40 days...6 weeks....and WHAT am I thinking??

When most people ask someone who has recently graduated from college what their plans are for the immediate future, the usual answers include, "applying for jobs" or "going on to graduate school" or something of the sort. Now, if you were to ask me that question, the answer would go a little something like this:
"I'm going to be living in a monastery in Erie, PA with the Sisters of Saint Benedict"
Not exactly what you'd expect to come out of a 22 year old's mouth, huh? Well, it's nothing I thought I'd say either. Not one year ago, not six months ago. But, here I am, preparing to move in just over a month.

I will be a participant in something called the Benedicta Riepp Program. It is named for Sister Benedicta Riepp, the first Benedictine woman foundress in the United States. Participation in this program includes living in community with the Sisters for one year, communal prayer three times daily in addition to personal  spiritual development, study of the Rule of Benedict and Benedictine tradition, and serving within a community ministry four days out of the week. It is a program for women who are in a major transitioning stage of their life and would like some personal time to work on themselves, their spiritual development, and their person as a whole.

So, you may ask me what exactly am I thinking??? Am I crazy? And, the one I get from everyone, are you becoming a nun?
My answers: Being a recent graduate from college, this is the biggest transitory stage of my life so far, and a scary one at that, so a little help and guidance with this is greatly welcomed and appreciated. No, I am perfectly sane. And no, I am not becoming a nun.

I guess I don't fit the "stereotype" of someone people would picture as a participant in this program, or so  people have told me. I am a young woman in an age where women are told they can do anything they would like to, and I choose to do this. And that's just it, I chose to take this on, with no pressure from anyone. Ok, let's continue. I talk too much. I have three tattoos, and I have three piercings in one ear and five in the other. Apparently this disqualifies me?? But if the Sisters are accepting of me as they have been for the past 2 1/2 years, then that is all I have to worry about.

Actually, I have been asking myself why I'm doing this a lot lately. As the date creeps closer, the question gets more and more intense. But I know it is just nerves. I love these women. I have great respect for all of them and what they are doing for the community. And I am grateful that they are allowing me to be a part of it, even for such a short amount of time. I am truly looking forward to it, and while I know it will not be smooth sailing and a fairy tale each and every day, I know I will grow so much as an individual spiritually and will learn things I never thought I would and in ways I never imagined.

So thank you, Sisters, for your guidance over the past couple of years, and for the very special opportunity you are allowing me to take. I know I will be so grateful when the year has ended.