One of the great blessings of a life yielded to Jesus Christ and His blessed Will is an opportunity for the fruits of the Holy Spirit to thrive and flourish in our hearts, souls and spirits, in our words and actions. They are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, as stated in the Galatians passage quoted above. One of these in particular is tragically minimized in our world, often with devastating results, that being self-control or self-discipline. Your life in your Convent will be based upon these fruits, with the heart being the blessed discipline of prayer, Bible Study, meaningful work, a specific daily routine and the ever present model of the humility and servanthood of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And, the model of self-control that you develop and show the world will be an inspiration to many, for the undisciplined life, though seeming enjoyable and freeing, can offer no lasting meaningful benefits, instead sowing only suffering, discouragement, darkness and meaninglessness.
All Convents will be alcohol, tobacco and drug free and celibate. The absence of alcohol, tobacco and drugs and the inclusion of physical exercise and education through lectures, classes and self-directed study and reading will complete a well-rounded life and minimize the dangers of negative self-indulgence, giving strength, stamina and endurance as we willingly bear the great sorrows and agonies of the world on our own shoulders, as we seek to more and more be like Jesus Christ.
The hours of prayer and the Great Silence, which will be silence in the house from after the third and final prayer service in the evening until after the morning prayer service, the first service in the morning the next day, will allow your soul to rest, your heart to hear God’s voice and your mind to focus on spiritual matters. The Great Silence will include no sounds from any form of technology; technology can be used during the day. You will discover great fruits from the silence, one of which is an amazing closeness that you will develop with people when you are sharing experiences with them without speaking, the blessed times of companionable silence such as breakfast and lunch. As we all recognize, the world is very noisy, with music and television blaring in ships, restaurants, airports and banks, with constant reports of bad news and with intense sound bites attempting to take very detailed and complicated situations and make them into overly simplified and often biased statements. Horns blare, sirens sound, traffic roars and more, seldom with any letup. While listening to music, conversation, television, radio and news can be very inspiring, and informative, allowing us to understand where our prayers and our personal concerns need to be, constant sound, much of it being petty or negative, can drain our souls of peace and hope, can instill in our hearts anxiety and dread, and can drown out the voice of God as He speaks to us, and can drown out the cries of the forgotten ones, the suffering ones, who so need to be heard. The set-up of each Convent will be designed to really help you hear and focus on God’s voice and His love as you peacefully and powerfully focus your life and love on those in need.
