Manana - Poor Clare Colletine Vocation Newsletter
Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Roswell, NM
. .
Are you a young woman who . . .
- wants to turn your pockets inside out for God and love Him with all your heart and
all your soul and all your strength?
- has a driving ambition to send everyone to heaven?
- can see as St. Francis did, a potential fiddle and bow in a pair of sticks?
Do the words MY GOD AND MY ALL say it all for you?
Then don't delay to take full advantage of this ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME-FOR-AS-LONG-
AS-YOUR-LIFETIME offer awaiting you in our little desert monastery, where a blessed
life for God features a life of . . .HARD LABOR!
That's right! Here is your chance to serve God with that full enthusiasm of mind and
body bequeathed to us in our Franciscan way. If you have ever secretly supposed the
contemplative life to be a leisurely round of devotional exercises, punctuated by strolls
in the garden and a spot of embroidery now and again, FEAR NO MORE!
You will be relieved to know that for the cloistered nun loving God demands full-time
spiritual, mental and physical elbow grease. For our Lord well understands our need to
throw ourselves wholly into this business of loving Him, and so He delights to send his
handmaids scurrying up ladders toting gallon cans of linen white point to beautify his
house, or out to the fields to haul in the autumn leaves (by the parachute full) and the
winter pecan crop (by the barrow full)!
He will expect you to love Him who is the truth by working your mental muscles in
pursuit of the truth as you delve into the riches of Logic and Moral Theology classes.
Here in our little desert monastery you will be given ample scope and freedom to
pursue an ambitious career as a fully certified, full-time lowly servant of God. No prior
experience in furniture stripping, laundry management or agricultural engineering is
required. Just come with a generous supply of that spiritual energizer-zeal for the
kingdom of heaven, and all else from thimble coordination to logic's syllogisms to lawn
mower mechanics to persevering prayer will follow.
Wondering how there will be time for a full schedule of prayer and so much besides?
Stop your puzzling! Our daily horarium provides abundant accommodations on this
point with its simple expediency of . . .
LONG HOURS. Imagine the joy! Each night you will leap from your sleep at the
enchanting hour of 12:30 a.m.!! Again no prior experience as an early bird is required.
Rest secure - our rising bell comes fully equipped with exceptionally penetrating tonal
qualities. There is of course no time to be lost in the great work of singing God;s
praises, and ultimately only the long space of all eternity will suffice for the task. But
our midnight start each day is a practical step in this direction and provides a basic
introduction to the praise-lifestyle of heaven.
URGENT! "So many souls go to hell because there is no one to pray and make sacrifices
for them."
Do these words of our Lady to the children at Fatima burn in your heart? If so, then
you will understand as all Poor Clares do, why there can never be days or hours long
enough!
To maintain standards of integrity in advertising, we must here admit that the Poor
Clare who has found the hours in the monastery to be long, has not yet been discovered
to exist.
HARD LABOR! LONG HOURS! As if that weren't incentive enough, this life also
features (you guessed it) ...
NO PAY!! Yes! Say goodbye forever to that jingle in your pocket for there are no
salaried position to be had in the monastery, no payroll, no wallets, not even a piggy
bank. However, this essential absence of banking accessories does not mean there are
no accounts to be kept. From the moment you cross the threshold of the papal
enclosure, you will have to cope with the ever-present reality of handling your
CONSTANT AND INSURMOUNTABLE DEBTS!
Every day in the cloister unfolds within the gratuitous context of our Lord's
providential hundredfold. From the inestimable gift of the Eucharist, to the constant
charitable services of your sisters, to the supporting gifts of our wonderful friends and
benefactors, to the solicitous guidance of your superiors to your morning cup of
donated coffee; your debt of gratitude will always seem to outstrip your ability to meet
your payments. "How can I repay the Lord for his goodness to me," cries the psalmist.
And so will you!
HARD LABOR. LONG HOURS. NO PAY. CONSTANT DEBT. With such a line-up as
this, you might expect places to be limited and going fast! RELAX! There is always
room for as many more as the Lord of the harvest sends!
STILL ROOM! For one thing, Poor Clares don't need much. Depending on the response
to this ad, we can snugly seat four at those refectory tables currently spaciously set for
three. This will create several empty places next to our postulant Jacqueline. If more
respond we can bring up the extra table from the basement. I still more respond, one of
your first assignments might be building refectory tables.
Sister Immaculata, our obliging cook, will be more than happy to raise the level of the
soup and the oats. There are still straw sacks (our form of mattresses) in storage; and
we have assembled over the years a fine selection of postulant jumpers. One style suits
all (with a little personalized hem adjustment).
And as if that weren't enough, your monastic cell will include, a fine firm straw sack on
wooden boards, a wash stand and basin, a bench, a window, holy water font and --
standing room besides!!
THERE'S MORE! Our grounds also hold 43, yes forty-three, private retreat houses.
These come with all the modern conveniences of running water (when it rains),
reclining chairs (insofar as you can recline on a tree stump), air-conditioned comfort
(when the wind blows), solar heating (in summer) and a spectacular view unhampered
by the confining presence of walls or roof. What more could be desired?
THE CATCH! Here it is, you say, the fine print, the bottom line. Such an offer as this
probably seems just too good to be true an there has to be a catch to it. Well, quite
frankly, there is a catch; and that's the cost, which for some might prove prohibitive.
For the price of embracing this life is nothing less than all you have to give. Lest you
accuse us of inflationary practices, this costly price-tag attached to a religious vocation
was put there by Jesus Himself. "Go and sell all you have," "He who puts his hand to
the plow and looks back . ."
Abandoning the old fishing nets, be they stereo, Volkswagen, or roller skates is only the
beginning; for Jesus will continue to turn inside out the pockets of your heart until
everything there is His. So if you are tired of searching high and low for that one really
valuable pearl, then "Come," with ALL your heart and ALL your soul and ALL your
strength, - "and see." For there can never be labors too hard, nor hours too long in the
service and praise of God and in the life and death struggle for souls, then it follows
that . . .
THERE CAN NEVER BE TOO MANY POOR CLARES!!!
Contact:
Mother Mary Francis, PCC
Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe
809 East Nineteenth Street
Roswell, NM 88201
Colletine Poor Clare Daily Horarium
12:30 am Matins, silent prayer, suffrages
5:00 Rising for Lauds
5:16 Lauds, brief silent prayer; Cross prayer
6:00 Coffee; order cells
6:25 Private Exposition
7:00 Conventual Mass
7:50 Beginning of full-day Exposition, Terce, adoration hours
10:45 Sext, private prayer, examen, Cross prayer
11:30 Dinner, general work, free time
1:00 pm None, private prayer, Cross prayer
2:00 Classes, work
4:05 Rosary, Vespers, private prayer, Benediction
5:30 Collation, free time
6:30 Recreation
7:30 Compline, Cross prayer
8:45 Retire
Novitiate instructions are given twice daily. Solemnly professed nuns are free to have a
period of spiritual reading whenever they find it best for them. All may make the
Stations of the Cross during the day as convenient, and read of study in cells before
retiring.
Taken from homepage of the Poor Clares
http://listserv.american.edu/catholic/franciscan/clares/
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