I visited Susan today—my oldest sister who is, in fact, a Sister. Here’s a picture of her:
She belongs to the Sisters of the Visitation, a Salesian order. The picture was taken the day she went from postulant to novice, which, among other things, grants her the privilege to shove postulants in the hall and mock them for not being novices. That’s not true at all.
It IS true that, as a novice, she gets a white habit—she’ll get a black one later, after two confirmed kills. That’s not true. She’ll get a black one later, after she takes her perpetual vows.
They’re cloistered, of course, but you can meet with them in a parlor and talk with them through that big square opening you see up there in the picture. It’s hard for me to imagine, but just a short while ago she was going through very tough times, spiritually. These days, she’s filled up with sunlight.
Check out her daily schedule:
5:15 am Rise
6:00 Divine Office
6:30 Mass
7:10 Breakfast
7:45 Mental Prayer
8:30 Divine Office
8:45 Work
11:00 Dinner
12:00 pm Recreation
12:30 Divine Office
1:30 Work or Study
3:00 SpiritualReading
3:30 Work or Study
4:00 Community Time
5:00 Divine Office
5:15 Mental Prayer
5:45 Free Time
6:00 Supper
6:30 Recreation
8:15 Divine Office
10:00 Lights Out
How do you like those apples? It’s appalling, really. Nowhere on the entire schedule is: “Play X-Box game of your choice,” or “Frozen Margarita Hour—smoke a high end cigar, time permitting.” And what about movies? It’s just inhuman.
It really is a profound thing to see a member of your family “leave the world” and commit to a nun’s life forever, maybe especially since she made the decision as an older woman. The transformation is amazing—she is now one of those people who, when I see her, I see Jesus. Awesome.
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