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Showing posts with the label monastery

Bells, Bells, Bells...

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Morning in the monastery:  it starts with a bell.   Come to think of it, most activities in the monastery start with a bell.  Time to rise:  the bell rings.  Time to pray, eat, study, work, have recreation : the bell rings. Anyone who has spent time in a monastery knows the bell as at least a background.   Monastics look upon it as the voice of God. In the dark silence of our monastery morning, the bell calls.  It may not be all that welcome.  It shatters our darkness and our dreams.  If we don't live in a physical monastery, our bell might be a baby's cry.  Or the insistent bleep of an alarm clock.  And oh, our slumber has been so comfortable.  Go away, we think as we slap at the snooze button; give me just a few more minutes.  Let me have time with this dream... .. (continue reading)

Inside a Cloistered Monastery: Joy and Love

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Today, as I was perusing the  New York Times  online edition, I was thrilled to find an absolutely beautiful  photographic essay on life inside a cloistered monastery . I loved the piece for many reasons, not least because it gave me a glimpse of the life I might have led had I chosen to walk through that lovely door, instead of the one that led me to the very lovely life I chose, instead.  I hope you find it as enchanting as I did.   You may find the larger article  here . From  How to Live A Lovely Life  by Sabrina Booth Phillips