Obedience

Tonight after dinner, we linger and talk with Sr. Joan. At one point in our conversation, the discussion turns to obedience in the monastery. She remarks that it is one thing to be obedient to the prioress, but it another --- more difficult --- thing to be obedient to each other. To illustrate, she compares the obedience Tom and I have to each other as husband and wife to the obedience that parents have to their children. At first I am confused, thinking of how many parents overindulge their children and neglect to set limits for them. Why should a parent be obedient to the child?

Sr. Joan clarifies as she explains that when a baby cries in the night, a mother will leave her husband's side to attend to the child. She is being obedient to the child in the sense that she is listening to its cries, being mindful of its needs, and tending to them. In this sense, a mother is also praying when she rocks the child, coos to it, and sits in the silent night mindful of the life she is holding.

In the same way, the sisters are obedient to each other. They listen to each other, with deep heartfelt awareness of the others' joys and needs. They are obedient when they are mindful, and this mindfulness brings the harmony and peace we sense that so deeply pervades life in the monastery. Of course, irritations and frictions still exist, but they are momentary blips in the fabric of life at Queen of Angels.

For me, the sisters --- each and every one in her own way--- live in obedience in this new sense of community that I am beginning to understand. It is a gift I hope to bring with me to share with the others in my secular life, at home, at school, and in the larger world. God has been so good to let me experience life at the monastery. I am blessed in countless ways!