CSM Blue Lily

Community Vision:
CSM at the Spiritual Life Center

The Sisters have had a lot of questions about how we see ourselves fitting into the Diocese of Albany’s Spiritual Life Center activities. We have been around Greenwich almost six months now, and we're beginning to be able to define a clearer vision about this.

The invitation from the Diocese of Albany to become part of the SLC offers a wonderful opportunity for the Community of St. Mary to fulfill its deepest vocation. The Sisters believe that this joint venture shows all the signs of being God’s will. The SLC with the Sisters will be a witness to the love of Christ Jesus for His Church and His unique call to all for a closer walk with Him.

Sister Anastasia in the temporary chapelThe Sisters’ vows of Poverty, Chastity, and Obedience embody, in a particularly intense way, the Christian’s baptismal vows. Since the 1890s, in various places the Community has offered sanctuary—a place for people of many backgrounds to come for experience and training in the depths of Christian prayer, for the healing of spirit, to be immersed in worship, community life, and God’s love. Having the Sisters’ presence among God’s people is a support for the Christian witness and journey. Their dedication is lived out in ways as diverse as their personalities and gifts. The Spiritual Life Center’s resident community, composed of the Sisters, their Associates, and the Center’s staff, is gradually forming an extended working Christian family, open in hospitality, including all the people of the Diocese.

Visitors to the SLC will find that the Sisters’ priorities in living their monastic vocation include

  • A fixed schedule of corporate worship and common life, i.e., common meals, recreation, work, study, private prayer and rest
  • A need, individually and corporately, for an element of solitude and silence on a daily and annual basis
  • A need for some corporate work of mercy and in individual element of service to incarnate our faith and dedication

A postulant and novices making rosariesThese things come from the Sisters’ heightened sensitivity to silence and seeking the will of God. We have found great value in silence on our journey with Christ. We try to be always listening for the still small voice of His Spirit. The north wing of the new Convent will be closed to guests to allow the Sisters their own place apart, but the rest of the building is designed to provide speace for welcoming the Center’s guests. The Sisters’ chapel will be open twenty-four hours a day—alternately, for corporate worship at the liturgical hours and for private prayer. All are welcome to make the pilgrimage. Occasionally, we will have guests for a meal or a workshop in the liturgical arts or students in monastic studies using the Sisters’ library in addition to the SLC’s residential library.

Sister Mary Elizabeth walking with two goatsLastly, some Sisters will be available for spiritual direction and leading retreats. Others will be working the land in the Benedictine tradition of prayer, manual labor, and study. Sensitivity to sustainable agriculture and responsibilities to God and His World. Visitors may find their journey joins with the Sisters in projects at the Center, or in Sisters digging in the fieldforming a Rule of Life as Associates, or even in a deeper desire for living the monastic life. Our prayer for all who come to the Spiritual Life Center is that they may find strength for their own Christian journey of discipleship and witness to Jesus.