Posted February 4, 2013 Book: Habits: 100-word stories Author: Susan Sink Susansink.worldpress.com. 2012. pp. 58 An Excerpt from the Jacket: Habits is a collection of 100-word stories about nuns in America in the twentieth century. The source material is primarily the stories and oral histories of the Sisters of the Order of Saint Benedict in St. Joseph Minnesota, who, in the 1950s, were the largest Benedictine order in the world. These pieces, somewhere between poetry and prose, explore their daily lives of work, prayer and community. An Excerpt from the Book: Vocation I thought I'd like to be a Dominican because they always looked so scholarly. Then I thought: "That's no way to join." So I prayed, "Lord, you'll have to show me." After a year out, in 1925, I figured it was time. I didn't join for the glamour, actually. These days, I'm so tired of hearing young women say: "I'm going to try the life. It's so beautiful and peaceful." Stuff like that. You don't try it out; you go because it's what God wants. How many marriages would have been avoided if they asked, "Is this what God wants." New York When I was sent to Columbia University in 1970 to get my doctorate, I just wanted to get it over with and come home. That doesn't mean I didn't enjoy New York. About that time, the New York City Theater (now it's Lincoln Center) had just opened. The idea was to make theater accessible for common people. I went to see ballet every Saturday for two dollars. Bellanchine was all the rage. I saw musicals, one with Mary Martin. But I never understood those Sisters who left the convent and stayed in the city. There was nothing there but concrete. Table of Contents: Habits Home visit Life's liturgy Music Vice Formation Names Particular friendships Hitching Typhoid Typhoid 2: confession Mary Crows Turkey girl Cellarer Gym Prevention Gifts Changes Jumper Mission Boys Temper Reservation sister: offerings Milk Charity Poverty Uniform Flora Advice Propriety Reservation sister: liturgy Anointing Prayer Community New York Translation The prioress Renewal Talk Sabbath Thrift Vocation Station