A Right to Be Merry

Can the hidden, silent life of a cloistered nun be a fulfilling one—let alone, to use the whimsical word of Christ himself, a merry one? In the pithy and profound pages of A Right to Be Merry, Mother Mary Francis, P.C.C., reveals the the crosses and the joys of that cloistered life.
Only those who have actually lived the cloistered life can fully appreciate how intertwined are the lives of contemplative nuns. Their hearts may be as “wide as the universe and bottomless as eternity,” yet in the practical details of daily life they must operate and cooperate, work and pray, suffer and celebrate, all within a strict enclosure and all for the sanctification of the world. Removed from this world, they still have “as great a right to be merry as any lady in the world.” “Hidden away from the glare and noise of worldly living,” Mother Mary Francis writes, “we are enclosed in the womb of Holy Church. I walk down the cloisters, and my heart moves to a single tune: Lord, it is good, so good to be here!”