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Lent -- Monastery Style
by Sister Mary Catharine of Jesus, OP
Monastery of Our Lady of the Rosary
Summit, New Jersey
In the distance, the rising bell interrupts my deep sleep. It is 5: 20 AM. I bless myself and then focus my still-sleepy mind on the liturgical feast of the day. This is important, for we live, eat, even dress according to the liturgical calendar. Ah, yes, it is Ash Wednesday! It is the beginning of Lent and my favorite liturgical season.
 Until I entered the monastery some 10 years ago and experienced how a cloistered monastery of nuns observe the Holy Season, Lent was for me, as for many Catholics, a long period before Easter during which you "gave up" something: usually sweets, junk food or cigarettes, in order to share in the sufferings of Christ and to atone for sins. Fridays also meant going to pray the Stations of the Cross at the parish. I would like to say I attended with great devotion but the reality was that the Stations of the Cross seemed so long!
This attitude of a long, tedious endurance of a somber liturgical season changed drastically during my postulant year. Then I found that in the monastery one does not merely observe Lent, one lives it. The themes of sin, redemption, mercy and forgiveness nourish and permeate the daily structure of our lives. By Holy Week one is plunged deeply into the depths of God's merciful love in sending us Jesus to die so as to save us from our sins and raise us to share in the inner life of God. By Easter Sunday one is filled with an overflowing joy, Haec dies: "This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and rejoice." And one is so glad that this antiphon is sung not just on Easter Sunday, but for the entire octave at every liturgical hour and every Mass.
The first note of the liturgical office of Lauds of Ash Wednesday heralds that Lent has begun. The chantresses intone the invitatory. From now until the end of the 6 weeks, they will be unaccompanied, their voices clear yet stark in the still Choir. "Today if you hear His voice harden not your hearts" calls not just the community but the entire Church to renewal, to repentance. From now on, too, the Alleluia will no longer be sung at Mass or at each hour of the Divine Office.
For our founder St. Dominic, posture was an essential element in prayer and this is reflected in our community prayer. During this season, instead of the usual profound bow during the closing prayer of each Hour, we kneel as a sign of humility. On Fridays, after the noon hour of Sext (Midday Prayer), the liturgical office traditionally dedicated to the Passion of Christ, we turn to the altar extending our arms in the sign of the cross. We sing three times the Parce Domine: "Spare, O Lord, your people and be not angry with us forever." On Good Friday before the noon meal of bread and soup we kneel by our place in the refectory (dining room) and pray 6 Our Father’s and 6 Hail Mary’s in the same way.
 It is the service of the Adoration of the Cross on Good Friday that so intensely engages body, mind and spirit. Shoes and stockings come off and in bare feet, the same feet washed by the Prioress at the Mandatum ceremony in the Chapter Hall the day before, each sister, her black cappa hiding the joyous white of the habit, makes her way up to the cross which contains a relic of the True Cross. She kneels twice along the way and then prostrates full length on her side in a posture peculiar to Dominicans, which is known as the venia. After a moment of adoration she kisses the relic and quietly makes her way back to her place.
Traditional to the season of Lent, are the practices of fasting and abstinence. No meat is served throughout the 40 days, the exception being the Solemnities of St. Joseph and the Annunciation. Fasting is done according to each sister's individual capacity in keeping with the rule of St. Augustine and our particular constitutions of the Nuns of the Order of Preachers, which we live by our Profession. While we strive to associate our penance with the suffering of Christ, it is the interior spirit of fasting and abstinence that we strive to cultivate.
Compline, the night prayer of the Church, remains a favorite office of Dominicans and during Lent it takes on a particularly meditative character. During this time we sing the ancient antiphons and responsories so dearly loved by our forebears. For the first half of Lent on certain nights, one of the chantresses sings the hopeful In Pace. The intricate neums and melissimas echo in the high arched choir and the darkened church beyond the grille. The choir sings the Evigila calling down the strength of the merits of the Passion against the temptations of the devil. During the second half of Lent the mood changes, and now chantress and choir sing the plaintive Media vita. And finally during Holy Week, each night the O Rex is sung and as one sister says; "Now I know we are really into the final days leading up to Good Friday."
Holy Thursday has a character and paradoxical feel all its own. There is the humbling and moving ceremony of the mandatum, the washing of the feet by the prioress, followed by the festive celebration of the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Then after the procession, the altar is stripped bare and the sisters solemnly keep watch before the altar of repose. Although we have Perpetual Adoration, this time of adoration is more intimate as the Eucharist is not reposed high up in the monstrance but close by on a simply-constructed altar at the grille. All is silent and solemn. Bells are hushed and clappers replace them with their harsh clacking. The holy water stoups will remain empty throughout the house until Easter.
From now, until the Easter Vigil, the black cappa is worn at all liturgical offices. This evening in place of Compline, the community gathers before the altar of repose; each sister, beginning with the prioress and then going through the entire community from the youngest to the oldest, solemnly reads a passage from the chapters of John’s Gospel known as the "Lord's Sermon." Year after year this practice remains for me one of the most moving of the entire Sacred Triduum. Its poignancy and drama, and message of the unfathomable love of God touches me deeply in my soul.
Holy Saturday has been called the longest day of the year, and this accurately describes the feeling in the monastery as we go about our final preparations for Easter. The solemn celebration of the Office continues and as during the other days of the Triduum it is more intricate in its execution. Both on Good Friday and Holy Saturday, the ancient selections from Lamentations are added to Office of Readings and are chanted in Latin as required by the Order.
By Vespers, the house is cleaned and polished, the Easter eggs are decorated and in their basket for the community breakfast. Easter decorations are in place and the choir shows evidence of preparations for the Easter Vigil. Out on the cloister, a fire is prepared. In the deepening dusk the entire community gathers there for the blessing and then processes behind the new Paschal Candle, entering the pitch-dark choir with candles lit from the new flame. Throughout the readings the chapel remains dark until the Gloria and the black cappa continues to cover the habit. As the first measures of the Gloria are intoned, each sister dramatically whips off the cappa as a gesture of joy in the Resurrection. Gone are the signs of mourning, of sober solemnity! The bells peal throughout the Gloria and the Paschal candle will remain lit the whole night.
Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!
Read our special feature on Sr. Mary Catharine's order, the Dominican Nuns
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