Social Distance Like a Monk and Nun

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by Ida Williams

It has been a month.  30 days since I drove up the mountain road and saw the “closed” sign.  30 days since I have seen my co-workers, the dogs, and the monastics.  There have been emails and phone calls, but no face-to-face time. 

For me, there has been work for the monastery to be done, and then there are things around home.  I have my horses (very well-groomed horses), I bake, clean, make phone calls to old friends, family, and people in my community who may need something picked up from the grocery store, and I go a little stir-crazy.

It is easy to do these days.  

What have I learned from the monks and nuns that can help me live this (temporary) cloistered life?

Turn off the television.  

The monastics have a television in each of their monasteries, but it is not on from the moment they get up until they go to bed at night.  It is not needed for background noise, blah, blah, blah.  Enjoy the silence.

Turn on music.

Listen to it.  Really listen to it.  Don’t use it as background noise.  Experience it as you would a live performance.

Read a book.

Over the years the brothers and sisters have mentioned books that they have read.  Here are three they have written reviews on:

Contemplating Christ: The Gospels and Interior Life by Vincent Pizzuto
The Secret Chord by Geraldine Brooks
How to Be a Sinner by Peter Bouteneff

Now is also a good time to catch up on missed newsletter articles.  There are 189 articles on the New Skete Blog.

Watch a movie, at home.

I know that the monks and nuns plan a movie night every now and then.  They always select a movie that they can hold a group discussion on afterwards.   My husband and I have been married for 20 years.  We have been to the movies 3 times.  When it came time to pick a movie to watch at home, we had many to pick from.  So far, my favorite is Temple Grandin.  “Nature is cruel, but we don’t have to be.”   I will have to ask the monks and nuns to share some that they have watched.

Turn off the computer, lay down the phone.

I heard that Brother Luke plays a mean game of Canasta.  If you are social distancing with someone, pull out a board game, a deck of cards, or dominoes.  I walloped my husband in a rousing game of Yahtzee the other evening.  

Speaking of computers, I am thankful for technology at this time.   Through Zoom meetings I have been able to reconnect with my sister Girl Scouts, and I attended a Google Meeting with our county fair board last night.  I watch the livestream feed church service on Sunday mornings.  I miss my mom’s hug at the end of service.

I find peace in knowing that the bells are still ringing at New Skete, that when I return to work, I will hear the brothers in the small church for matins as I walk by to go to the office, and that the dogs will still remember me, and I will get play with puppies.


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