Besides providing for both communal and solitary prayer, our daily schedule includes time for work, meals and recreation. Our renewal after Vatican II heightened our appreciation for the eremitical tradition of Carmel. We, therefore, reserve one day per week as a hermit (solitary) day, on which we gather communally only for Eucharist. The remainder of the day is spent in the intense silence and solitude conducive to prayer. Carmelite spirituality is grounded in solitary prayer in one's cell or room, a privilege place of meeting with God, a haven of solitude where one goes when not engaged in work of the community.
Our daily schedule in common is as follows:
7:30 AM Lauds ( Liturgy of the Hours)
8:00 AM Eucharist
Breakfast in silence
12:00 PM Dinner
5:00 PM Vespers (Liturgy of the Hours)
5:30 PM Supper
7:00 PM Office of Readings (Liturgy of the Hours)
Meal times constitute our daily recreation, so our conversation is lively during dinner and supper. The time after the Office of Readings is reserved for deeper silence and is used for individual pursuits. The horarium above serves as a framework which shapes the day and into which each sister structures two hours of personal prayer, one hour of spiritual reading, and five hours of work.
Postulants and novices, those in formation, meet at noon with (a) member(s) of the Formation Team for Midday Prayer and attend weekly classes and seminars on prayer; the Carmelite Rule; monastic history; Scripture; theology; the life, works, and spirituality of Sts. Teresa and John, as well as the writings and thought of other Carmelite saints and luminaries (i.e., Edith Stein, Therese of Lisieux, Brother Lawrence, and Elizabeth of the Trinity).
The entire community periodically continues its education by participating in classes given by visiting scholars. In the recent past, theologian Sr. Sandra Schneiders, IHM, has talked on the Gospel of John, the theology of the Eucharist, the history and theology of religious life. Fr. Kieran Kavanaugh, OCD, conducted a seminar on the works of St. Teresa. Fr. Pat Mc Mahon, O. Carm., has instructed us in the history of the order. In addition, the community reserves eight days a year for a Festival of Learning during which it concentrates on topics both sacred and secular--comparative religion, the Trinity, art appreciation, hermeneutics, film theory, and liturgical dance and movement.
The community also enjoys together at least one eight-day silent retreat a year. And each nun is encouraged to schedule a yearly personal retreat. Most sisters spend that time of prayerful solitude in our monastery hermitage.
We do not have an active apostolate, but there are a variety of ways we interact with people outside the monastery. Some of the sisters are engaged in spiritual direction, prayer and study groups, lecturing, and writing. The scale of these activities is limited by the practical exigencies of time and by the sense of the appropriateness of and balance between each undertaking in relation to the prayer life of the individual sister and the community.
