I was invited to attend a mass in a convent, a cloister to be precise. We drove up to a non descript building that had a long balcony on the side. I was startled to see a nun in full black dress pacing outside.
We rang the bell and were greeted by a lay woman who ushered us inside. In the back of the hall lay the cloister but near the entrance there was an office and a small souvenir shop with interesting religious paintings, many russian style icons.
A nun came to greet us. I was told that she has a special status in the convent that allows her to speak with outsiders, which is forbidden to the other nuns. They have very little contact with the outside world, no radio, no TV, no phones…and never leave the convent except to go to the hospital if need be. If they have visitors, they meet across a grille.
She ushered us in the chapel. It was a bright and modern room. The nuns were in an area that is separated by a metal “fence”, while the guests were in a separate area. I was surprised to see men among the guest worshippers.
There were about 50 nuns, all dressed with the long black dress and the black elbow lenght veil. They sang in very high pitched voices almost sounding frail…but then they are no longer young… Exceptionally the service was in latin, as were the hymns. We were provided with the wording and translation…I found it rather violent and gruesome…but then the day’s event was St John the Baptist’s decapitation…
I had dropped my cell phone in my purse without thinking when I left the house and forgot to close it soooo….. of course, it started ringing. I was panicked, digging feverishly inside my purse to locate the offending noise maker. I would have swallowed it gladly if I had been capable of it. I finally put my hands on it as it stopped ringing. I cringed as I opened the flip lid to shut it off as it made another noise. I was so flustered that I did not shut it off properly…but did not notice. I was barely regaining my composure, when I was asked to carry the plate with the hosts to the priest. As I was walking towards the altar I heard another ring…it was the sound of a voice mail message waiting…I almost fainted! Had it rung another time, I would have thrown the purse out the window.
I made it to the altar and back without another sound. I promptly kneeled in deep concentration, extracted the phone one more time and shut it off properly…but it took me until the end of the service before I could regain my normal temperature…