Our guest blogger today is our friend Sister Hildegard Pleva, OSsR. Sister Hildegard is a regular at evening prayer, appeared on an Ask Sister podcast, and has guest blogged before! You can find Sister Hildegard and the Redemptoristine nuns at the blog Contemplative Horizon.

“… Form ever follows function…”
~ Louis Sullivan, 1856-1924, Father of Modern American Architecture

Our contemplative monastic community has been searching for a new monastery. Our current home and its land is changing hands requiring us to move. In the process have had to explain over and over again the nature of our life and how radically it differs from service oriented apostolic religious life.

The mental image of a cloister is often limited to a dark monastery vestibule or parlor where the visitor glimpsed a heavily veiled nun behind metal grille appointed with spikes to remind that the encounter would not include a touch or kiss.

These images belong to the past and do not point to the real purpose of the cloister. The architecture of enclosure supports the life of prayer to which the nuns are dedicated. The enclosure ensures silence and solitude. It is a living space for the community set apart from space open to the public; that more private space for a community praying, working, eating and recreating together while managing a large household. It allows those activities to cluster around the center which is prayer and praise at the Eucharistic and the Liturgy of the Hours.

Within the enclosure all of the functions of the monastic household are carried out 24/7 within a fixed group of members. It must have room for everyone to do everything together most of the time. No members will be off to a ball game or have a late night at the office. No one will go out to work. No one can arrive home after a long hard day and announce their departure to take in dinner and movie with a friend. These realities determine architectural form.

In our search we visited large homes and former convents. Invariably we realized that each structure conformed to the “form follows function” rule. Private homes were built to be just what they were. Buildings designed for apostolic religious supported the kind of life they lead, a life with work outside the residence. No effort at remodeling would successfully transform them into suitable monastic structures. We had to face in-depth consideration of our monastic enterprise. “What is it we wish to protect; what is it we wish to nourish and pursue in the structure we envision?” “Form follows function”; not the other way around. In the end we recognized that no mere structure will guarantee dedicated contemplative life. Thoughtful design provides suitable space, an environment conducive to prayer, a place apart. The rest is the work of God’s grace in the desiring soul.

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Join the A Nun’s Life Community for prayer at 6 p.m. CT in the chat room today.
Our prayer leaders for this week are Audra of Awkward Catholic fame
and Regina who is engaged in Soul Composting!

AS059 Ask Sister podcast recorded live on February 4, 2011. Sponsored by aNunsLife.org ministry. Guest: Sister Hildegard Pleva. Topics include: becoming a parent, nun, or actress, am I worthy of God’s calling?, apostolic or contemplative life, and more!

Click PLAY below or right-click here to download the MP3.

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Ask Sister podcast is a live podcast where you have the opportunity to engage with us and ask questions about nuns, prayer, religious life, or pretty much anything in between!

Here are some of the topics we addressed in this Ask Sister podcast:

• How did you decide between being an apostolic sister or a contemplative nun?
• I’m 23 and feel like something is missing, the sense of fulfillment and happiness. I feel God is calling me, but I wonder, “Why me? Am I worthy enough of God’s call?”
• I am attracted to both being a religious and being a parent. This tug-of-war makes it difficult to listen to God’s voice, and I wonder if you have any advice for me.
• My dream is to be an actress – acting makes me happy. But when I’m at church I feel at peace and hear a call to be a nun. Help!

Do you have a question for us? Call our toll-free Voicemail Hotline at 888-703-4732 and leave a voicemail for us with your question. Be sure to give us your first name and city from where you are calling. We’ll play your message and respond on the Ask Sister podcast. You can also send us an email or comment below. In whatever way you contact us, please know that your last name, email address, and any other private information will be kept confidential.

Nunday is here and I’ve got another nun photo for you. This one comes from another blogging nun, Sister Hildegard Magdalen Pleva, OSsR, who is the Vocation Director for the Redemptoristine Nuns at Mother of Perpetual Help Monastery in Esopus, New York. I feel a spiritual kinship with Sister Hildegard because my own IHM charism comes out of the Redemptorist tradition — our co-Founder, Father Louis Florent Gillet, was a Redemptorist priest.

Sister Hildegard is the blogger behind Contemplative Horizon, “Reflections of a female monastic concerning prayer, religious life, daily experience, and the contemplative way in the tradition of Redemptoristine Nuns” (a link can also be found on my Blogs by Catholic Nuns page). Sister Hildegard sent me this photo of herself with her grandbaby Nicholas. Yes, I said grandbaby. Sister Hildegard is a mother and grandmother who entered the Redemptoristines at the age of 55. She is a real Catholic nun and a “Sister Mom”. In this picture, Sister Hildegard holds her first grandson Nicholas when he was about 5 months of age.

Be sure to check out Sister Hildegard’s blog which also has lots of great photos from her monastery.

See all “Monday is Nunday” series of Catholic sister and nun photos.