Now and for all times

A description of a day in the life of the 'Sisters of Bethania'. The only convent of this small, contemplative congregation of Dominicans in Austria is situated in the rural remoteness of the village of Nestelbach, near Graz (Styria). Today there are eleven sisters living in a former country-castle, following the determination of their order in strict cloisterly regularity. Significant for the mystic-contemplative existence of the Bethanians are the vivid, daily mechanics and the ritualized form of their life, the sequence and the systematics of practice, introspection, (keeping) silence, change and return of the hourly prayers, of the times of daily work and chores in the house and garden and the silent presence in the chapel.