Your Life as a Novice
If you request and are then invited by the Community to enter the Novitiate, a date is set for the Rite of Entry. You would participate in a retreat prior to your entrance into the Novitiate, a quiet time of freeing yourself from all worldly concerns, of opening yourself fully to the loving God who has called you forth.
When you are received into the Novitiate, you would be given the title “Sister” and either keep your own baptismal name or choose the name of one of your special saints.
The length of the Novitiate is twelve consecutive months as prescribed by Canon Law. It is a sacred time of deeper immersion into the monastic Community, a sacred blending of prayer, reflection, solitude, leisure, and work, a time to study the Rule of St. Benedict and monastic profession. The Novice Director is your guide during this Novitiate year as together you continue the discernment process.
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You remain at the Monastery during your Novitiate year, developing a deeper relationship with God, getting to know your Sisters in Community, learning the monastic rhythm of our Benedictine life.
You’ll hear the great bell ring in the Chapel bell tower, calling you to prayer, listen to the singing of the Community during the Liturgy of the Hours and Eucharist. And in small wonder-filled ways, you’ll listen to the quiet voice of God speaking to your heart.
There will be difficult days, as there are in any life, times of struggle we all have experienced. But we know God is with us, that our Sisters hold us in prayer, and that makes all the difference.
We tell you this because we know this, because we have made this journey of discernment ourselves.
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We know you’ll watch the early morning sun rise splendid over Lake Superior, and with us you’ll marvel how each rising is different from the last. We know your day will be full to overflowing, brimming with prayer and work and maybe even time for a long walk along the Monastery roads or perhaps along the paths that meander through the woods.
We know you’ll watch the sun set over the back campus, see the trees that edge the hillside darken with the coming of night. Perhaps you’ll play cards with some of your Sisters, or Scrabble, or table tennis. Perhaps you’ll read the newspaper or visit with your Sister friends. Perhaps you’ll make one more visit to Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel before it is time for sleep.
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With us you’ll mark the liturgical seasons as we move through the colors and music and readings of the Church year. Together we’ll mark the beautiful cycle of the seasons as golden summer gives way to fiery autumn, to white of winter, to spring of new green.
We know you’ll watch the coming of each season with new eyes, experience this sacred time with a new heart, for it is God Who calls you, draws you, holds you.
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| Throughout this time of Novitiate you will know the loving support of all of us, your Benedictine Sisters in Community. We will pray with you and for you, we will mark the seasons of God’s time with you as you and your Novice Director discern your readiness to enter into deeper commitment through First Monastic Profession. |
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