Easter at the monastery

Who'd have thunk I'd go to church? And not just any church, but the chapel at the Monastery of the Sisters of Poor Clare. They are a cloistered nunnery on the outskirts of Roswell, part of a national "chain" of such nuns (pardon my irreligious take on things). The nuns sit on one side of a huge metal filigree screen at the front of the chapel, and the public is invited to attend and sit on the other side. We don't see them and they don't see us, and the priest gives Mass in the middle, turning first towards their side of the screen and then towards ours. I went to the Thursday evening benediction mass (the others were held at inopportune times - like 7 AM!). I won't go into the intricacies of the service itself, except to say it had been a very long time since I'd been at a church service, and a high Catholic one at that, and of the 40 or so people in the public part of the chapel, I was the only one not kneeling and praying, and saying a rosary, and taking communion.
The priest seemed bored by the whole thing, leafing through the big bible on the altar between his parts, and his assistant seemed to fall asleep as he rocked back and forth. The acolyte spent the whole time kneeling on the bare floor, and yawning. His big job was carrying and fetching the wafers and the wine and the cups and the cloths and the incense back and forth.
When the communion was actually being had (taken?), the nuns did come one by one to a half open dutch door and receive the stuff from the priest, and then disappear into their part of the chapel. All the public got to see was a fleeting glimpse of a face. I'm told that families come from all around for this glimpse of their daughters. The nuns sang in high sweet voices and it sounded, or was supposed to sound, like angels floating unseen.
When it was over, the public scooted out of there. I had stayed to take some pictures of the outside (even I am not so irreligious to try to take pictures inside) and I met the priest - in street clothes, scurrying out himself. He got into a late model car and drove off quickly.

the priest's car


the entrance drive









Thus endeth the lesson.