux, founded by St Stephen in 1125. St Malachy brought the Cistercians to Ireland in 1142, to Mellifont, County Louth. St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn is the first Cistercian monastery for women in Ireland since the Reformation, founded in 1932 by Holy Cross Abbey, Stapehill, England. Today, there are 37 Cistercian nuns in the community of St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn.

The life of the Cistercians is under pinned by a number of foundations including

• a zeal for the Opus Dei (the Work of God) which is the Liturgy of the Hours (a.k.a. the Divine Office) which is one of the focus' of St Benedict
• the ethos of simplicity which defined Citeax with its emphasis on poverty, simplicity in liturgy, manual work and a guarded interaction with the secular world so as not to displace the main focus of their lives as being a constant search for God.
• St Bernard and other writers of the Cistercian tradition have emphasised experiential quality of monastic life; effective spirituality stressing relationship with Christ; stressing fraternal communion and also a strong Marian devotion with the order and each abbey of the order under the patronage of Mary.

Sr Michelle takes us through the life of a novice as women discern whether they are called to the life of a cistercian nun with the community in Glencairn including what daily life is like, the study and prayer life undertaken. Sr Sarah then continues to share with is the meaning of the monastic vows stability, obedience and conversion of life as well as the day to day life at the abbey.

From the Abbey's website:

What is Cistercian Spirituality?

“Cistercian nuns seek God and follow Christ under a rule and an abbess in a stable community which is a school of mutual love”. These words, from the Constitutions of our Order, point to some key elements in our spirituality.

Cistercian: “Cistercian” comes from the word Cîteaux, in Latin Cistercium, which means “marshy place” or “swampy place”. Cîteaux, in France, is where the Cistercian movement began in 1098, as a reform within the Benedictine monastic tradition.

Nuns and monks: there are both men and women Cistercians. We live in single-sex communities, but the two branches form one Order. There are Cistercian communities on all five continents: they follow the same lifestyle, adapted to local situations.

Seek God: the heart of monastic life is seeking God. From earliest times, some Christians have felt called to go apart to lead a life more intensely focused on God. They separated themselves from the distractions of regular society, and went away to a remote or isolated place more conducive to prayer and consciousness of God. There they devoted themselves to seeking God and union with God. The first people to practise this kind of lifestyle went literally into the desert, in Egypt. We follow in their footsteps, and so do not engage in any outside apostolate. The purpose of a Cistercian is to seek God.

Follow Christ: Cistercian life is a way of living the Gospel. A personal relationship with Jesus Christ is fundamental in each sister’s heart. Christ is our model: we strive to be conformed to him in his obedience, humility, patience and poverty. He is our King, whom we try to serve. And he is our Beloved: we seek intimate union with him in prayer.

Under a Rule…: this means the Rule of St Benedict, as interpreted by Cistercian tradition and contemporary understanding. There are three key elements in the monastic day according to this Rule:

(1) Liturgy: Seven times a day we meet in the church to celebrate the Liturgy of the Hours, consisting of psalms, Scripture readings, and prayers. By this we offer praise to God, we ourselves are sanctified, and we intercede for all people. We celebrate the Eucharist daily; it is the source of our communion with Jesus Christ and with one another.

(2) Lectio divina: quiet, meditative reading of the Word of God in Scripture, which leads to contemplative prayer and shapes us to live by the Gospel.

(3) Work: Through our work we support ourselves, and have something to share with the poor. In Glencairn we produce eucharist bread and greeting cards for sale, and we have a farm which is now mostly dedicated to tillage (barley) with some cattle. Other work includes care of the sick and guests, the upkeep of the monastery, administration and formation work, gardening, and many other tasks.
Living “under a Rule” means that our life is disciplined. The purpose of this discipline is to make us free: free from selfishness and unhealthy desires, free from things that do not help us on our journey to God; free to have hearts open to give and receive genuine love.

…and an abbess: the abbess is a central figure in the monastery. She is believed to act as Christ’s representative, and so ministers to the whole community with pastoral care, teaching the sisters by word and example, and encouraging them in their monastic vocation.

Community: Cistercians maintain a balance between solitude on the one hand, and community living on the other. Solitude and silence provide us with a climate for prayer and encounter with God. Community relationships are the place where love is put into action. Unity of spirit, sharing of goods, and bearing one another’s burdens are hallmarks of a Spirit-filled community.

Stability: we make a vow of stability, which means that we commit ourselves to live always in this particular community, and will not normally move to another one. Stability is the “for better, for worse” of monastic life. Our other vows are fidelity to monastic life, and obedience.

School of love: St Benedict called the monastery a “school of the Lord’s service.” The early Cistercians called it a “school of love”. On our spiritual journey we are always pupils. Learning to love with the heart and mind of Christ is an ongoing task, which will occupy us all the days of our life.

********

Some external Youtube videos on Glencairn.



An investigation by U.S. television producer Phil O'Connor into the decline of the Irish Church brought him, together with the Religion and Ethics team and camera crew to Ireland in late May of this year where they made a further television feature on contemporary monastic life as lived here at St Mary's Abbey.

Originally broadcast in the U.S. Sunday a.m. 24 July 2011 on PBS television on Religion and Ethics Newsweekly.

An audio slideshow by Irish Times photographer Bryan O'Brien featuring images of Theresa Kottayail from Kerala, India as she took her first vows as a junior professed sister in the enclosed Cistercian community of nuns at St Mary's Abbey, Glencairn, Lismore, Co.Waterford, Ireland in December 2011. She took the name Sr Robert and was the first sister from India to complete her novitiate in the rural Irish Abbey.

Vocation Stories - Sr Sarah's story from Glencairn Abbey

In meeting people in my role as vocations director, I am aware of how valuable our vocation stories can be to others who are searching, and here I offer some milestones that led me to pursue my own call to Cistercian life.

I entered St Mary’s Abbey, Glencairn when I was 28 years old after working in the area of media and before that, studying english literature at University College Dublin.

I did not overtly consider the idea of a vocation when I was growing up and going to school in Dublin. This was in the eighties. Nobody did, or so I thought! But an awareness of the importance of God in my life and the desire of somehow sharing that relationship with others, was stirred in my depths during the time I spent at college. Studying english, I found, became a privileged way to discover insights into the lives of writers who had tried, themselves, to articulate the spiritual experiences of their own lives and my heart and mind were expanded and I was inspired by them. Being true to my own depths began to be the challenge for me now.

My knowledge of monastic life had been awakened when I was a child. My father had gone to school in Mount St Joseph Abbey, in Roscrea and had maintained his link of friendship with the monks who lived there. I had always been touched by their presence and their monastic way of life. Their radical commitment to God and their generous, loving and hospitable fraternity were very attractive to me. Later, in my twenties on my travels, I came across a Cistercian monk of this community who was on a sabbatical year in Berkeley, in the United States. Again, I felt that old attraction; his life, as it were, given to God seemed to make sense to me at a deep level within and I felt the old call to be true to myself.

When I returned to Ireland, I began my search in earnest, re-visiting the Abbey in Roscrea and discovering as an adult the truths revealed by faith and the beauty of the monk’s worship and their communal dedication to God. There too I was introduced to scripture and the gospels at a new level of meaning and into my hands was placed the Rule of St Benedict by a monk who had himself made the monastic journey and could speak so eloquently of its power to transform one’s life. On one such weekend there, I met a Cistercian nun of Glencairn, and there and then I resolved to visit her community and find out what monastic life was like for women.

The state of tension and fear in which I arrived at the monastery on that first visit was soon relieved by the welcome sight of wide open fields and crops glinting in the evening sun, some homey touches at the guesthouse – including the warm hug of the Guestmistress sister at the door - and the singing of the nuns at Compline in the Abbey church - “’What can bring us happiness?’, many say, ‘lift up the light of your face on us, O Lord’.” (Psalm 4) But it was the silence that spoke to me most of God’s loving presence and call and I began to consider for the first time my own Cistercian vocation.

It took me two more years to make up my mind to apply to enter Glencairn and with that decision came at once both a sense of coming home and a setting forth. For although we enter the monastery understanding that we are called as Cistercians to take a vow of stability to remain in this one place, it is well to understand at the outset that we will not be standing still!

Monastic life, I have come to learn, is a journey through my humanity to that profound encounter with God’s mercy in my weakness and the joy of discovering Christ at an intimate level in my life, in the life of the community to whom I am given and in the life of the world for whom I am interceding in prayer, worship and self-gift. My rootedness then as a Cistercian has been ultimately sustained by my rootedness in Christ, the one attachment through whom I will paradoxically find the freedom to embrace all.

I have always loved the image of the mustard seed from the gospel as a portrayal of the kingdom of God: the potential of such a small, insignificant seed to grow to full expanse so that all the birds of the air can shelter in its branches.

“Prefer nothing whatever to Christ, and may he bring us all alike to everlasting life”. Rule of St Benedict, Chp 72

*****

 

You can read more vocation stories and about the life of the Cistercian nuns at St Mary's Abbey Glencairn HERE.

You can find the communities Facebook page HERE.

All the Saints of God

Benedictus antiphon from the Office of Lauds this morning - "How full of splendour is the kingdom where all the saints rejoice with Christ! The white robed throng follows the Lamb of God in all his ways."

(Photo: Bryan O'Brien, Irish Times)

Source of picture and quote

Advent Compline (Night Prayer) from the Cistercian Nuns of Glencairn

 

If you would like to listen to Advent Compline from the Cistercian Nuns of Glencairn go to HERE

"The office of Compline marks the end of the monastic day in Glencairn and is chanted by the community in choir without the use of books. The Psalmody for Compline expresses, above all, our trust and confidence in God as the dark of night descends and that the light of Christ continues to shine out as the supreme source of joy in our lives."   

The nuns were also interviewed on the Countrywide programe on RTE Radio One which is available on the RTE Player. It is a beautiful series of interviews and offers an insight behind the cloister (but it is only on the RTE Player for 30 days and may not be available outside the Republic of Ireland).

The sisters also had a reason to celebrate on recently with one sister making first profession recently.