We are in the season after Pentecost, affectionately (and by some people not so affectionately) referred to as “Ordinary Time”. This season takes up quite a bit of our liturgical calendar and yet it doesn’t really get its due in my opinion. I happen to love Ordinary Time.

I confess. I’ve spent a lot of time as a monastic guest, and I’ve loved every minute of it. Hearing the sound of the bells calling me to chapel four to seven times a day (depending on the monastery) filled me with inexplicable joy, and the time spent chanting each Office was sacred time permeated with God in a way I hadn’t experienced before. But I wasn’t sure how that would translate when it became my everyday life.

The Community of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer has started a new phase of its life!