What Catholic Sisters Do All Day: Prayer, Work, & Silence with God (Sr Sr. Maryam Josephine)

Recently, the Sisters from the Queenship of Mary visited our home. Their peace, their joy… it’s contagious.

We sat down with one of them and asked:
What’s it like to spend 3 hours a day in prayer?
Her answer was simple — and deeply moving.

She shared how this rhythm of silence, adoration, and obedience isn’t a burden… it’s a gift.

Transcript

well I'm just curious about your daytoday life i don't know what your life looks like 
perfect well I would be happy to share that with you a few things that begin our day is um we have some chickens and we have our wood stove head to do those or there's like um communal laundry that kind of thing there's certain people that we pray for by name to undo knots or certain circumstances things like that i think it's from the benedictions they talk about like aura at labor so prayer and work and then we go into grand silence at that time so 
ah and that means what that means a hush goes over the comic no um I think it's so beautiful you enter into that time where it's just you and the Lord 
mhm 
what is the mission of the queenship of Mary like what's the work that you guys do 
sure sure the cares about the queenship of Mary is to

Sister Miam Josephine
yes hey so good to have you back 
thank you
i I really appreciated our first conversation i thought um
well I'm just curious about your dayto-day life because we talk about living out God's will
and I know what that looks like as a married person yes
with eight children I know that my duties are God's will that I change diapers
I feed kids I pick up toys I pay my taxes I shuffle the driveway I blow it with a snowblower this is how God's will is manifest and shown to me in the duty of the moment i don't know what your life looks like perfect i would be happy to share that with you very good very good okay so um I guess most recently I've been assigned to our mother house and so a few things that begin our day is um we have some chickens and we have our wood stove so those two chores have to be done before prayer so if that's your week then we would head to do those or there's like um communal laundry that kind of thing so uh a few like early morning chores that we get done before we gather in the chapel um so we usually gather in the chapel around 6:30
but we have those other things some people have breakfast before prayer um so we gather in the chapel at 6:30 and we begin with um the liturgy hours morning prayer and then um some some added vocal prayers that we do um 
is that vocal prayers like as spontaneous or they're written out they're written out so just kind of together we would say so like we would do our morning prayer then we would consecrate ourselves to Mary we renew our consecration and then there's a few prayers that we pray for vocations and for particular people that we pray for and um yeah so we have kind of our morning routine can I ask are those particular people changing all the time or is there a group that you guys are committed to praying for
yeah some are some change so some are particular for uh season and some are like on our list um and some are uh like we pray for vocations for increasing vocations each day we we ask the intercession of the Canadian martyrs every day we ask um like St joseph i'm trying to think what the other ones are like Mary undo of knots and so there's certain people that we pray for by name to undo knots in or certain circumstances things like that so our morning prayer is done in adoration so Jesus is exposed and um then we have an hour following our morning prayer that is an hour of silent adoration contemplative adoration um and then after that silent hour then we pray the rosary in common 
okay
so that's begins our day 2 hours of adoration um and then we repose Jesus and either we go to uh a local parish for mass or we have a priest in for mass um depending on the day of the week and so then we have mass and then we come back and if we haven't had breakfast some have breakfast and then we gather for our first um thing after that is um chores at 10:30 so then we do common chores um keep keep our part of the the ministry at the mother house is hospitality so part of it is just like keeping the house um 
tidy
clean and tidy yeah so like everybody else has chores we have chores too
um so we do that and then um we gather in the chapel for our Angelus and lunch and then we have a bit of after dishes we have a bit of free time you can go for a walk or whatever and then we come back into our time of work so um many um religious communities um or I think it's from the Benedictans they talk about like aura at labor so prayer and work and so then we go into like our work and so we have a a period of work um from 1 until 3 and then we we gather and and pray the divine mercy chaplet we have a bit of a break and then we go from 3:30 till 5:00 another period of work and then at 5:00 we pray evening prayer the liturgy the hours uh followed by supper and then depending on the evening we have different um different schedules on different evenings so one evening a week we have um a time of community night kind of like a communal recreation uh one evening we have a prayer like we we have um musical adoration um and we intercede for the world or different particular intentions um yeah so there's different things sometimes we have uh if we have a priest in for an evening mass then we might have like a longer supper one evening um on Mondays we have volunteer Mondays so we invite people who are volunteering we have kind of a time of fellowship with them throughout the day so depending on the day different schedule and so that's Monday to Friday and then um Saturdays we have a day of difference so um we begin our day again with our two hours as usual but then the rest of the day is off schedule so we pray on our own um we still pray all those prayers but we just do them on our own time so kind of a a flex flexible schedule if it's a day that if you had uh friends that you wanted to get together with you might have a bit more flexible schedule that day we might have ministry that day as well so it just depends on the day um and then yeah and then Sunday is kind of a day that we're more together we um begin same schedule in the morning but then we go to mass and have a brunch after and just a day might go for a walk together or something like that in the day so
I think that gives you a bit of an idea of like our daily schedule so so uh if you added up all the hours that you spend in prayer from from 6:30 maybe you do something before that right
i didn't say night prayer at 8:30 we'd gather for night prayer so
okay and how long is that 
um it's it's a short one so maybe less than 10 minutes and then and then we and then we go into grand silence
at that time so 
ah and that means what
that means like kind of a hush goes over the con no um uh it's just it's a sacred silence so after evening prayer after night prayer we go into a grand silence so it's just a a time of like it's not a time to discuss tomorrow's like schedule or things like that it's just like a an invitation to more of an intimacy with the Lord so in our community we we um stay in like each our own cells and so it's just like um a time Yeah just to kind of enter into that presence of the Lord and so just to to be like that's my time with my spouse so it's like I kind of I can expect that my sisters are not going to be asking for my attention because my attention is for the Lord at that time so 
what time is are people usually in bed by
um each I think we have like the lights out at 10:30 okay so
So between 8:30 10:30 is grand silence 
uh like all night all night unless there's an emergency then we break it but 
can you go for a walk at 8:30 like have as that part of Grand Silence or is it expected you go to your room
um you can be out of your room there's still there's sometimes chores that still have to be done again chickens and and stove or like the mop the floor there's things that have to be done after after night prayer but in silence so um you can be outside um we don't typically walk alone in the dark um so depending on the time of the year um that kind of thing but um
it can really vary yeah yeah but yeah you can go outside or whatever so
uh grand silence sounds nice

like is that also custody of the eyes like where you don't do you are you aware of that like you're passing another sister in the hallway do you
do you nod and say I'm just curious and say "Hi sister." Or you say nothing and just keep your eye down 
and during that time it's like not even hi i mean some some can smile but like you you like it is kind of like you're you're you're respecting their privacy so like it depending on what the interaction is like we don't have like rules around that but like it's just like a respectful 
Okay 
respecting their their silence and their time with the Lord cuz like I'm not demanding their attention because I'm I'm we're in the gaze of the beloved you know 
yeah i you know how grand silence starts here he says I thought he could stop asking mom questions

because we have like you know all these little children at age and like 
and they don't come to me as much for questions because I usually I say no more than Jen so they always go to mom and she she shares with me a lot it's like I'm just so tired of the questions there's always question question so sometimes you just say "Hey no more questions." 
Yes yeah you're not allowed to ask about tomorrow or next week or what are we doing in the summer or like homework no more questions
what are we having for supper yeah 
no more questions not allowed i think great wisdom and the rhythm of the spiritual life too like I just I think it's so beautiful you enter into that time where it's just you and the Lord 
um and um you have different duties probably everyone's got a variety of different things what do you what are your
Yeah so I'm in transition right now so I I have been at the mother house and um I I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen um I I really enjoy cooking and and hospitality so that's been an area that I've been in um a lot um but I'm I'm transitioning and have been transitioning into um more um the vocations director role and so journeying with women as they're discerning their vocations um and I'm going to be moving into the formation house um when we get back from this time away so I'll be helping with the formation program 
where's the formation house
so the formation house is right in Ottawa so um we have uh the Stella Mars convent in Ottawa and it's split up into two houses there are two households so one is the formation house and one is kind of more the mission house there and then the mother house so it's kind of a new a new uh separation of of households this year which is very exciting it's a time of growth for our community of growth and leadership 
the mother house is where
it's about an hour um east of Ottawa between Ottawa and Montreal
about an hour drive from the formation house yep an hour door to door
we'll have to visit sometime such a long way from here i know i know so if I added up all the hours I want to get back to this because I have a question like is it around 3 hours of prayer i I don't know if I you can include mass in there around or
you probably like that yeah something I I'm just guessing that before you went into or maybe I'm wrong with this but before you entered the Queenship of Mary were you praying three hours in a day 
no I was
okay um not to make you feel bad about that because I'm not praying 3 hours a day either but
is that a hard transition to go from not praying 
let's say you do 20 minutes maybe an hour whatever that is but like 3 hours is quite a bit if you've never done it before
yeah I think there is a transition of that um I think when I look at myself like before I entered there was like this huge longing for adoration like um that I just kind of recognized in myself so I would like I would finish my night shift or my my my shift at the hospital and I would think if I if I leave now I can make it just even for reposition I can just see Jesus for like 5 minutes and there was like such an excitement and a joy in my heart to be able to do that and the Lord will use what we give him um but yeah I think for some it's it is um like I long periods was not difficult for me on my days off but on my days that I worked I didn't have the time to put into that so it wasn't it wasn't difficult in that regard but um yeah I think it's a transition for sure i think part of the gift of community is that there's accountability and that that time is carved out so it's like I think that's often the greatest battle is like carving out the time for prayer is like the greatest challenge but when it's already in your schedule and people are expecting you to be there 
it's it's
it's easier right like it's it's harder to be away from where you're expected to be than to be where you're expected to be um 
Yeah and there's Yeah there's a grace in in the obedience of that right like this is my schedule is part of my obedience and something that I offer the Lord do I always feel like doing that not always but um whatever it might be right like uh I might be Yeah not this might not be my choice but it but I have already chosen it and given that to the Lord in in the in different aspects of my life that I live in obedience so
So maybe we'll wrap it up here but with tell me just briefly what is the mission of the Queenship of Mary like what's the work that you guys do 
sure sure so um the charism of the queenship of Mary is to um imitate the love and service of our blessed mother um so bringing the heart of Mary to the world um it's it's more about what um being than doing in that regard and so it's just like bringing the presence of Mary to the world we believe that um that Mary is our our true foundress and that she's inviting us to um to gather people in in a spiritual army to bring people out of the darkness into the into God's marvelous light so bringing people into the freedom of relationship with Jesus creating those environments for encounter with Jesus um we live completely on divine providence we don't have like a paid employment but our work is is kind of in that availability to evangelization we support God's ordained ministers in um in different aspects so our co-founder Father St or Father Ben Sina is a pastor at a nearby parish so many of the sisters are plugged into different ministries there um preparing some um children for uh the sacraments and um one of we have a little program for uh for young young girls called Handmaids of the Queen that we run in the parish there some of the sisters have run alpha so kind of regular works of evangelization um yeah but everybody has different there's different calls on different communities our community down at um at the mother house we we're kind of settling our roots into a new community there and it's going to be permanent so we're we're just getting to know the community right now and and kind of 
you know so like yeah so um it just depends on on like now information our our energy will be poured more into the the young women that are with us okay in terms of the parish work you're just getting to know the community around the mother house and then in Ottawa with Father Ben uh helping him out and I know you're out in this area doing parish missions and so so if there was a parish out there watching you know the you guys are available to serve the parish in that way yes absolutely yeah so 
okay well um appreciate the snapshot quick look into the life of the Queenship of Mary uh again we'll put the website across the screen so people can get in contact with you if they so are interested and so thanks for your time very good thank you Kim 
let's go have lunch
yeah perfect [Music]