This past week was the Feast of the Stigmata, the day Francis received on his feet and hands the marks of Christ’s crucifixion. Things were, therefore, a little bit different in the convent. Most noticeable was the beautiful singing of chant or plainsong during many of the services. I tried my best to keep up. I didn’t manage to throw anyone off with my croaking. I did sing softly enough to sing with them and not an octave below! This alone was quite a feat since they place the pitch rather high. Special icons were brought out that illustrated the seraph Francis is said to have encountered. And there was a lovely bouquet of flowers placed in the statuary Francis’ hands. Very dear. I meant to take a photo of it but there was always someone around when I had my Blackberry Pearl with me. (I’d actually love to get photos of the sisters. I wonder if that’s OK?)
Here’s this week’s installment of how you know you’re living in a convent!
1. When you feel over-dressed because everyone else is wearing sandals.
2. When you take an active interest in how to reflect the Feast of the Stigmata in the next evening’s dinner. (My contribution was to suggest we have something “Italian”, which one of the sisters did by putting lots of oregano in the casserole. The prize has to go to Sister E who made tapioca for dessert. It had cranberries and bittersweet chocolate nibs. The cranberries – red for the Stigmata – and the chocolate for the “bittersweetness” of Francis’ experience. Yep, definitely living in a convent!)
3. When you actually feel a little pride in being able to sing along, not with a Motown classic on the radio, but while people are chanting.
4. When you are summoned to meals by the ringing of a little bell.
5. When you finally stop offering to help clean up after meals because everyone else has already jumped into “nun” mode: they each have a role which they execute with absolutely unearthly efficiency!
6. When you ask your students a question in class and noticing that it could be answered with a salacious remark, you append the question with “Keep it clean!”
7. When you’ve parked in front of the convent, getting your stuff out of the trunk of your car, and have a Zip-Lock baggie with a pound cake loaf in it, and a Black guy in his car rolls down the window and calls out, “Hey sister! I know you don’t need that cake!” and you’re confused for a moment as you think: “Am I really beginning to look like a nun or is he just calling me “sister” because I’m Black?”