Last day in Paris! About to go be brave and explore on my own. If you have any good travel tips, please share. I’m realizing that I am both more and less brave than I thought I was…and that next time I travel I will be more prepared in the language and customs of the country. Apparently people don’t really tip here because the tip is already in the bill. (fyi)
Tomorrow I will go to stay with the Bernardine Cistercian Nuns for a few days. My uncle is a Trappist Monk ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trappist also of the Cistercian Order) and he hooked me up with these Sisters.
The Order of Cistercians (OCist; Latin: Ordo Cisterciensis) is a Roman Catholic religious order of enclosed monks. At the time of monastic profession, five or six years after entering the monastery, candidates promise “conversion” – fidelity to monastic life, which includes an atmosphere of silence.[84] Cistercian monks and nuns, in particular Trappists, have a reputation of being silent, which has led to the public idea that they take a Vow of silence.[84] This has actually never been the case, although silence is an implicit part of an outlook shared by Cistercian and Benedictine monasteries.[84] In a Cistercian monastery, there are three reasons for speaking:
functional communication at work or in community dialogues, spiritual exchange with one’s superiors or with a particular member of the community on different aspects of one’s personal life, and spontaneous conversation on special occasions. These forms of communication are integrated into the discipline of maintaining a general atmosphere of silence, which is an important help to continual prayer.[84] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cistercians
My understanding is that their lives consist of: 8 hours of prayer, 8 hours of sleep, and 8 hours of work (with feedings in between). The place that I will be staying is in the French Alps and on the French site there are bees…so perhaps I will get to hang with bees! This is the spot: http://www.bernardine.org/touvete.html.
Will be good to go and walk the mountains and re-center. Will let you know if there are revelations that need to be shared when I get to Switzerland.
Thanks for journeying with me!
2 responses so far ↓
Brian LaLonde // July 7, 2009 at 2:02 pm |
Only a few days at an abbey and in that part of France? Enjoy it richly, Marcia! I’ve been in that area (45 min north towards Albertville where my bro, Nico is from) and the hikes are amazing. See if you can try some Fromage Tomme de Savoie.
Into the silence!
-Brian
marciavitae // July 15, 2009 at 4:28 pm |
yes. only a few days sadly. however i am in the swiss alps now (more to come on this soon). a lot more activity as i am at a conference/training for a month. but still gorgeous. was not able to make it to fromage tomme de savoie. perhaps one day… hope you are well!