poorclaresdelray » Page 8 of 44

It's me, Sr. Mary Maggot. Not really my name but it fits, seeings how I died back around 1990. I loved my monastery so much I couldn't bear to leave, so I spoke to the Big Guy and He was willing to cut a deal with me: I would be allowed to return home for a while, during which time He wanted me to sorta keep an eye on things for Him. I'd have to delay retiring to heaven for 100 years, but not a bad swap for being allowed to stay a bit longer, albeit in the 'shadows', at my lovely monastery. I was to be His liaison here and provide feedback on how this community was holding up. He gave me the impression He thought something's not right, here.

You see, He sorta pretended that, although He has a reputation of omnipotence, He needed, for personal reasons, my help here. So I agreed to His terms, signed the papers and was transported back to the earthly realm. After a while I saw that the project was actually a test, a test for me, yet! Sorta like my own, personal entrance exam, to see if I was really worthy of upstairs retirement. These past years have shown me that my task wasn't to be the walk in the park I thought it would be. After all, who wouldn't love it, living in a huge mansion-like place, enjoying the beautiful, natural grounds outside, and inside, walking amongst sisters who exude love and charity, enjoying peace and harmony, yet suffering in our poverty?

That's how I thought I remembered it. Now, I begin to realize how wrong I was. He just wanted to see how I'd react to being thrown into a pit of snakes, have my heart broken, my faith tested. Would I survive?

So what changed here? Why did I find that my visions of religious people, nuns, walking in the footsteps of our beloved St. Clare of Asissi were so wrong? And that was my epiphany, to see the way the dear sisters Really lived their lives. What I found was nothing like what you and I could have imagined! So here I am, not really here, yet here in the shadows, where I can observe what these nuns are like when they think no one is looking, when they think everything they enjoy doing is hidden behind closed doors, foolish them.

There's more to tell, so, as they say, STAY TUNED! Click Next Pg to read more.