Join us in prayer, from wherever you are, on Sundays from 4:00—4:30 pm EDT
As Poor Clares, we are always together, yet apart.
We have lived this way for over 800 years: always together, yet apart.
We pray, work, and live together with our sisters; we are always in community. At the same time, however, we spend our days apart from others; we are cloistered, contemplative nuns who have taken vows to remain within the monastic enclosure.
In the midst of this current pandemic, so many of you are now living in ways that resemble ours. Indeed, stay-at-home orders and rules regarding social distancing have introduced millions of people to elements of cloistered life. We know that this has been painful and difficult for most people; what we have embraced willingly, as part of our vocation to follow the Poor Christ, others have been forced to adopt to slow the spread of the deadly virus.
There is joy in living always together, yet apart, when you are fulfilling your vocation; there can be pain when such a life is imposed on you, when it prevents you from fulfilling your own God-given vocation, even if only for a time.
Every day, and throughout the day, we pray for the people of the world, for those who’ve contracted COVID-19, for those who care for them, and for the many people whose lives and livelihoods have been impacted by the virus and the efforts to mitigate it. We may live apart from the world, but through our prayers and in our hearts, we accompany you, our brothers and sisters, wherever you may be. We are always together in the Spirit, even though we may be physically apart.
Won’t you join us in our prayers for the world?
On Sunday afternoons, from 4:00—4:30 pm EDT, your Poor Clare sisters gather together for silent prayer; we focus on the needs of everyone affected, in any way, by this deadly virus.
While the monastery remains closed, we invite you to pray with us from home or wherever you may be. Pray for all or part of the half hour. Pray in the way that is most comfortable to you. Together, let us pray for our world and for an end to this pandemic.