Some of the nuns were surprised when Mother raised the possibility of a week off, with the lifting of the daytime custom of silence, morning lie-ins, and egg-and-spoon races on the lawn

Balance was not an easy thing to achieve in a way of life intended to stretch endurance, and modelled to some extent on the witness of those who had paid the ultimate price for their faith. The ideal of martyrdom was celebrated in our corridors, not only to the extent the Church’s annual round of feast days and memoria required, but in a heightened way that saw in every opportunity for sacrifice, every “occasion” to shed one’s metaphorical blood a positive, a chance to prove one’s love for God.

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