7
Time at the abbey pours itself into basins, just as the fountain in the south cloister does, with the water in each pool rippling into a near stillness before gravity gently and inevitably pushes it onward.
We wake for vigils, and we dress in our habits, which vary in the details, but which all have a long black robe, a belt, and a length of black fabric called a scapular which hangs down both the front and the back of the body but remains open at the sides. Then we go to prayer, shuffling from our cells in the pre-dawn dark.
After we pray vigils, it’s time for lectio divina—holy reading.
When I was in finance, reading was crucial—scanning, skimming, assessing, all of it as quickly as possible because time was money and any time spent taking in information was time not spent turning
