With this letter to her little sister, we continue our Vocation Letter series by our fictional novice, Sister Mary Rosaria.
Ave + Maria
Dear Tessa,
Greetings in Jesus and Mary! I hope you are doing well. I wanted to share with you one of my favorite parts of our life in the monastery. This is not one of the most important elements of our life, such as community or liturgy, but it is something we do several times every day, it ties various elements together, and it gives me great joy each time we do it. Can you guess what it is? . . . Maybe you will find this surprising, but I am thinking of our monastic graces at meals!
At home you say grace before and after meals—you know, “Bless us, O Lord, and these, Thy gifts . . .” and then, “We give Thee thanks, Almighty God . . .” We also have graces before and after meals here in the monastery, but they are much more elaborate. First of all, they are processional; after praying the De Profundis (the Psalm said for the souls in purgatory), we process two by two into the refectory (our monastic “dining room”). Making a procession reminds us that our earthly life, with our food to sustain us, is a journey towards heaven.
The graces are also liturgical: once at our places, we pray some verses from the Psalms, with other liturgical elements, each Sister taking her part just as she does in the liturgical prayers in Choir. My favorite is the verse we pray every day before supper: “The poor will eat and receive their fill. / Those who seek the Lord will praise Him and will live forever.” How true that we are poor and needy before God, who lovingly supplies for us every day! We love Him, seek Him, and the praise we begin even now will continue in everlasting life. This liturgical element of our refectory graces reminds us that Our Lord provides this nourishment for our body, as He also provides Himself in the Eucharist as nourishment for our souls. After dinner each day, we even process back to the chapel and finish our graces there!
Of course, the way we spend our mealtime in the refectory is also different from at home: St. Augustine says in his Rule that we should keep silence in the refectory while listening to holy reading, “so that not only their bodies may be refreshed with food, but their minds also may be strengthened with the word of God.” Before and after each meal, our monastic graces draw even our “daily bread” into our life of liturgical and Eucharistic praise.
And where is Our Lady is all this? Can’t you see her, before each Sister’s place in the refectory?
With my love and prayers in Our Lady,
Sister Mary Rosaria, O.P.
You might also like:
- How fictional is fictional, anyway?
- Learn more about the process of becoming a nun on our Stages in Formation page
- Learn more about our daily life.
Interested in learning more about a contemplative Dominican vocation? Contact the Vocation Directress.